Amalie Robert Estate Portfolio Update: Vinous Pinot Noir

Hello and Welcome, 

This is an Amalie Robert Estate Portfolio Update: Vinous Pinot Noir. A FLOG Communication. 

Who do you trust? Who can you trust? Is that fake news, again? In all things vinous, we trust Vinous Media to provide the most experienced, relevant and thoughtful opinions from wine growing to sensory evaluation. It has been that way long before we began producing wine nearly 15 years ago.

Our early Pinot Noirs starting from the 2004 vintage were reviewed by Josh Raynolds when he was writing for Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. Now a part of Vinous Media, Josh continues to cover Oregon’s Willamette Valley, as well as one of Ernie’s other favorite regions, Côte Rôtie. But our focus today is Pinot Noir. The Syrah and Viognier will get their due this fall.

It was the spring of 1999 when we happened upon Bob and his Montmorency cherry orchard. We had been studying soils and climate in the Willamette Valley and doing our level best to evaluate as many wines as we could. It didn’t take too long before Ernie said, “Bob, I got here too late. You have your cherry orchard sitting on top of my vineyard.”

We chose the Willamette Valley because it was the last best place on the planet to grow Pinot Noir. All of the other planets had one issue or another - soils, climate or the proximity to established markets were some of the most significant drawbacks.

And so it began. April of 1999 is when we became cherry growers for just long enough to bring in the harvest. From there on out, our singular focus was to develop our 60 acre property into a world class vineyard and traditional winemaking operation that we would own and operate ourselves.

The benefit of starting with a cherry orchard is that you are not buying someone else’s vineyard and their deeply rooted mistakes. You have the opportunity to make your own mistakes - and learn from them. From those humble beginnings we decided on our own rootstocks, vineyard spacing, trellis design, varieties of wines to grow and their specific clones. We learned how to farm wine to showcase the inherent qualities of our vineyard. We had help from some great and patient mentors including Bruce Weber, Dick Erath, Mike Etzel, Steve Doerner, and many, many others.

When it came time to design the winery, we only wanted to build one, so we found the best architect with the most experience in the Willamette Valley and that was Ernie Munch. Aside from the aesthetics and site placement, the guiding principle was gravity flow. Our crown jewel is the 1,200 tons of below grade concrete that maintains our naturally climate conditioned barrel cellar and the 500 or so barrels entrusted to mature our wines.

What happens next is the focus of this FLOG. After the wine berries from each of our 42 vineyard blocks are individually hand harvested, fermented and put to barrel, our task is to blend and bottle up to 8 estate grown Pinot Noirs that tell our story. The goal of each wine is to blend for complexity and evolution of aromas, flavors and textures through natural cork bottle maturation.

We like the evolution of whole cluster stem tannins in our Pinot Noirs with 5 to 7 years of bottle maturation. But we also appreciate that waiting can be time consuming, and the lure of immediate gratification has a very strong appeal. Insider Tip: Check out the library.

Here is a brief overview of our Pinot Noir portfolio, including the most recent Vinous Media reviews, beginning with an introduction by Josh Raynolds.

"Owners/winemakers Dena Drews and Ernie Pink have always marched to their own beat, opting to release their extensive range of wines after they have had some bottle age. Thus, current releases here focus on the 2014 and 2013 vintages. I was pleasantly surprised by the graceful character of the ‘14s, a vintage more noteworthy for its power than finesse. That said, they do show the abundant fruit and concentration that marks the year but in a minor key. My impression is that they are good cellar candidates even if some decanting time makes them quite drinkable now." - Oregon: An Embarrassment of Riches and Richness, June 2019

2014 The Uncarved Block (92 points Vinous):

Presenting the Amalie Robert Estate House Style. This is the story of the sculptor and The Uncarved Block. When a sculptor imagines a block of marble, he sees what others cannot. His chisel removes what does not belong to expose the elegance and beauty of what was hidden. This purity of form is only revealed by careful and thoughtful action.

As is the case with all of our Pinot Noirs, this bottling is 100% estate grown and hand harvested fruit. The individual blocks were fermented with whole clusters and indigenous yeast from the vineyard. In the cellar, we age the individual lots in oak barrels representing a variety of coopers and forests for at least 18 months. The blend is a reflection of our soils, microclimates and stewardship of the land.

2014 Amalie’s Cuvée “Hers” (93 points Vinous):

The “Hers and His Reserves” reflect our estate vineyard through our individual palates. Amalie’s Cuvée and Estate Selection are exclusive barrel selections of Pinot Noir representing the unique qualities of our vineyard. Every block within our 35 acre vineyard is individually hand harvested at its peak of flavor maturity and intensity. Block by block, the fruit is fermented by indigenous yeast in small 1.5 ton lots and matured for over 18 months before the final blend is created.

Every vineyard block and clone/rootstock combination showcases something unique and special from the vineyard. After fermentation is complete, the wine is placed into a selection of barrels to mature. We source French oak barrels from several coopers. The wine takes a different path to maturity in each barrel, developing its own nuances. Our use of whole clusters in each fermentation provides a continuously evolving tasting experience. From year to year, we strive to reveal the elegance and grace of Oregon Pinot Noir. Amalie’s Cuvée is this blend.

2014 Estate Selection “His” (94 points Vinous):

We taste all of our barrels of wine many times throughout the year. We experience the evolution of flavors and aromas and remember the significant events in our vineyard. The excitement of an early bloom, the mystery of a very light fruit set, the discovery of color change at veraison and the rapture of harvest. Tasting each barrel of wine provides us a snapshot in time. We experience the wine’s development.

It is usually during the spring when Pinot Noir in barrel begins to reveal the character of the vintage. Much like experiencing the lavender lilac bloom – you notice the color, then the hint of sweetness in the air and as time passes you are witness to the entire bloom – a testament to the season. This is when we begin blending trials for Estate Selection to capture the more structured and broadly textured interpretation on the vintage.

2013 The Reserve (93 points Vinous):

The Reserve is an exclusive barrel selection of Pinot Noir representing our most intriguing wine in the cellar. The final blend represents countless hours of tasting wine from barrel. Only with such in-depth knowledge of our subject matter, are we able to select this barrel or two of Pinot Noir.

As we taste wine through the cellar, we can usually agree on when we have found the best barrel or two of Pinot Noir. When that happens, we find that we disagree on whose reserve blend it is going into. And when we find that we agree to disagree, we have just found The Reserve. And occasionally, The Other Reserve.

2014 iPinot® (92 points Vinous):

iPinot® is our way of connecting Amalie Robert Estate reserve quality wine directly with savvy internet consumers at the lowest possible price.

iPinot® is reserve quality barrels of wine selected for our “Hers and His Reserves”, Amalie’s Cuvée and Estate Selection. Once the final “Hers and His Reserve” wines are blended, we have a few reserve level barrels of wine to blend. We blend these barrels of wine together to create iPinot - a reserve level wine without the reserve level price.

iPinot® is available for retail purchase as well as a subscription service.

2014 Dijon Clones (93 points Vinous):

The Dijon Clones is a blend of 7 Dijon clones sourced from 12 dry farmed blocks. The barrels of wine crafted from each block are culminations of the soil, rootstock, clonal selections and our unique microclimates.

Much like an individual instrument in a symphony, each barrel contributes its own unique character to the final composition. The individual clonal attributes are presented in the aroma and bouquet. The flavors and textures combine on the palate to provide depth and rich layers of Pinot Noir fruit that are distinctly Oregon.

2015 Pommard Clone (94 points Vinous):

Pommard Clone is a barrel selection of our most intriguing estate grown Pommard clone Pinot Noir. The pioneers who began planting Pinot Noir in the North Willamette Valley began primarily with 2 clones of Pinot Noir – Pommard (French, of course) and Wadenswil (Swiss). As the vines matured, high quality wines from both clones were grown in the valley, but the Pommard clone was gaining widespread acclaim and notoriety.

There is a very good reason the Pommard clone was catching on. The Pommard clone represents all that is inherently beautiful in Pinot Noir. It is grown on all types of soils and is unique in its ability to reflect vineyard specific splendor, nuances and vintage conditions. While the eyes are the window into the soul, the Pommard clone expresses the inherent beauty of our vineyard through the lens of the vintage.

2015 Wadenswil Clone (94 points Vinous):

Wadenswil Clone is a barrel selection of our most intriguing estate grown Wadenswil clone Pinot Noir. Follow this link to read Interview with a Clone - Wadenswil 2A.

When planning our vineyard, we were particularly intrigued with the Wadenswil clone wines we had experienced from sedimentary soil vineyards. The fragrant, intense, laser focused fruit aromas were relentless. It is no accident, but a strategic choice that we have several of our sedimentary soil vineyard blocks planted to the Wadenswil clone.

It may seem that we go to a good deal of trouble to explain an inconsequential event, but it is not so. Wadenswil clone Pinot Noir grown on our sedimentary soils is, for us, what Pinot Noir is all about. The full range of Pinot Noir aromas and flavors along with a dizzying array of mid-palate textures and reverberating acidity define the Wadenswil clone.

While The Reserve is a blend of our very favorite barrels from the vintage, the Wadenswil clone blend represents our best expression of this pioneering clone.

As most of you already know, we save the numbers for the end and here they are.

Along the top of each column you will see the Degree Days (specific to Amalie Robert Estate) that we logged for each vintage. At the bottom of each column is an average of all the press that we received from the vintage. Reading across, you will see the wines we produce and at the far left is an average of all the press we have received for that wine. Dena is currently edging Ernie out, but the disparity is manageable.

We offer a portfolio of highly regarded and age worthy wines spanning a breadth of price points with a depth of vintages.

Each of the wines presented above and reviewed in the latest Vinous Media article Oregon: An Embarrassment of Riches and Richness are available for purchase from Amalie Robert Direct. We also have limited availability of cellared vintages reflecting the aroma, flavor and texture development of natural cork bottle maturation.

Please follow this link to purchase wines from Amalie Robert Direct. We ship to all states where legally allowed.

As always, if you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Dena at 503.551.9978 or E-mail at Dena@amalierobert.com.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate: 2017 Happy Holidays!

As the season turns to friends and family, we would like to extend to you our warmest wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year. We would also like to take this opportunity to welcome new friends to the Amalie Robert Estate FLOG. 

 The 5th of the month and the repeal of Prohibition! 

The 5th of the month has more significance than Ernie was previously aware. A thirst for knowledge and a little research has greatly expanded his appreciation for the 5^th of the month.

January through March is a write-off. We are just too busy working to be bothered. However for some, the 5^th of the month is payday.

April 5^th is a day we wake up and realize the government is about to get more of our money than ever before. However, we owe ourselves about $20.6 trillion (up from about $19.9 trillion last year), that's just about $63,048 (up from about $61,315 last year) per person living in the United States, and $170,291 per taxpayer. Hmmm, back to work. You can check our progress from time to time right here.

As you well know, the holiday Cinco De Mayo is a celebration on the 5th day of the 5th month. The purpose of which is to celebrate the victory by the Mexican Army over the French Army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Of course, and as always, there is more to the story. Here is a link with more details.

We transition right to June 5^th. This date is very significant to Ernie, as it is Dena’s birthday! As many of you know, Dena’s middle name is Amalie and is the palate defining Amalie’s Cuvée.

July 5^th is the day we would have declared our Independence, however as Americans, we just couldn’t wait. Somewhat like opening a gift, or maybe two, on Christmas Eve.

August 4^th, 2011, again we couldn’t wait, is the first time the US debt exceeded 100% of our Gross Domestic Product - GDP (Gosh Darn Politicians.)

However, August 5^th brings little pink berries to our Pinot Noir vines. Ernie likes this, a lot!

September 5^th is significant to all children and especially their parents. It usually is about the time the children are going back to school.

October 5^th usually finds us in the middle of harvest. Due to the protracted nature of harvesting and fermenting Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Viognier and now that little rascal Gewürztraminer, Ernie has dubbed the 10^th and 11^th months to be “Octo-vem-BIER.”

On December 5^th we find ourselves at the end of the calendar. 2017 marks the 84^th year of the repeal of the social experiment known as Prohibition.

On January 16th, 1919, the United States Congress passed the Volstead Act. The Volstead Act led to the 18^th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This marked the beginning of Prohibition. We wonder what Congress’s approval rating was that year.

This is an excerpt of section 1 of the 18^th amendment:

“…the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”

During the following 13 years, the people of the United States bore witness to the effects of Prohibition. Further, they were able to compare the politicians’ promises and pontifications to the experiences in their own daily lives - aka reality. This phenomenon has persisted in each and every congress since and can lead to the malady known as cognitive dissonance. Ernie calls it “Negotiated Reality.”

It was in 1929 that a curious little product was invented and granted trademark protection. Ernie may be deviating from his factual discourse here, but perhaps this product was used in reference to the politicians of the day who could not tell the difference between a good idea and Prohibition. Sometimes it is hard to tell fact from fiction, sometimes not. The product was a shoe wax called Shinola.

Winegrowers of the time were a hearty breed, they had to be. The manufacture, distribution and sale (including export offshore) of alcohol was illegal. If your livelihood depended on growing some 100 tons of grapes and selling the fermented juice, you were out of business (and so was your labor force), or so the politicians thought.

Now, let us introduce the law of Supply and Demand (Note: Much like gravity this is a law not subject to political pressure.) Despite a small minority trying to legislate morality on the entire citizenry, the American public sought to exercise their rights as citizens living in a free country. After all, that’s why they were here.

It turns out that many people had unexplained illnesses during those 13 years. In visiting their family physicians, it seemed the most cost effective treatment was the prescription of alcohol, wine in most cases, for medicinal purposes. Thankfully, there was not a government run healthcare system at the time to prevent such a low cost and effective treatment. It would have been illegal and besides, that’s what the bootleggers were for!

Even today, the debate continues over the health benefits of alcohol, red wine in particular and Pinot Noir specifically, for the high content of Resveratrol. If only the perennial healthcare debates and litigation were this simple. You can learn more about Resveratrol here.

We now come to the presidential election of 1932. FDR, as he was known, achieved many things. The most wide sweeping change affected nearly everyone in the United States and for generations to come, including several of our foreign trading partners. Recall, the importation of Canadian, Irish and Scotch whisky was also illegal. As an aside, Ernie’s time in Ireland taught him that the Scot’s never acknowledged Prohibition and kept the pipeline open.

On December 5^th, 1933, the 21^st amendment was ratified by the United States Congress. In what may be the most effective and efficient legislation known to this great country, here is Section 1 in its entirety:

“Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.”

We see here that sweeping changes in legislation, or repeal of them, may be difficult, but certainty not impossible.

As you enjoy the holiday season, please take a moment to reflect on your constitutional right to grow, produce, blend, bottle, sell/purchase and consume wine, especially Pinot Noir! And if you find yourself in need of a little good cheer to celebrate this momentous occasion, then please visit yourself upon the Amalie Robert Company store. UPS drivers are standing by.

When the time is right, please enjoy our wines with friends, food and in moderation.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate: 2017 Star Trek into Wine Country - Australians & Romulans

[Captain Kirk] Welcome Aboard, Ensign.

Mr. Scott, you seem a bit more irritable than usual these last few days.

http://trekcore.com/tos/audio/themes/OriginalSeriesMainTitle.mp3

[Scotty] I just can’t get the balance right, Captain!

[Captain Kirk] Is there a problem with the matter anti-matter balance in the warp core?

[Scotty] No, Captain, the warp core is purring like a kitten. It’s the food replicators. Ever since we brought on supplies at the starship base on Berengaria VII, the protein to starch ratio has been way off. It’s like we are all getting an extra portion of beans with every meal. Our supplies might be showing some residual effects of when the Romulans took over the planet.

[Bones] The routine physicals over the past few weeks have shown elevated blood pressure and slight weight gain.

[Captain Kirk] Hmm. Yes, I have noticed my belt has expanded out a notch or so. Well Mr. Scott, you are not going to get the food replicators balanced up here on the bridge.

[Scotty] Aye Captain, I’ll get right on it.

[Captain Kirk] What was that sound?

[Scotty] Oh, that was, ah, a squeak in these boots, Captain. I just had them resoled.

[Mr. Spock] That seems to be a recurring phenomenon across all decks Captain. Logically, it would seem all of the resoled boots are in some way… defective.

[Captain Kirk] Captains log, Stardate 1709.2. We have just completed our mission to resupply the outpost at Farpoint station and are making our way to Earth. We will be passing by the Napa-Sonoma Nebula, which is quite a beautiful phenomenon to witness – from a safe distance. Those that enter seldom return. And those that do return are irreparably harmed. The Neutral zone will be off our port side. The threat of Romulan intrusion into Federation space is always a real and unwelcomed possibility.

[Background discussion] “Live long and prosper. Before I met Mr. Spock, I always thought that was a punch line to a wiener dog joke.”

[Captain Kirk] Keep that to yourself helmsman. Mr. Spock does not have much of a sense of humor.

[Mr Chekov] Approaching the Napa-Sonoma Nebula, Keptin.

[Captain Kirk] Steady as she goes.

[Bones] It’s quite a sight to behold, Jim.

[Captain Kirk] Yes, it is Bones. It reminds me of the Aurora Australis. The Southern Lights of Earth most visible from the southern continent of Australia.

[Scotty] There was a wee couple of islands off the southern coast of Australia. Were they part of the Australian continent as well Captain?

[Captain Kirk] No, those North and South islands were called New Zealand and they were part of a separate and submerged continent called Zealandia. Not to be confused with Portlandia. What is that smell?

[Scotty] Ah, that’s the warp core Captain. We had to vent a wee bit of drive plasma.

[Mr. Spock] It seems that after Earth’s New Year celebration of 2024, everyone in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia flushed at the same time and that completely submerged the Zealandia continent.

[Scotty] We lost a lot of good sheep that day, Mr. Spock.

[Captain Kirk] New Zealand reminds me of Farpoint station in relation to the Napa-Sonoma Nebula. They were such a small colony in a far away corner of the planet bordered by a much larger Australian continent. They also grew some of the same wines. It was called Syrah in New Zealand and the rest of Earth’s wine growing regions, but it was called Shiraz in Australia. Sometimes co-grown and co-fermented with Viognier, as we see in this picture from Amalie Robert Estate. Lt. Uhura, can you get that on the main viewer?

[Mr. Spock] Highly illogical. Why did the Australians choose to ostracize themselves by calling the wine Shiraz? And why would you grow white grapes right next to black grapes?

[Bones] That is a matter of speculation Mr. Spock. It seems that many of the vine cuttings made their way from Hermitage in France to Australia via the penal colony boats coming out of England. Quality control was not really a French “spécialité” at the time and the vine cuttings got mixed together. Anyway, the English solution to crime, sickness and “deplorables” was to simply ship them off to penal colonies in Australia like Port Aurthur in Tasmania. Better than ending up in Perth, I guess.

[Mr. Spock] Australia was a relatively new and undiscovered continent. And it is worth pointing out that those vine cuttings were not about to plant and tend themselves. They needed labor, deplorable or not.

[Scotty] It was rumored that before the Australians flushed them, the New Zealanders had developed warp drive capability. The Australians got wind of this technology and they were able to make it work.

[Bones] There seems to be some breaking wind here on the bridge.

[Captain Kirk] You know, Amalie Robert Estate grows and produces some of the finest Syrah in the galaxy and they are going to be open this weekend. They will be pouring a vertical of their Satisfaction Syrah. I received the communication via subspace just a few days ago.

[Mr. Spock] The timing of this open house and the recent intergalactic publication of Wine & Spirits Magazine seems highly correlated.

[Captain Kirk] Strike while the iron is hot, Mr. Spock.

[Mr. Chekov] Keptin, Amalie Robert Estate is a long ways away from our present course.

[Captain Kirk] Mr. Checkov, could you be more vague?

[Mr. Chekov] Probably not, Sir. But, I could try.

[Lt.Uhura] Captain, Romulan warbid decloaking off the port side!

Romulan theme:
http://trekcore.com/tos/audio/balance/RomulanWarshipRomulanThemeCenturion.mp3

[Captain Kirk] What was that sound, Ensign!?

[Ensign] I said “Oh Shit!” Captain.

[Bones] It looks like he meant it.

[Captain Kirk] Red Alert! Battle Stations! Spock, have they entered the Neutral Zone!?

[Mr. Spock] They have not, Captain.

[Captain Kirk] On Screen! Lt. Uhura, hailing frequencies open.

[Captain Kirk] This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Federation Starship Enterprise. State your purpose.

[Romulan Commander] Earth vessel Enterprise. We have been following your warp engine signature for some time. It seems to be highly correlated to a noxious gas that is emanating from your life support diffusers.

[Captain Kirk] Thank you for pointing that out Commander. Yes, we picked up some bad dilithium crystals at our last stop on starship base Berengaria VII. I believe you know of it.

[Romulan Commander] Yes. It seems to be going around. We were never able to domesticate the dragons there. I see you have made them an endangered species. Your wisdom in this matter escapes me. In monitoring your subspace communications Captain, we have ascertained that you are planning to make a maximum warp speed run back to Earth.

[Captain Kirk] Commander, I have said no such thing. We are observing the Napa-Sonoma Nebula from our side of the Neutral Zone and perfectly within our rights of the agreed treaty to do so.

[Romulan Commander] Quite. So am I to understand you will not be acquiring any Shiraz or Viognier from Amalie Robert Estate?

[Bones under his breath] Jim! He’s an Australian!

[Captain Kirk] I know Bones. Once the Australians figured out the warp core design the New Zealanders had developed, they built a ship and filled it with their deplorables and sent it off into space. They landed on a planet similar to Uranus and called it Romulus. Where the Ale comes from is still a mystery.

Commander, we might be passing by Earth in a few days time. What interest does this hold for you?

[Romulan Commander] Captain Kirk, as you are very well aware, Earth is the only planet in this or any other galaxy that grows wine. That is why we have spared it from any attack and even protected it from the Ferengi, but that is a future episode so don’t spoil the plot. May I call you Jim?

[Captain Kirk] Commander, yes, I am aware we have the only wine terrorr in all of the known, and by definition, unknown galaxies. Jim is fine. What’s your name?

[Romulan Commander] Jim, my name is unpronounceable in your language, unless you have a mouthful of marbles and even then only your Chief Engineer would be so gifted as to even attempt it. You may address me as “My Buddy the Romulan Commander” if it pleases you.

[Captain Kirk] Alright Buddy, what is your interest in wine from Earth?

[Romulan Commander] Dear Jim, you must understand, we have nothing even close to wine to placate our palates during meals, or for meditational purposes. That’s what I meant Jim, meditational purposes. You see on our home world, we seek enlightenment through meditation. We can meditate for hours, and often do. Without wine, it is a sparse and meager existence, but one we are forced to embrace. We have also very recently lost our poppy fields.

[Captain Kirk] But you have Romulan Ale. Romulan Ale is coveted throughout all the galaxies.

[Romulan Commander] Yes Jim, this is true. Have you ever tasted Romulan Ale? Sure, we make an ocean of it and it is virtually all exported. It is like the wines from the Napa-Sonoma Nebula - highly allocated, but never consumed. It is often bought and then resold on winebid.com. It is not for us. We seek the holy grail of wine. We seek Shiraz.

[Captain Kirk] Well listen here, buddy. What if I told you to go pound sand?

[Mr. Spock] Captain, I believe you have made a “Fau-PAUX!” That is Klingon, but roughly translated it means to soil in your own mess kit.

[Romulan Commander] Well Jim, we would not care to “go pound sand.” How would you like us to substitute all the liquids aboard your vessel with Romulan Ale? You would remember us often, but I assure you, not fondly.

[Captain Kirk] I see your point. We could be going past Amalie Robert Estate and they have a very compelling cool climate Syrah. And it has a very appropriate name, “Satisfaction.” Would that be of interest to you? Would you like to get some Satisfaction, buddy?

[Romulan Commander] Oh Jim, yes. We would be very pleased to get some Satisfaction. And I have seen that you are on the “A-List” with Amalie Robert Estate which affords you discounts and other benefits and privileges. Would you be so gracious as to extend your A-List discount to me, your buddy the Romulan Commander? As you know, we are unable to cross to Neutral zone to sign up for the A-List.

[Mr. Spock] Jim, this could go a very long way in advancing interstellar relations between Earth and the Australians, I mean Romulans.

[Captain Kirk] It hasn’t stopped them before. But it confirms one thing, Mr. Spock. They are not A-List material.

Very well then. We shall return to these exact coordinates in one week’s time.

[Captain Kirk] Mr. Scott, I am beaming down to Amalie Robert Estate to get some Satisfaction. I want the food replicators rebalanced and the diluthium crystals changed out before I get back. I can’t seem to stop my eyes from watering.

[Scotty] Will do Captain, even if I have to take the Enterprise apart piece by piece.

[Scotty] Well that should do it Captain. I have beamed a case of Satisfaction aboard the Australian vessel. I mean Romulan vessel.

[Captain Kirk] Yes. And what a vintage… Earth 2010. They had to retrieve this from their “library.”

[Mr. Spock] How curious Captain. The people of Earth were using wine for meditation in their libraries.

[Captain Kirk] Not exactly Mr. Spock. Alright, let’s get out of here. Full Astern! Emergency warp speed!

[Mr. Checkov] What is that, Keptin?

[Mr. Spock] I suspect the Romulans have just discovered that the Satisfaction they have received has been kidney filtered.

[Captain Kirk] Yes, Mr. Spock it would seem, they “can’t get no Satisfaction!”

[Scotty] Captain, we’ve got to dodge that gas cloud. I just got the air cleaned up in here!

[Captain Kirk] Mr. Chekov, take us up to the edge of the Napa-Sonoma Nebula, but do not enter. There is a pretty steep tariff just for going in. With all of the reduction in there, no one will notice this gas cloud.

[Mr. Chekov] Approaching the Cab-Franc sector, Keptin.

[Lt.Uhura] Captain, the gas cloud is dissipating. It seems to have a distance limitation.

[Captain Kirk] Out of gas, are they? Well then, let’s give them a proper send off. Fire phasers!

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2016 June

Hello and Welcome,

This is the June 2016 Climate Update from Amalie Robert Estate.

June started out with scorching hot temperatures approaching the century mark and ended the month with a fair shot of rain followed by cooling breezes from the north. As they say “A fast horse don’t run long…”

So, what have we here with this 2016 growing season? So far, the season started off lickety split with a very warm to hot April. May was more in line with the past few vintages, which were also warm, and now June seems to be running out of steam. Based on the flowering date of May 27^th plus 105 days, we see a harvest window opening up in mid to late September. That means we have about 75 days of growing season left before the Great Cluster Pluck of 2016 visits itself upon us. But wait for it, and some vintage extending rain, we will.

The month of June is when the crew finished straightening up all of the shoots and clipping the catch wires into place.

That’s when Ernie was finally able to arrest the expletive growth in the canopy. Note: The early season soil moisture and above average heat are two things the vines picked up on RFN (Right Farmin’ Now.) The hedger, aka “The Enforcer,” is the correct tool for the job. With 5 sets of blades spinning at warp 8, Ernie and The Enforcer will not be denied.

It takes him 3 days to make a single pass through the vineyard, but he does mow up the trimmings as he goes. The first hedge is always the most dramatic. The hedged shoots take about a week to ten days before they start to push new shoot tips. This timeframe gives all the shorter shoots that missed out on the first hedging a chance to grow into the “Red Zone.” Then he is back for the second pass.

The hedgings will continue until canopy discipline improves!

And then, suddenly, as if by the sweat of everyone’s collective brow, we are almost caught up. Through this point of the growing season, we have done what had to be done to get the canopy trained and hedged. But now with leaf pulling, we get to do what we want to do. We find ourselves in the winemaker’s role of determining how much skin tannin we want in our wines.

Pulling more leaves means more wine berry exposure and more robust tannins. Pulling fewer leaves means less sun exposure resulting in more elegant and refined tannins. The discretionary role of leaf pull is where the art of winegrowing takes a “leaf” in destiny.

Practically speaking, the choices lay somewhere between completely denuding the vine of its shade providing leaves or to retain all the leaves and provide abundant shade to the wine berries. Depending on the wine and wine style we are producing, we vacillate widely between the two.

And as we all know, it is a very fine and vacillating line between genius and insanity. Which side you come down on is often determined after the fact and dependant, at least to some extent, upon your ARB quotient (Adult Recreational Beverage consumption per hour over body weight.)

Now if we look at the available statistics, we see that wine reviewers also vary widely in their interpretation of genius and insanity. A case in point is our wonderfully expressive 2012 Dijon Clones Pinot Noir. Personally stewarded through the winegrowing, blending and bottling process, we see a Vinous score of 93 points and a Wine Advocate score of 86 points. Within the microcosm of Pinot Noir wine scores, this range represents nearly the full spectrum. While the statistical comparative computations are an exercise left to the reader, we can assure you that this represents more than a couple standard deviations. Waft The Fruit.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but it is worth pointing out that there is a difference between 17 years of experience, and one year of experience 17 times. Ah, the beauty of vintage variation in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

We just look at each other, toast with an ARB and remember that this is why there all kinds of different dogs for all kinds of different people. One person’s “Best in Show” at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is another person’s padoodle. Full disclosure: We do have a dog in the fight. Ernie’s favorite breed, the Labrador Retriever, has never won best of show since the show’s inception in Manhattan, New York in 1877. That, and look how much money we will save in not having to ship our wines to London for a third time. Wit of a banker, so they say. We will, however, continue to FLOG them until they say they have had enough. Shouldn’t be too much longer now…

Please say Hello to our new vines! Wadenswil clone Pinot Noir they are. We finally received our line posts up from California. It seems they were stuck in the Port of Los Angeles for a good (long) time. And of course the time to pound them would have been a wet spring, not a dry summer, but we are farmers first, and endeavor to persevere we do. While it will be some time before their first vintage is under cork, they are busy putting down character building dry farmed roots. First things first.

And the Swallows have arrived. These voracious insectivores are some of the most aerially talented flyers we have in the vineyard. They frequently are crisscrossing and darting in front of the tractor as Ernie is driving the rows. They are harvesting insects that are attracted to the flowering buckwheat summer cover crop. An ecosystem at work is a wonderful thing to behold.

Across the pond in Europe, and the now recently disassociated UK, they have the Common House Martin. Soccer is also a big deal on the other side of the pond, just ask anyone from Iceland. Perhaps Operation Fork is still an unresolved issue, or maybe the Cod Wars…

Bonus Feature: This is the last known resting place of the Crimson Permanent Assurance. (Hint: Click on the picture.)

Next up is the prospect of thinning the crop load to match the remainder of the growing season. If it is going to be hot, we leave a few extra clusters. If it is going to be more moderate with a cool fall, then we thin off a few more clusters. If we only knew…

Just like playing chicken, the important thing here is to know when to blink. Because, you see, once you cut the clusters off, you can’t put them back on. And it seems the wings that we used to thin off and drop onto the ground have found a home.

The Bellpine Pearl has been a well received wine, so it is looking like there will be a 2016 offering. The “Pearl” is a Blanc de Noir still white wine made from the late to ripen wings of Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. Bellpine is the name given to our sedimentary soil series and the Bellpine Pearl is our pearl from the soil or “Pearl de Bellpine.”

Well that about does it, except for the important numbers. The good news is that the growing season to date degree day accumulation through June is still just 3 digits. We fully expect the July growing season to date accumulation to take us well into the 4 digit range. “Mr. Sulu, scan long range sensors…”

The month of June recorded 363.1 degree days providing an April to date growing season total of 805.1 degree days. We remain climactically ahead of all previous degree day accumulations dating back to 2003. But the 2015 vintage is not far behind at 799.1 degree days. A mere 6.0 points (not 7.0) separates these two vintages as of the end of June. Statistically, we could say they are not significantly different when you consider standard deviations and all…

Looking ahead, the evening temperatures will be the elephant in the room. Warm temperatures at night will increase the rate of sugar accumulation while leaving aroma and flavor development wanting. This could mean another early harvest to keep the potential alcohol below 15%.

However, at Amalie Robert Estate we can tell you the secret to vintage 2016 (and the last 4 vintages) is to manage the canopy and vineyard floor water usage. How you actually do that is very site specific. Old vines with deep roots and grizzled growers with several years experience are quintessential. May want to put the kettle on, Polly.

And what is it with the hail this year? We were pelted again this month with those frosty little pellets. It’s as if someone is raising rabbits in the Heavens. Which reminds us of the old adage: “If pigs could fly it would have had a significant and long lasting impact on the fedora industry.” The homburgs, however, were “built to take it.”

All that aside, or above, we logged 1.33 inches of rain for the month of June. This brings the April to date growing season total to 5.24 inches. July is on the horizon and typically is quite dry in the Willamette Valley, unlike Burgundy which seems to log about 50 centimeters of rain during July – they measure things differently over there. More on the contrast of summer rains in Oregon v Burgundy next month.

Right. You have just been FLOG’d, whether you knew it or not. And we are going to do it again. But please, feel free to forward this on and “FLOG a friend!”

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie