Amalie Robert Estate Update: International Pinot Noir Day!

Hello and Welcome, 

This is an Amalie Robert Estate Update: Today is International Pinot Noir Day! A FLOG communication from @AmalieRobert Dena and Ernie. Amalie Robert Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. 

 

Today is THE day we have been waiting for all year! It is International Pinot Noir day! If you want to know the calendar for the other wine varieties, you can follow this link to the calendar of National Wine days.

https://wineloversvillage.com/national-wine-days/
 

Note: There is no mention of Pinot Meunier day. That’s fine, as we recognize Pinot Meunier Day at Amalie Robert Estate every fall, just before Thanksgiving when we release the latest and best vintage ever.

 

And speaking of new releases, Amalie’s Cuvée is making a debut this weekend! The 2016 vintage along with a few sister vintages are up on the tasting menu this Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23. Watch for your Evite and reserve your day and time.

 

Pinot Noir has three great growing regions on the planet. Closest to home is Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Among other clones, we grow Wadenswil, a Swiss clone of Pinot Noir. The next closest region is Burgundy, France, where they grow the Pommard clone. If you can spare the time, both the North and South islands of New Zealand farm it. However, they do it differently with the Gumshoe clone and 10x5.

 

Unfortunately, the International Pinot Noir Celebration was postponed this year due to COVID-19. That is the opportunity to co-locate in McMinnville, Oregon and taste Pinot Noir grown from all over the world. And maybe someday, things being what they are, we may have an intergalactic Pinot Noir Celebration.

 

Pop ‘em if you got ‘em! You can have a personal celebration without having to leave your own backyard. Online shopping and home delivery of your favorite ARB’s (Adult Recreational Beverages) are no more than a few clicks away.

 

 

If we can be of service, just click on the Big Blue Button. iPinot 6 packs including ground delivery are still running $120. The iPinot price will be manually adjusted after we receive your order. And any orders over $300 come complete with ground shipping in the continental United States included OR we will split the cost of 3 day air shipping with you. Please make a note on your order if you prefer air shipping and Dena will contact you to confirm before shipping.

 

Be prepared. The next big thing is August 28^th - National Red Wine Day.
 
 
Kindest Regards,
 
Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: Pinot Noir In Flagrante 2019

Hello and Welcome, 

  

This is an Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: Pinot Noir In Flagrante 2019. A FLOG Communication. 

  

It is that time of year once again. We have seen the first wine berry “In Flagrante!” 

The day was a beautiful day as we have grown accustomed to this time of year, only more so. The day of the first wine berry to show a little skin (color) was Tuesday, July 30, at about 8:15 am. The Julian calendar day was 211. For those who live in the moment, Ernie would remind you that last year this event occurred on Julian calendar day 215. The historical average for this type of activity is the 15^th of August, Julian calendar day 227, or 228 if it is a leap year. You can read up on the Julian calendar here:

 https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/julian-calendar.html

The lucky block was block 11, which is the deeply rooted home to 891 Pinot Noir clone 114 vines grafted onto that soil moisture extracting 5C rootstock. These vines were planted nearly 20 years ago and we are starting to reap the benefits of vine age.

After that first wine berry sighting, it becomes a race for attention. Block by block it’s “Hey, look at me!” and “I’ve got your wine berry. I’ve got your wine berry right here!” or “We’re takin’ names and kickin’ acid!” There really is no end to this showboating until the Great Cluster Pluck. Kinda like political debates in some ways. And in some ways not…

The other really cool thing to happen this time of year is the IPNC – International Pinot Noir Celebration right here in McMinnville, Oregon. We were fortunate enough to be selected as a Featured Winery again this year. This is a truly spectacular event that anyone who is remotely interested in Pinot Noir and great summer events must attend. It’s a picnic for Pinot Noir and Pinot Noir enthusiasts.

And it truly is international with featured Pinot Noir producers attending from all corners of the globe. As of yet, we have not had any intergalactic Pinot Noir producers, but the International Space Station did a few fly-overs during the event. You can find the best times to view their orbit from your locale here: http://www.isstracker.com/

Things being what they are, we had representation from some of the best growing regions in Europe. You may know them as Austria, France, Germany and Italy. That is because when Europe was finding its footing these countries were continually shifting their boundaries. When it was all said and done, they ended up with the countries and borders that we see today. But what if…

Things worked out differently? Maybe Napoleon did not go to Waterloo and instead opened a pastry shop (Pâtisserie) or boulangerie? Maybe that great regional terroir would ultimately be controlled by just two entities, let’s say Germany and Italy. Perhaps that growing region would today be known as German-Italia. Kinda just rolls off the tongue with a little practice. Sort of…

And if you are a fan of “Star Trek into Wine Country” you may have the opportunity to soon read about a space-time continuum rift in a “return from the future” episode. Visitors from the future return to take vine cuttings and in so doing alter the course of Earth’s history, and by definition, future. Will Pinot Noir become Pinot More? And is Cabernet actually ready to drink with 1,200 years of bottle age?

No longer do the history books list these specific countries, but just a single growing region is referenced – German-Italia. Fortunately, a digital Vinous archive was also appropriated and brought to the future. The Holodeck is then used to recreate Earth’s past vinous history.

And who could have known that the Borg would make such great vineyard workers? Why there is one now mounted up to the front of Ernie’s tractor.

Enough of this nonsense, we have real work to do. In about 60 days’ time, depending on Mother Nature’s mood, we will commence The Great Cluster Pluck of Vintage 2019. If we can maintain a 25 furlong per fortnight speed, we should end up there just about right on schedule.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2015 Mid-April

Hello and Welcome,

This is the Mid-April Climate Update from Amalie Robert Estate in Dallas, Oregon.

The 2015 vintage is off to an early start. The weather here in the Willamette Valley has been unseasonably warm and dry. We experienced bud break early this year - March 24^th, Julian calendar day 83. But now that the buds are showing along the cane, it has turned seasonably cool and wet – Dog Nose weather. And there was a spot of hail, thrice.

No matter, as farmers we opportunistically take advantage of whatever weather breaks we can get, especially around harvest. This year that means Ernie was able to start opening up the vineyard floor with the chisel plow a little early. This task is part of our vine nutrition program where we plant cover crops to feed our vines, not chemical fertilizers. Note: this is Ernie’s view from the tractor seat for the remainder of the growing season…

The next pass is with the rototiller to incorporate all the cover crop that was drilled in last fall. Ernie is not great at forecasting the weather, but he has forecasted the chance of rototiller repairs this year at about 85%. The rototiller also makes a nice seed bed for the new cover crop.

Then he calls up Leonard for a truckload of Buckwheat and Common Vetch, mounts the drill and plants the spring cover crop blend. Add a shower or two in the last half of April; yeah that’s a sure thing, and Voila!, we have fertilizer for the fall feeding of our vines.

Meanwhile all of last years’ canes have been pulled out of the trellis, placed in the permanent grassed rows and flail mowed. This mixing of “greens and browns” will also return nutrients to the soil, which is the plants’ stomach. The annual “Rites of Spring” trellis repairs have also been completed.

If you like Pinot, and you want to go on a picnic, why not join us at the IPNiC? The International Pinot Noir Celebration is turning 29 this year, just for the first time though, and we were invited! And 29 was a fun year (what we can remember,) we have seen the pictures. Then just like that, BAM, 39! We knew better, but still didn’t care.

The IPNC brings together “70 of the worlds top Pinot Noir wineries” for a 3 day celebration of the heartbreak grape – Pinot Noir. You can view the list of this year’s wineries here: Featured Wineries. And they expect you to pay attention and learn something.

As you can see, this truly is an international event. Pinot Noir, more so than any other grape, uniquely expresses where it was grown. This year’s crop of wineries are from as close by as Dallas, Oregon, from as far away as Beaune in the heart of Burgundy, and Sam Neill will be joining us from NewZealand.

If people from New Zealand are called New Zealanders, would you call someone from Beaune a Beauner? Attend IPNC this year and you can find out!

You know what happens next, it’s numbers time!

We start tracking the growing season, officially, on April Fools Day every year. That should tell you something about farming and numbers. It is also Julian calendar day 91, unless it is a leap year and then the first day of the growing season is 92. Those farming numbers…

However, that is the agreed upon parameter in the northern hemisphere, so we go with it. Unofficially, we keep any eye on the number of “nice days” during February and March. And this year is was really nice in February and March, technically speaking.

But now that everything (literally) is being recorded and on the record (except some unnamed E-mails,) April has shown us a bit of a cold shoulder. What a tease… We have managed to see a high of 66.8 degrees on April 9^th at just about 4 pm. Then on April 15^th, if not a frosty enough day in its own right, we plunged down to 29.9 degrees. We were below freezing for about 6 hours beginning at 1:00 am. We will be on the lookout for some frost damage. Alas, we will not record any degree days for the first half of April.

But we will log the rainfall! We have received 16.68 inches of rain for the pre-measurement period of January – March. This is good in that Amalie Robert Estate is dry farmed and we like to see the soil fully charged as we move into the growing season. The first half of April has brought us 1.90 inches of rain.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie