Amalie Robert Climate Update: June Vintage 2021, Why Is It SO FARMING HOT!?

Hello and Welcome, 

  

This is the Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: June Vintage 2021, Why is it SO FARMING HOT!?

 

The vineyard at Amalie Robert Estate has experienced a wide range of events this month including, but not limited to: record breaking heat, a full spread assault of frozen ice pellets (what the hail!?), all three sets of catch wires coming up and clipped into position and Ernie out there hedging the vine’s shoot tips off. Growing low alcohol wines means growing a short canopy - especially in a hot vintage.

Precision farming, Ernie hedging a short canopy.

A Willamette Valley Harvest isn’t here yet. We estimate Julian calendar day 257 (September 14th), but it’s starting to come into view. You can check out our harvest video courtesy of VineStories.

 
 
Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means. ®
 

A FLOG communication (Farming bLOG) by Dena & Ernie from Amalie Robert Estate. Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Have a look and see what we see on Instagram @AmalieRobert Estate. We are posting on Facebook and LinkedIn. Check us out if you can. We can use all the likes we can get…

 

June is Dena’s birthday month. She is a Gemini and provides a calming force to the Taurus in her life. The Pommard clone of Pinot Noir is her thing, and Amalie’s Cuvée is her jam. A 300 case production means just 12 lucky barrels find their way into her final blend. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. A wine that is just about as natural as the day is long.

 

Do YOU like Pommard? Or Wadenswil? Will you be in our area? Do you want to experience Amalie Robert Pinot Noir? Or maybe Syrah? Amalie Robert Estate is open all summer by appointment for vineyard tours and tastings. Click on the map for driving directions and select your preferred day and time with the Big Red Button.

 

Why is it SO FARMING HOT!?
 

The June month-end heat wave has sent past records into the dust bin of history. At the Amalie Robert Estate vineyard in Dallas, (Oregon not Texas) Monday morning, June 28^th saw a blazing 97 degrees - at 9:00 am! And finished the day with a high temperature of 118. That was after a record high on Sunday of 113 (low of 86) and 109 for Saturday. Friday was the lead up with a mere 100 and Thursday started the show with a paltry 98. And there was a strong, recirculating breeze acting like a convection oven for any living creature exposed to the elements. The average wind speed during this event was 3.7 miles per hour, with gusts reaching 11.8 miles per hour. With a relative humidity of 25%, our 118-degree temperature had a heat index of over 130 degrees. It is OFF the chart!

 

 

Why, you may ask. Why is it SO FARMING HOT!? Well, we will tell you why. In a word, or two, it is the Jet Stream. A high-pressure dome set itself up over the Seattle area. This allowed an ABUNDANCE OF HOT AIR from the states to our south to come into the northwest. That airflow established a circular flow all around the Pacific Northwest including Canada. And it’s not even an ELECTION YEAR…

 

 

The Jet Stream circulating HOT AIR into the Willamette Valley.

 

This breeze kept recirculating the hot air coming north, thus preventing any cool air to come south from the Gulf of Alaska. The middle of the country was subject to the cooling effect of cold Canadian air. The result was unprecedented, prolonged and excessive heat throughout the wine growing area of the Willamette Valley.

 

Forget Climate Change. Somebody has got to straighten out the Jet Stream!

 

And aren’t you just a little bit curious how your region stacks up to the Willamette Valley? This graphic shows the real-time temperatures for the entire United States. Alaska and Hawaii seem to have gone missing. That’s where we would be, if we were to be somewhere other than here.

 

That is Portland registering 111 degrees, as of Monday, June 28^th.

 

 

Where there is FIRE, there is SMOKE.

 

FIRE – it’s a four-letter word, and one that is generally unwelcome in the vineyard environment. And then we move onto the 5 letter words like SMOKE and TAINT. These are completely unacceptable. The excessive heat in the areas around the Willamette Valley is of concern. There are wildfires burning now and we are monitoring that situation. You can read our position on the ill-fated Vintage 2020 here. A post-preview of coming attractions? We hope not.

 

The closest fire to us is designated S-503. It is burning south of Mount Hood and due east of the aptly named town of Woodburn. This is northeast of us by about 100 miles. Apparently, there are still some trees left there that were not burned last year. They say lightning never strikes twice; we say don’t bet on it and NOAA agrees. The Empire State building is hit by lightning about 25 times each year. Those folks at the Boston Fire Department (BFD) know how to handle this type of situation. Maybe give them a call…

 

 

So, what are we doing about it?

 

We are taking it as it comes, as that is really your only option as a winegrower. That and a couple of hotel nights with air conditioning. Field labor stops when the temperatures become unsafe. Ernie can run the tractors, hedging early in the morning, but excessive heat is not good for the equipment, or the equipment operator. The excessive heat does provide a good opportunity to finish up the annual equipment maintenance down in the cool, below ground level shop. The flail mower took out a bearing this month, and what a helluva bearing it is!

 

Replaced the flail mower bearing, it was all farmed out.

The vines, however, are making the most of their unsupervised time. Typically, vines do not get much done when the temperature drops below 50 degrees at night. That is why the evening cooldowns are such an important climatic attribute of winegrowing in the Willamette Valley. Cool evening temperatures prevent the vines from quickly building excess sugars before aroma and flavor can develop.

 

The BIG picture at Amalie Robert Estate.

Not this week. Like a kid set loose in a candy store, those vines are growing at a record pace. Over 2.5 inches of rain early in the month, during bloom, is enabling their growth. The evening temperatures in the mid-70’s and above allow for a 24 hour growth cycle. There is no evening cooldown to apply the brakes. The other side of the coin is that at temperatures above 100 degrees the vines call it quits. The leaves turn away from the sun and the vines go into their form of a lockdown. The end of June brought with it over 38 continuously unbearable hours of temperatures maintaining 70 to 115+ degrees.

 

 
What Does This Mean and Why Should I Care?


Leaves in the fruit zone shading the newly formed wine berries.

What we did not do. We did NOT pull leaves out of the fruit zone that shade the newly formed wine berries. Pulling leaves out of the fruit zone is a standard viticultural practice intended to reduce the incidence of powdery mildew and our old friend botrytis. Thanks to botrytis we were able to produce a once in a lifetime wine, Pakuk’s Gift Late Harvest Chardonnay.

 

But botrytis is not the intent. The case for removing leaves is to allow early morning sun exposure on the wine berries to evaporate the moisture from the morning dew that may foster powdery mildew and botrytis development. All well and good, in moderation.

 

The case against removing leaves is that excessive sun exposure can form aggressive tannins in the skins or in the most extreme case - sunburn. This leads to a very harsh finish in the wine. Not attractive in a silky-smooth Amalie Robert Pinot Noir.

 

Timing is key. Often times leaves are removed from the fruit zone right after flowering. This is done for one of two reasons: one is dogmatic as in “we have always done it that way.” The other is because the vineyard is situated in an area with high humidity, or restricted cold air drainage. Actually a third reason for early leaf removal can be because that is when a field crew was available. The world may run on Dunkin, but vineyards run on field labor. And diesel.

A view from the Chief Farming Officer's seat, moving ahead and looking behind.

Extended periods of high humidity foster powdery mildew and botrytis infections – both of these pathogens need moisture to grow. What’s done is done. Woe betide you if those leaves were removed before this excessive heat and sun exposure event. The decision to remove leaves early in the growing season may become evident in wine marked by excessively harsh tannins. Leaves are your friends, leave them be. They have a job to do. Thank them.

 

 
Numbers: The Dichotomy of Farming.
 

As we look back at the month, we find the view from the Independence Hotel to be similar to the view we had here during the ice storm in March. What a messed up year we have in 2021.

 

The vineyard encased in ice after Ice Storm 2021.

As we see from this monthly graphic, we began June on a high note of 97, then cooled where our high temperatures just hit the mid-60’s. (what a time that was) and dipped into the 40’s at night. And then the sweltering set upon us.

 

Bear in mind these temperatures are recorded at a nearby weather station. What we see on a nice south facing slope at 485 to 640 feet elevation is another matter.

 

Vineyards are typically planted on elevated south, southeast or southwest facing slopes for two reasons. The first is so that cold air does not pool overnight and frost out your efforts.

 

The second reason is that south facing aspects have a greater “angel of incidence” to the sun. The angel of incidence is the angle at which the slope receives the sun’s rays, with 90% being the maximum. The greater the slope, the more solar radiation is received. The vast majority of the vineyard at Amalie Robert Estate faces due south with a 10-15 percent slope. As the Earth tilts toward the sun, our angle of incidence is very high during June. This maximizes our solar radiation potential.

 

And let us not forget the longest day of the year was just last week! Actually, the length of the day remains constant, it is the hours of sunshine that change.

 

On Monday, June 28^th we received 15 hours and 33 minutes of sunshine. Our high of the day was 118 and our low was 86 degrees. By contrast the shortest period of daylight hours in 2021 will be December 20^th, 8 hours and 46 minutes.

 

We recorded 532 Degree Days for the month of June, Vintage 2021. The first half of the month accounted for 177 Degree Days and the second half exactly doubled the first with 355 Degree Days. That in of itself is an anomaly. The high temperature for the month was 118.0 degrees recorded on Monday, June 28^th at 1:18 pm. Again, an odd semblance of numbers. The low temperature was 39.2 degrees recorded on June 9^th at 5:36 am. The June high and low temperatures span a 79 degree difference. Vintage 2021 growing season to-date Degree Days stand at 1,040 through June. And that is a number most everyone is familiar with.

 

We had both forms of moisture during the month of June - Rain AND Hail. As June began to reveal itself, we were treated to a pleasant first week. Then the honeymoon was over and we were abruptly pelted by a full spread of high velocity ice pellets. It was a hail of a lot of fun… Good times in the month of JUNE! But these were pea sized hail, not the Texas kind. Texas recently recorded a hailstone that weighed in at 1.25 POUNDS. Now that can do a hail of a lot of damage!

 

Rainfall recorded in June is 2.55 inches bring the growing season April through June total to 3.56 inches. Based on the heat and resulting rapid vine growth, we can say with confidence that the June rainfall is now long gone.

 

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Sub-AVA and Portfolio Update: Vinous Edition 2020

Hello and Welcome, 

This is an Amalie Robert Estate Sub-AVA and Portfolio Update: Vinous Edition 2020. A FLOG communication from Dena and Ernie @AmalieRobert. Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. 

As many avid readers of the FLOG (Farming bLOG) know, there is a sub Willamette Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) petition for our area in process with the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). This is the second petition from our area.

The first petition with the name Mt. Pisgah Mistletoe Ridge was unanimously approved by the petitioners’ group in 2016, however it was summarily rejected by the TTB in 2017. In Monty Python parlance it “…caught fire, fell over and then sank into the swamp.”

Welcome to our idiom. The original petition was rejected due to the name submitted. The TTB requires the proposed name of the bounded area to be currently in use to avoid confusion. The name chosen was not currently in use. However, we did consider petitioning the county to change the name of a road to match the proposed bounded area.

 

 

As you might imagine, coming up with a commercially viable name is quite important from a marketing point of view. And it should fit on a label in a font your customers can read. While everyone agreed on the original name, that was not the case on the second name.

 

As part of the TTB rejection process, the TTB had suggested a name that they would accept. That name was Mt. Pisgah, Polk County, Oregon. Polk County is included because there is a Mt. Pisgah in Lane County Oregon. And Oregon is included because there is a Mt. Pisgah reference in Polk County Florida. Therefore, Mt. Pisgah, Polk County, Oregon to avoid confusion.

The entire Willamette Valley AVA is 3,438,000 acres. The smallest Willamette Valley sub-AVA is Ribbon Ridge at about 3,500 acres. The remaining Willamette Valley sub-AVA’s are:

 

Chehalem Mountains sub-AVA is about 62,000 acres.

Dundee Hills sub-AVA is about 12,600 acres.

Both the Eola-Amity Hills and McMinville sub-AVA’s are about 39,000 acres.

Van Duzer Corridor sub-AVA is about 60,000 acres.

Yamhill-Carlton District sub-AVA is about 57,000 acres.

 

For the second petition, the bounded area was nearly doubled from its original size of 4,100 acres. Again, not everyone agreed with that action. The original bounded area from the first petition is depicted below. We will refer to this original bounded area as Mt. Pisgah Prime. Follow the red line to trace the boundary and the blue lines to trace the vineyards.

 

 

Due north of Amalie Robert Estate by about 1.25 miles is Mt. Pisgah, Polk County, Oregon standing proud at 835 feet above sea level. Our highest elevation in the vineyard is 654 feet above sea level.

 

The petition is working its way through the bowels of the TTB. As more information becomes available, we will pass that along. Meanwhile, let’s have a look at some of the wines that come from this 4,100 acre Mt. Pisgah Prime. And not just Amalie Robert wines. This is kind of a “pre-coming out” look-and-see.

 

 

Portfolio Update: Vinous Edition 2020

Let’s just get right into this. All reviews are by Josh Raynolds of Vinous Media from May, August and September 2020. There are all manner of wine reviewers out there, and then there is Vinous Media.

 

“Bob, I think I got here too late. You have your cherry orchard on top of my vineyard!"

 

We started with a Montmorency cherry orchard in 1999. We planted our first 10 acres of vines at the turn of the century and have kept at it to get where we are today – 35 acres of producing vines and an Estate winery. We grow, ferment, blend and bottle only Estate Grown wine including Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Viognier. And pre-commercial amounts of Gewürztraminer.

 

Please note that the wines identified here were grown in our vineyard and our neighbor’s vineyard where the shared property line to our east separates the vines. The Willamette Valley sub-AVA petition for our area (Mt. Pisgah, Polk County, Oregon which includes our neighbor), is winding its way through the process. As this image of Ernie standing in front of our Bellpine soil reveals, we have some pretty good dirt to work with.

 

 

And it doesn’t seem to matter that much on the clones. Coury, Pommard or Wadenswil can all do well on our sedimentary Bellpine soils. Dena favors the Pommard clone, and Ernie is a Wadenswil man. The jury is still out on Dick Erath’s clone 95, but we will have some of that fermenting up this fall. Who knows, maybe yet another 95 for clone 95 is in the works.

 

 

Let’s move right along to the cool climate Syrah program. They say luck favors the prepared mind. At Microsoft it was said, it is better to be lucky than good. A little trip to the Northern Rhône produced a very fortuitous meeting with Marcel Guigal. Somewhere in all those tea leaves the Syrah program took form.

 

“Syrah has emerged as a serious, if obscure, wild card in Oregon, and while there are still just a few examples being produced, some of them are among the best the New World has to offer. Gargantua, a new-ish project from Josh Bergstrom, of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay) fame, is producing a truly stunning Syrah, as are Amalie Robert, Cristom and Penner-Ash. Then there’s the Rogue Valley, which, as I noted above, is solidifying itself as an attention-worthy source for Syrah, especially at Cowhorn.”  - Oregon Outside the Pinot Noir Box. By Josh Raynolds | September 03, 2020

 

The basis of our cool climate Syrah is 4 clones of Syrah that Marcel Guigal had identified to Ernie and a slight mix-up at the grafting bench that introduced Viognier into the mix. Dionysus, the Greek god of all things vinous, must have lent some divine intervention. The net result: Côte Rôtie from Oregon. It is with a great debt of gratitude that we check in on the Guigal single vineyard wines of Côte Rôtie.

 

 

When it comes to Oregon Chardonnay, we are not alone in Mt. Pisgah Prime. Check out the map to find Open Claim Vineyards. The Heirloom Cameo is our BFC. That’s Barrel Fermented Chardonnay for everyone not hip to the cellar lingo. We use a 500 liter puncheon to ferment and mature the Heirloom Cameo for 14 months. A nifty little trick that we lifted off the Burgundians for imparting just the right amount of new oak, while keeping the wine’s focus on the palate texture and elegant but persistent finish.

 

 

Pinot Meunier: The “Champagne Deconstructed” option. While it is true that Dena has a soft spot for Champagne, we have yet to pull the trigger on a secondary fermentation. Oh sure, we have made the base wine from Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir and we label that as the Bellpine Pearl. As a platinum hued white wine, it is our pearl from the soil – without the gas.

 

“Pinot Meunier, a cousin of Pinot Noir, is a no-brainer when it comes to potential in the Willamette Valley, and the examples being made by Eyrie and Amalie Robert speak to the great possibilities that exist here. But given market realities, I’m not holding my breath that many growers will soon turn much of their attention to this variety at the expense of Pinot Noir.” - Oregon Outside the Pinot Noir Box. By Josh Raynolds | September 03, 2020

 

The Pinot Meunier stands alone. One of the most outgoing of the Pinot family of wines and pairs with oh-so-many culinary inclinations. One of the first to grow Pinot Meunier in the Willamette Valley was David Lett. His wine style of this variety always struck us as elegant and perfumed and we were drawn to this style of letting Meunier be Meunier. In other words, don’t muck it up!

 

 

As is de rigueur for these pages, we end with the numbers and a handy scorecard for future reference. For those more graphically oriented, you can check out all of our bottlings and past vintages on the Scorecard.

 

Club 95. This is the first year we have gained admittance to this exclusive collection of wines. We have three entries from two vintages.

 

2016 Pommard Clone Pinot Noir

2016 Wadenswil Pinot Noir

2014 The Reserve Pinot Noir

 

With a score of 94, we have been here before. Note the Top Barrel Syrah remains the highest rated Estate grown Willamette Valley Syrah. Our first 94 point Top Barrel Syrah was from the 2012 vintage.

 

2015 Amalie’s Cuvée Pinot Noir

2015 Estate Selection Pinot Noir

2014 Top Barrel Syrah

 

Following closely along in third position is the field of 93’s. Here we see the variety of wines our sedimentary Bellpine soil is able to produce. Maybe that 5C rootstock is all it’s cracked up to be…

 

2015 Heirloom Cameo Chardonnay (BFC)

2015 Dijon Clones Pinot Noir

2015 Satisfaction Syrah

2014 Satisfaction Syrah

 

Here come the sweepers holding a quite respectable position 92.

 

2016 Pinot Meunier

2015 The Uncarved Block Pinot Noir

 

Kindest Regards,

 

Dena & Ernie

Portfolio Update: Vinous Edition 2020

Hello and Welcome, 
  
This is an Amalie Robert Estate Portfolio Update: Vinous Edition 2020. A FLOG communication from Dena and Ernie @AmalieRobert. Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. 

  
Let’s just get right into this. All reviews are by Josh Raynolds of Vinous Media from May, August and September 2020. There are all manner of wine reviewers out there, and then there is Vinous Media. 
 
“Bob, I think I got here too late. You have your cherry orchard on top of my vineyard!"
 
We started with a Montmorency cherry orchard in 1999. We planted our first 10 acres at the turn of the century and have kept at it to get where we are today – 35 acres of producing vines and an Estate winery. We grow, ferment, blend and bottle only Estate Grown wine including Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Viognier. And pre-commercial amounts of Gewürztraminer.
 

 
At this point, it may be worth noting that the wines identified below were grown in our vineyard and our neighbor’s vineyard where the shared property line to our east separates the vines. The sub Willamette Valley AVA petition for our area (Mt. Pisgah Polk County, Oregon which includes our neighbor), is winding its way through the process. As this image of Ernie standing in front of our Bellpine soil reveals, we have some pretty good dirt to work with.
 

 
And it doesn’t seem to matter that much on the clones. Coury, Pommard or Wadenswil can all do well on our sedimentary Bellpine soils. Dena favors the Pommard clone, and Ernie is a Wadenswil man. The jury is still out on Dick Erath’s clone 95, but we will have some of that fermenting up this fall. Who knows, maybe yet another 95 for clone 95 is in the works.
 
 
 
Let’s move right along to the cool climate Syrah program. They say luck favors the prepared mind. At Microsoft it was said, it is better to be lucky than good. A little trip to the Northern Rhône produced a very fortuitous meeting with Marcel Guigal. Somewhere in all those tea leaves the Syrah program took form.
 
“Syrah has emerged as a serious, if obscure, wild card in Oregon, and while there are still just a few examples being produced, some of them are among the best the New World has to offer. Gargantua, a new-ish project from Josh Bergstrom, of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay) fame, is producing a truly stunning Syrah, as are Amalie Robert, Cristom and Penner-Ash. Then there’s the Rogue Valley, which, as I noted above, is solidifying itself as an attention-worthy source for Syrah, especially at Cowhorn.”  - Oregon Outside the Pinot Noir Box. By Josh Raynolds | September 03, 2020
 
The basis of our cool climate Syrah is 4 clones of Syrah that Marcel Guigal had identified to Ernie and a slight mix-up at the grafting bench that introduced Viognier into the mix. Dionysus, the Greek god of all things vinous, must have lent some divine intervention. The net result: Côte Rôtie from Oregon. It is with a great debt of gratitude that we check in on the Guigal single vineyard wines of Côte Rôtie.
 

 
When it comes to Oregon Chardonnay, it’s not just for pirates anymore. The Heirloom Cameo is our BFC. That’s Barrel Fermented Chardonnay for everyone not hip to the cellar lingo. We use a 500 liter puncheon to ferment and mature the Heirloom Cameo for 14 months. A nifty little trick that we lifted off the Burgundians for imparting just the right amount of new oak, while keeping the wine’s focus on the palate texture and elegant but persistent finish.
 

 
Pinot Meunier: The “Champagne Deconstructed” option. While it is true that Dena has a soft spot for Champagne, we have yet to pull the trigger on a secondary fermentation. Oh sure, we have made the base wine from Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir and we label that as the Bellpine Pearl. As a platinum hued white wine, it is our pearl from the soil – without the gas.
 
“Pinot Meunier, a cousin of Pinot Noir, is a no-brainer when it comes to potential in the Willamette Valley, and the examples being made by Eyrie and Amalie Robert speak to the great possibilities that exist here. But given market realities, I’m not holding my breath that many growers will soon turn much of their attention to this variety at the expense of Pinot Noir.” - Oregon Outside the Pinot Noir Box. By Josh Raynolds | September 03, 2020
 
The Pinot Meunier stands alone. One of the most outgoing of the Pinot family of wines and pairs with oh-so-many culinary inclinations. One of the first to grow Pinot Meunier in the Willamette Valley was David Lett. His wine style of this variety always struck us as elegant and perfumed and we were drawn to this style of letting Meunier be Meunier. In other words, don’t muck it up!
 

  
As is de rigueur for these pages, we end with the numbers and a handy scorecard for future reference.
 

 
Club 95. This is the first year we have gained admittance to this exclusive collection of wines. We have three entries from two vintages.
 
2016 Pommard Clone Pinot Noir
2016 Wadenswil Pinot Noir
2014 The Reserve Pinot Noir
 
With a score of 94, we have been here before. Note the Top Barrel Syrah remains the highest rated Willamette Valley Syrah. Our first 94 point Top Barrel Syrah was from the 2012 vintage.
 
2015 Amalie’s Cuvée Pinot Noir
2015 Estate Selection Pinot Noir
2014 Top Barrel Syrah
 
Following closely along in third position is the field of 93’s. Here we see the variety of wines our sedimentary Bellpine soil is able to produce. Maybe that 5C rootstock is all it’s cracked up to be…
 
2015 Heirloom Cameo Chardonnay (BFC)
2015 Dijon Clones Pinot Noir
2015 Satisfaction Syrah
2014 Satisfaction Syrah
 
Here come the sweepers holding a quite respectable position 92.
 
2016 Pinot Meunier (Sold out)
2015 The Uncarved Block Pinot Noir

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

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: Flowers 2020

Hello and Welcome, 

This is an Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: Flowers 2020. A FLOG communication from Dena and Ernie. Amalie Robert Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. 

  

The first sighting of wine berry flowers at Amalie Robert Estate occurred Monday, June 8, 2020. Flowers are the first sign that vintage 2020 is headed to harvest. And it comes with some specificity (105 days to be exact) from flowers to The Great Cluster Pluck. Yep, you can set your watch by it. You know the one… the one with just one hand.

Your timing would be off of course, but it wouldn’t be your fault. There are all manner of hidden and not so hidden disasters-in-waiting that can disrupt the path to harvest. And while we have fortunately not seen them all, in 20 years we have seen enough and gained tremendous experience. Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want. But it is wisdom that we are after, if only...

Like the early warning Cedar Waxwings that flew into the vineyard last week. They are wine berry bandits, complete with masks and afterburners. Typically, their turf is southern Oregon and we would prefer they stay there.

And so we press on to harvest 2020, undaunted in our quest. Even though we have seen this show before, each year’s production varies considerably from baseline and year to year. We live the infamous words of John Wayne, “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

We grow three selections of Pinot Noir: Pommard Clone, Wadenswil Clone and five of the Dijon Clones. Each of them blooms about the same time, mostly dependent upon on where they are situated in the vineyard. Higher elevation plantings have a tendency to flower later and we usually harvest them toward the end of The Great Cluster Pluck. If you would like to learn more about the Wadenswil Clone, you can check out Interview with a Clone - Wadenswil 2A.

We also produce dedicated bottlings to showcase the best of what these clones can do on our site. The Pommard and Wadenswil Clone selections are typically just 2 barrels each (48 cases) of the most intriguing barrels of the vintage.  The Dijon Clones bottling is a little different story. We planted five of the Dijon Clones of Pinot Noir and they are 113, 114, 115, 667 and 777. We blend all five of these clones together to make the Dijon Clones Pinot Noir.

If you would like to experience these clones in their purest form, click on the Big Blue Button that will whisk you away to Amalie Robert Direct where you can peruse bottlings and select your favorite vintages. And check out the iPinot 6-pack offering while you are there.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie