Amalie Robert Estate Vintage 2022 Pre-view: Spring Renewal

Hello and Welcome, 

  

Crocus, Daffodil and Grape Hyacinth – Welcome Spring! 

This is the Vintage 2022 Preview – aka Spring Renewal. That ties right in with our other Spring theme, Spring Lamb. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means. ® by Dena & Ernie from Amalie Robert Estate. Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, et al. A FLOG communication (Farming bLOG). You can keep up with vintage 2022 by subscribing to our Instagram account @AmalieRobert.

 

Many people see each vintage as a new beginning, and when it comes to the wine it certainly is. However, farmers, and wine growers in particular, are perennials. Sure, there are some aging baby boomers, GEN Xer’s and Millennials in the group, but if you are growing wine, you pick up from where you left off last fall with vineyard pruning.

 

The art of vineyard pruning is to cut away the unnecessary dormant canes from last year, pull those canes out of the trellis wires (without breaking the wires) and then wrapping a cane down on the fruiting wire for vintage 2022 fruit production. In theory this Spring Renewal is done before Daylight Savings Time kicks in, where we lose an hour. Lost time is never found.

 

Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir at Amalie Robert before pruning.



First cuts are done.


Canes pulled out of the trellis wires.


Pinot Noir wrapped on the fruiting wire and ready for Spring Renewal!

Vineyard pruning in the Willamette Valley is an arduous winter task. Your day is confined to a few acres of dormant vines, a pair of 30 inch loppers, raingear, gloves and boots with soggy socks in a windy, rainy vineyard where the highlight of your day may be getting to see a rainbow. If you leave your lunch unprotected, then it will mostly likely be detected by some squirrel or weasel making a long day an even longer day for you. No matter how you spin it, pruning (generally speaking) draws a vacuum. But it does get you out in the open air, without a mask…

 

Unlike annual crops that don’t need to be pruned, vines put down deep roots. Vine age, root depth and soil colonization are very highly regarded traits of an “old vine” vineyard. These established vines and root systems are less susceptible to surface level drought and excessive rains. Old vines are battle tested and resilient. As we look forward to our second 20 years of wine growing, these old vines from the turn of the century are impressive to see.

Old Vine Pinot Noir at Amalie Robert. 


Spring is About to Spring!
 

Astronomically speaking, the Willamette Valley 2022 Spring Equinox occurs at 8:33 am PST on Sunday, March 20^th. Be sure to set your clocks, you won’t want to miss the first day of Spring!

 

But it has been a long time getting here. On February 2^nd, that oversized rodent Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter, and we have had it! As this US weather temperature graphic shows, it has been a grueling winter season, masks and all. Maybe what we need to do is change out that rodent…

 

Click on this link to check the current temperatures
 

There is good news on the horizon. That is where you always find it, on the horizon. The foretold additional winter and associated mask mandates are coming to an end. We know this because Groundhog Day plus 6 more weeks of winter adds up to the first day of Spring! (That, and no one wants a mask mandate revolt on the first day of Spring. ”Let them truckers roll, 10-4.”)

  

Ready to Drink (RTD) Cocktails are something that this country embraced during the height of the pandemic. But they are not new. Quite recently, the old school implementation has been revived in the Ukrainian alcohol space. As we can see in this video, Ready to Deploy  Molotov Cocktails are experiencing a strong resurgence.

 

Wrapped and ready to deploy!
 
 
What you do when no one is looking matters.
 

The definition of integrity, according to C.S. Lewis, “is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Cover crops are vineyard inputs that most people are unfamiliar with. But they are the unsung heroes of winegrowing

 

Cover crops are working while the vines are sleeping. Just like rust is always working. If you live in a state where salt is used on winter roads to melt the ice, you know what we are talking about. Please give our regards to Phil, the rodent.

 

Cover crop plants hit the ground running, sort of speak. Once the seeds are under about a quarter inch of soil and get a little rainfall they germinate. This is what they are pre-programmed to do. They grow roots to help hold our soil onto the hill during winter rains. Depending on the plants you have chosen, they can also impart nutrients into the soil to feed the vines the following spring. They may also bloom, which provides much needed pollen (protein) to feed our battalions of predatory vineyard insects.

Cover crop in bloom.

Nitrogen is always a limiting factor in vine growth. Nitrogen is a macro nutrient along with Phosphorous and Potassium. Think of the three main inputs to a bread dough recipe. Once you run out of one, you are done making bread. A lack of any of the three macro nutrients limits vine growth.

 

Phosphorus and Potassium bind to the colloids in the soil like a Syrah stain on your favorite sweater. Nitrogen is a special case. Unlike Phosphorus and Potassium, winter rains will wash Nitrogen out of the soil. The vines awaken to their Spring renewal and find the soil is fairly well depleted of Nitrogen.

 

Our part of the Willamette Valley receives about 45 inches of rain each fall (and virtually no rain during the summer). Our objective with cover crops is to always use a plant that will “fix” Nitrogen in the soil. Legumes such as winter peas or summer crops such as Vetch will fix Nitrogen in the soil.

 

When we use the term “fix” we mean that the plant will take Nitrogen out of the atmosphere and translocate it to its roots. Nitrogen fixation is often seen as small nodules on the root system. Turning these plants into the soil in Springtime will release the Nitrogen so that the vine roots can uptake it for the current growing season. Think of it as “Just in Time” fertilization. Not to worry about the atmosphere, about 78% of the air we breathe is Nitrogen, the remaining 21% is oxygen and that last 1% depends on your specific location in the world.

 

The alternative is not to plant cover crops. This leaves the soil on the vineyard floor undisturbed and there are benefits to that – especially if you are a worm, or know someone who is. Typically, grass is grown in each row to prevent soil erosion. The grass will compete with the vines for water and nutrients. That means that the vines will be getting their nutrients from a source other than cover crops.

 

A third possibility is to leave the vineyard floor clean cultivated. This means that all of the plants are gone, and the soil is completely bare and exposed. This may be a condition left over from the growing season where all of the plants are tilled into the soil to reduce water competition to young vines or vines grafted onto rootstocks producing shallow root systems. It may be intentional, or it could be that the tractor broke down before the cover crop could be planted and then the rains set in. Either way, it is the least desirable condition for the vineyard floor as we begin the growing season.

 

 

What does this mean and why should I care?

 

Have you ever tasted a wine and thought, well, it’s pleasant enough but something is lacking? Maybe it was filtered before being bottled and that took out some of the magic. Or maybe, the grapes were a little starved for nutrients when they were on the vine. Hmm… The first clue would be to look for signs of cover crops, or empty bags of (Ukrainian) fertilizer. Watson, get your boots. We are going sleuthing!

 

Assessing a vine’s nutritional health as it contributes to wine quality is a difficult task. Each vine is contributing to wine quality. The difficult part is finding the vines that are not contributing in a positive way. Imagine conducting 52,000 individual performance evaluations each year. It’s kinda like that.

 

Sometimes an issue arises and affects a certain section of the vineyard. In this case it is most likely something in the soil at that particular location such as a winter high water table that is drowning the roots. Or it could be a specific clone and rootstock combination under attack. Monocultures in agriculture are a risky thing.

 

Consider the Irish Potato Famine. The Irish Lumper was a very prolific potato and a staple in in many Irish households. It also just happened to be susceptible to a water mold that destroyed the plant and the potatoes. Sadly, this variety was virtually a monoculture throughout Ireland. After two growing seasons, the Irish Lumper was all but wiped out. On the bright side, an Irish farmer has re-introduced the Irish Lumper. That is going to require a well thought out marketing plan. Good luck with that.

 

Sometimes you do see a vine’s plea for help. This can occur after an incident of tractor blight. Tractor blight occurs when the vine and the tractor try to occupy the same physical space at the same time. The resulting blight is clearly visible and in most cases the vine can recover.

 

Other times it is the leaves that are making the ask. Nutrient deficiencies can manifest themselves through leaf discoloration. We have a known Magnesium deficiency when vines are grafted onto 44-53M rootstock. The leaves show a specific chlorosis that indicates the vine is lacking Magnesium. Other nutrients have specific “tells” that discolor the leaves indicating the specific nutritional deficiency.

 

Magnesium deficiency in a grapevine leaf.
 
And then there is mite damage. These little insects feed on the vascular tissue of the vine robbing it of its precious fluids. Cover crops, as detailed above, can help increase your predatory insect population that will decrease the unwanted mite population. And we may take a brief moment to point out “Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!”
 

Major Kong Rides The Bomb in Dr. Strangelove
 

When you discover a deficiency during the growing season, what to do? If you passed on the cover crops last fall, well, as Tanya Tucker sang. “It's a little too late to do the right thing now.” As always in farming, doing nothing is an option. Applying some form of fertilizer to feed the deficiency is the other option. But the underlying question is seldom addressed, what does this mean for wine quality?

 

Some clones have their own issues in the form of being virused. No matter what you do, the vine has an internal issue that manifests itself during the growing season. For Pinot Noir clone 667, this usually means the vine looks completely stressed weeks before harvest. No human input of fertilizer or cover crop regime will solve what ails this vine. The resulting wine from this clone is distinctive and can easily be identified in the cellar. As for the quality of the wine, it is often exemplary.

 

So if it works, do we have to fix it? We have adopted the position that a healthy vine with access to naturally formed nutrients is the first best path to wine quality. Every growing season is unique in the Willamette Valley and deficiencies can happen. Lack of soil moisture is a common theme in the summer and has been more pronounced in recent vintages. But does this mean we should start irrigating our dry farmed vineyards? Of course not. We recognize the vintage variations of a marginal climate and celebrate the fact that our wines do reflect the ever-changing climate. Our long-term objective however, is to have grown the best wine on the planet, for as long as we have a planet to grow wine on.

 

 

Live from New York!

 

The numbers this month come from New York where Vinous Media is published. Our 2016 “Hers and His” reserve Pinot Noir wines were just reviewed. And they went right down the line: 93 points Amalie’s Cuvee, 94 points Estate Selection and 95 points for the 2015 The Reserve. You can check out our updated Vintage Scorecard here:

 

Amalie's Cuvée - 93 points

Deep, shimmering crimson. Spice-tinged red and blue fruit scents, along with hints of musky earth and candied flowers. Juicy and expansive on the palate, offering concentrated cherry cola, blueberry and spicecake flavors braced by a core of juicy acidity. Shows fine definition and repeating florality on the persistent finish, which is framed by well-integrated, discreet tannins.

 

Estate Selection - 94 points

Limpid ruby-red. Highly perfumed, mineral-accented aromas of raspberry, cherry cola and spicecake show fine detail and take on a floral overtone with aeration. Juicy and penetrating on the palate, offering juicy red and blue fruit preserve, rose pastille and candied licorice flavors and a touch of vanilla. Finishes very long and smooth, with repeating florality and discreet tannins that fold smoothly into the vibrant fruit.

 

The Reserve – 95 points

Full garnet. Vibrant, finely etched red berry, cherry, blood orange and exotic spice scents are complemented by a floral note and a hint of smoky minerality. Stains the palate with intense raspberry, cherry cola, allspice and rose pastille flavors that convey a suave blend of power and finesse. Smooth tannins build slowly on the impressively persistent finish, which emphatically echoes the floral and spice notes.

 

"Dena Drews and Ernie Pink are in no hurry to release their wines. If you know the wines and how they age, it makes great sense for the buyer, but it’s a pretty amazing sacrifice on the part of the winery. The vineyard is located just outside of Dallas, at the western end of the Willamette Valley. Their 35 acres directly abut the legendary Freedom Hill vineyard, which should give an idea of the quality of this location. This is a very low-profile operation, by design, but the consistently high quality of its wines has earned it a loyal, almost secret-handshake following that goes back to when Drews and Pink set up shop in 1999. The winemaking here is decidedly low-impact, and the resulting wines are elegant, focused and understated, with the balance to age gracefully (hence the late release policy) and positively. There aren’t many “insider” wineries left in this increasingly popular and well-traveled region, but Amalie Robert definitely qualifies." - Josh Raynolds, Vinous Media, February 2022

Culinary Inclinations Spring 2022

 

Spring Lamb is our Spring culinary inclination. For such a small animal, there are a wide variety of preparations. These include rack of lamb, braised lamb shanks, lamb chops or T-bones and ground lamb seasoned and filled into pinwheels or purses. Pinot Noir may not be the most obvious choice, but it shines mightily.

 

And there is a world of accoutrements and spices going well beyond salt, pepper and mint jelly. Moroccan spices on ground lamb pinwheels or purses with a side of mango chutney. Cucumber and yogurt join forces with garlic and olive oil as the base for Tzatziki. Roasted red pepper aioli with smoked paprika and Meyer lemon infused olive will add color and flair. What a conundrum, what to do, where to start?

 

There are alternatives as well. For those who find lamb to be a little too intense in flavor and aroma, we suggest venison as an alternative. We realize that not everyone is going out to the back 40 to harvest their own venison, as fun as that might be. Besides, it's the off season in the northern hemisphere, but down under...

 

A small herd of New Zealand deer. They heard you were coming.
 

The venison we are referring to is sourced from Silver Fern Farms in New Zealand. The animals are raised by Ben and Raewyn Gaddum, Tuapae Farms, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. And if your post-COVID wanderlust is taking you to Hawke's Bay, we recommend a few lovely days and nights in the Art Deco city of Napier. You will never see water quite so blue as from the balcony of the County Hotel.

 

The County Hotel, Napier New Zealand
 

Our introduction to Tuapae Farms venison happened in Birmingham, Alabama. Of all places that are food and wine, Birmingham is THE place. (The Gulf and LA (Lower Alabama) have their own cool vibe). The cut was rack of venison. Rack of venison is midway between the size of a rack of pork and a rack of lamb. Each rib chop was sliced about ¾ of an inch thick with a very generous portion of rib cap. Roasted to perfection and served aside roast winter vegetables and braised bitter greens.

 

The wine? Oh yes, the wine was Satisfaction Syrah, vintage 2015. The venue was a country club with about 50 guests. While it was a good crowd with a fair bit of interaction throughout the evening, the room drew quiet during this course. That was testament to the excellent preparation of the venison, and we hope a harmonious pairing with the wine.

 

We add Silver Fern Farms to our highly recommended list of purveyors which also includes White Pekin duck from Maple leaf Farms. You can check out their shopping carts here: Silver Fern Farms and Maple Leaf Farms.

 
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

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 Climate Update: May 2019

Hello and Welcome, 

  

This is the Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: May 2019. A FLOG Communication. 

  

May is the month the vines get busy and in turn the vineyard hands get busy with vine shoots and trellis wires. Miles and miles of vineyard trellis wires. In our vineyard construct, we run about 9 miles of trellis wires per acre. With each and every shoot perfectly tucked in by hand. That ought to hold ‘em till harvest.

Ernie spent most of April dodging raindrops and getting the vineyard floor turned, tilled and seeded for the summer with a cover crop mix of Buckwheat and Vetch – a timeless combination not unlike Pommard and Wadenswil.

     

                       

“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.” – Josh Raynolds, Vinous, June 2019

Now it is the vines’ turn to take the lead. With plenty of soil moisture and warm temperatures in early May, the vines took the advantage and played right into our viticultural plan. You see, while Ernie was out burning diesel, the vineyard crew was preparing for this very event. Their task in April was to count to 12, on about 50,000 vines.

Deep Dive - Vine Shoot Spacing

This is our “deep dive” into vine shoot spacing and the number 12. First, lets review the mental construct that precludes the number 12 and that is vineyard spacing. Yep, we are talking about vine density or vines per acre. The next time you look out into an open field try and visualize 43,560 square feet. That’s an acre. Or when the NFL comes back on, that football field is 1.32 acres including the endzones.

Or you could do it the Ernie way. He decided that the most optimal vine spacing on our dry farmed sedimentary Bellpine series soil would be 7.5 feet for the tractor row and a cozy 4 feet between each vine. That provides us with 1,452 vines per acre. Using farmer math, we can break that down like this.

First, we start with our acre of land, 43,560 square feet. Then we divide that by our tractor row spacing of 7.5 feet and that gets us to 5,808 lineal feet of vines per acre. Said another way, an acre is a strip of land that is 7.5 feet wide and 5,808 feet long. A quarter mile race track is 1,320 feet long, so a mile would be 5,280 feet. Ergo, we are 1.1 lineal miles per acre. That becomes important next month when we talk about a fully functioning canopy, aka our solar array.

So what we do is break up that 5,808 lineal feet into a vine at every 4 feet. Logically, 5,808 divided by 4 gives us the magic number of 1,452 vines per acre. There is a little more math left to go, so if you are starting to feel some swelling at your frontal lobe, this would be the right time to break out the duct tape and apply a few wraps.

As most of you have no doubt figured out, each vine has 30 square feet of soil to colonize. It has 2 feet each front and back and 3.75 feet side to side. The only variable is effective rooting depth. Ask Ernie about rootstock growth habits sometime. Or just wait until the August drought for the rootstock “deep dive”.

Right, back on point. The trellis system we adopted for our vineyard construct is called Vertical Shoot Positioned or VSP. And we employ a single Guyot, because he couldn’t find a date. Actually, that is a farming term we will get to soon, relatively speaking. When you train vines to grow into a trellis system, which you have to do each and every year as they seem to have the attention span of a gnat, you have to decide on cane pruning or cordon spur pruning.

In the last best place to grow Pinot Noir, we choose to cane prune. This means we take a (smart) shoot from last year that was successfully trained to grow into the trellis and wrap that on the fruiting wire which is conveniently located 30 inches above the vineyard floor oriented (not orientated) in a horizontal plane. This is so that the new shoots can be trained to grow vertically into the trellis system until they reach a total height of 90 inches at which point Ernie goes out and hedges their shoot tips off. That’s our canopy, it’s 60 inches tall starting at 30 inches off the vineyard floor and tops out at a solar radiation maximizing 90 inches. Assume 18 inches thick and for each 48 inch long, single Guyot that makes 51,840 cubic inches of canopy, or 30 cubic feet. That’s the same soil footprint at 1 foot deep. Hmmm…

We are going to bring it home now. When you wrap a cane onto the fruiting wire the cane is called a Guyot. In our vineyard construct we have 4 feet between each vine and choose to run a single unidirectional 4 foot Guyot, mostly. While it wasn’t obvious at first, Viognier does not like a single, unidirectional 4 foot Guyot. So we tried a double, bi-directional 2 foot Guyot, but not much better. How about a double, bi-directional 3 foot Guyot, happy now? Yes, I like that. Very good.

A cordon is what they typically use in the Napa-Sonoma Nebula. It’s as if someone put down a cane one year and forgot to prune it back the next. For those of you who don’t know, Cabernet Sauvignon is the galactic faux pas that was created when Sauvignon Blanc met Cabernet Franc in Bordeaux. It’s a different world in a galaxy far, far away.

On each Guyot, there are several buds that will push shoots that in turn will produce clusters of wine berries. From a wine quality point of view, we would like to have enough space between each cluster for good air flow and sun exposure. That means we are looking for about a 4 inch space between each shoot distributed equally along the 4 foot cane. We want 3 shoots per foot of cane times 4 feet of cane. Aha! That’s how we get to 12. So easy a winemaker can do it!

The vines could care less. Sometimes there are 6 or even 8 shoots per foot of cane. Sometimes a shoot will have a double shoot that grows right next to it. Imagine an aerial view of any interstate in the USA. Those cars are not equally distributed along the road. And then there is the guy in the far left lane doing one mile an hour over the posted speed limit. The spacing behind that car is short, and over time will come to reflect the temperament of the following drivers.

So, that is what the vineyard hands were doing in April. They were out there equally distributing 12 shoots along a 4 foot cane, about 50,000 times. And what about the epicormic buds? Yeah, we take those suckers off at the same time!

During the month of May we have the vines right where we want them, growing into the trellis wires! And they are getting some help from a team of specially trained vineyard workers. Now get this, since there were only 12 growing points and not 25 or 30, the shoots grow faster and that makes it much easier to catch them in the trellis wires.

Surface the boat! The deep dive exercise is concluded.

Farm Equipment

It wouldn’t be May without an appropriate tribute to farm equipment. “Hey, is that a new battery cable? Looking good!” Most every corner of the wine growing planet has produced some form of wine growing equipment. Some more useful and certainly more reliable than others. As Ernie has lamented frequently, all three of his tractors are of the Italian persuasion, oh joy.

The hedger is French and mounts on one of the Italian stallions. After 20 years, they have worked it out. The flail mower is made domestically, by an Irish founded company. The rototiller, which is as tough of an implement as you are likely to find, is German. Jawhol!

That leaves the vineyard sprayer, which comes from our good friends up north in Penticton, British Columbia, Cehnehdeh. You see up north, “a” is pronounced “eh”. Ernie had to buy a new sprayer a few years back. It was the same manufacturer and he just upgraded to the latest version. While this may sound kinda funny, farm equipment does evolve. Better components, larger tanks and more money.

“What the hell is a sprayer?” We hear you. Check out this vintage advert for sprayers in 1924. Some were designed for the horticulturists of the day to apply some sort of airborne mixture to a rose bush. The goal is for the ejecta (in a water vapor form) to land on the rose bush and prevent mildew or other nefarious insects from taking over.

While the modern-day implementation may have changed, the goal remains the same – to prevent mildew from growing on your bush.

The gentlemen of the day, however, appear more concerned with other, more pressing matters.

For roughly $25,000 CDN, you too can purchase a device that will apply an airborne mixture of sulfur and water to prevent mildew from growing on your horticultural bush or agricultural crop, such as wine berries. Water is simply the delivery vehicle to get the sulfur onto the vines. Much like French fries are a delivery vehicle for ketchup. And yes, sulfur is organic, but we are not so sure about the ketchup.

When you purchase a new piece of equipment, you are buying “time”. While there are “all kinds of time”, there never seems to be “enough time”. As in “productive time” without “down time”. “Over time” as equipment depreciates, it begins to offer the Master Farmer “some time” to reverse engineer its inner workings.

While Occam’s razor is a fine tool to be implemented in most situations, it is rarely applicable to farm equipment. Much better tools are hammers (in a range of sizes), the internet, telephony and electronic payment processing capability. And speaking of “buying time”, there is Next Day Air.

Farmers, while generally risk adverse people in their non-farming lives, are also somewhat impatient. As in “this needs to be done now before the rains or hail or birds arrive”. Hence the TLA (Three Letter Acronym) RFN which stands for “Right Farming Now”. Pick your pestilence, in any given agricultural endeavor at any point in the growing season, but especially harvest, and you will see the true metal of a Master Farmer shine through.

In Ernie’s case it was 24 hours from the problem detection point until returning to productive time. Pretty good, really. But the protocol is very simple. The first step is identifying you have a problem. That was the easiest step, as one side of the sprayer was spraying the vines and the other side was not. Ok, that’s a real and verified problem.

The second step is to determine why the problem is occurring. Since the valves on the sprayer are all electronically controlled, Ernie focused on tracing power through a variety of fuses, connections, switchboxes, relays and solenoids, most of which were not designed for easy access. It’s an Italian tractor pulling and providing the power to a Cehnehdiehn sprayer.

After consulting the owner’s manual, which was actually written in American English, performing a set of tests, and leaving 2 messages with the manufacturer, it was time for lunch. Lunch lasts just as long as it takes for all of the second step activities to gel into a plan of action. Then it is back on the phone to the manufacturer.

“Well, it could be …” Yes, of course it could, and I just saw a unicorn run by. After getting a matrix-like download on sprayer valves, and phone numbers for US based parts houses that might have inventory, Ernie was on it. But first a call to the closest parts house. “They are really busy right now. I can take a message and have them call you back.” Ernie left a detailed message with the part number he would most likely need. Two days later, there was a call back, “What can we help you with?” That’s just farmin’ great.

One of the advantages of newer equipment is that the parts have evolved and become easier to disassemble, if you have the newer tools that evolved alongside said parts. Hammers, however, are universal and percussive maintenance has stood the test of time. An hour later with everything disassembled, cleaned and reassembled in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendation, lo and behold, it still did not work!

  

Once the impossible is ruled out, only the improbable remains. After all the internals were verified, the only possible explanation was the motor that controlled the valve. Sure enough, it worked one out of three times. Looking back on it, that one time it did work was most likely sampling error. So, back to the list of parts houses in hopes the inventory supply chain had functioned as intended and correctly stocked the shelves with all the right parts in all the right places.

The most local parts house was still far too busy to take the call or return the call from the hour prior. At that point Ernie made a phone in Yakima, Washington, ring and spoke with Jonathon. It was 3:35 pm. ”Why yes, we have one of those. We have a bunch of them.” Ernie immediately thought about buying a spare and just as quickly forgot to do so.

Once the part was physically verified as actually being in stock, the financial transaction ensued. Credit card declined? How could this be? Run it again, same result. “Is this an American Express card? We don’t take that.” New card and we have success. 3:45 pm.

Yes, I do want Next Day Air, Ernie confirmed. After the $400 valve motor an extra $25 was gravy for next day delivery. “OK, UPS picks up at 4:00, we should make it.” Ernie fell silent as he heard the pitter patter of parts man fingers gently working their magic on the UPS shipping website. “Got it” came through at 3:52 pm. Now the hard part. Waiting to see if it actually arrives. Who remembers sending off box tops as a kid, only to grow old and unfulfilled?

Miracle of miracles occurred at 9:55 am the VERY NEXT morning when the most beautiful UPS truck on the whole planet backed down the driveway. “Here you go, have a nice day.” Ernie scurried back into the house and with surgical precision opened the box. It looked just like the valve motor he was trying to replace.

Down to the shop, a quick tap with the most appropriate hammer and the old valve motor was off and the new one was on. Now the moment of truth, would it work? Ernie wired it up, flipped the switch and just as sure as Shinola, it did. Throwback to the old Microsoft days in Europe, “We don’t ask for miracles; we depend on them!”

The Numbers

May started off on a tear with the first half of the month recording near record high temperatures. Mid-May transitioned to an influx of rain and cool temperatures. Were we seeing an ominous preview of harvest 2019? Then the end of the month came through with more moderate day and nighttime temperatures. Just ideal for capturing the new vine shoots in our single 4 foot Guyot Vertical Shoot Positioned trained trellis system - mostly.

May’s high temperature was 93.2 degrees recorded early in the month on the 10^th. The low temperature for the month was 34.3 degrees recorded on May 1^st. The diurnal shifts in the first half of the month were wider and produced a higher average temperature of 59.01 compared with the second half of the month at 57.97 degrees.

Degree Days for May were 295.3 with the first half of the month registering 161.0 and latter period 134.3 Degree Days. The growing season to-date Degree Days stand at 400.3 for 2019 compared with 392.3 Degree Days for 2018. While an 8 Degree Day difference is measurable, at this stage of the growing season it is statistically insignificant. Just don’t tell the vines, they are getting ready to flower.

Rainfall came mostly during the third week of the month, well before flowering, registering 1.53 inches, providing a full month total of 1.79 inches. While the data support no conclusions as of yet, Vintage 2019 is shaping up to be pretty farmin’ nice.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie