Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2021 Harvest After Action Report (HAAR)

Hello and Welcome, 

  

This is the Harvest After Action Report (HAAR) from Amalie Robert Estate, Vintage 2021. Suggested reading time is 1.25 ARB’s (Adult Recreational Beverages). If you can possibly manage the time, please read this FLOG in one sitting. 

 

All’s well that ends well… Apparently this is not a new concept as William Shakespeare’s play was published in the 1600’s. Typically, a person can forget about how unpleasant or difficult something was because everything worked out fine. Or cognitively, it is just easier to set your sights on the next objective and forget about it. You will do better next time… Note that Shakespeare’s play is considered a comedy. Just imagine the literary masterpieces he could have turned out if he were a farmer!

 

In hindsight, Vintage 2021 really wasn’t so bad. Years from now we will taste the wines and all have a good laugh. Some will laugh first, others will laugh loudest and someone will have the last laugh. We suspect Mother Nature is laughing right now. You could even consider it a comedy. A tragic comedy, a comedy of errors, there are several comedic choices available. It was Cluster Pluck to remember…

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… Want to learn more about Amalie Robert? Take the Tour!

 

Prologue: Vintage 2021
 

Each farming year begins with high hopes and great aspirations. Another year of experience informs us of the newfound perils to be mindful of as we set off on a new vintage. The first three months of the year are consumed with pruning the vines. Pruning is an arduous task completed in the wind and rain and occasional sunny day. Our job is to get the vines ready for their big day – Bud Break. And this year that occurred at a relatively normal time of April 15^th. It is a heartwarming sight to see these dormant canes spring forth with little green shoots. Frost is sometimes a threat to the newly emerged shoots and astute vineyard site selection is the key to avoid this peril. And sometimes all you need is a bit of old fashioned good luck.

 

April brings with it a substantial amount of tractor time getting the vineyard floor ready to support the vines’ exponential growth spurt that occurs in May and June. First is incorporating the cover crop from last fall that will decompose and release nutrients to the vines. Then a quick pass with the seed drill to add a summer cover crop to attract beneficial insects and fix a little nitrogen. Not that the nitrogen was broken, but “fix” is the term used when plants convert nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it on their roots. And that is how we feed our vines without the use of chemical fertilizers. We do burn a few dinosaurs along the way. But its Bio-Diesel here in Oregon, so it’s not all bad.

 

May and June is when all hell breaks loose in the canopy. The vines are on a driven 6 month schedule from April to October to ripen their seeds and reproduce, then they go dormant for the next 6 months. Nice work if you can get it. May and June are when those cute little green buds we noticed in April rapidly grow into long canes that need to be harnessed in the trellis catch wires – all by hand. The simple math is 50,000 vines times 12 buds is 600,000 shoots that need to be manually tucked into 3 pairs of trellis catch wires and clipped into place.

 

 
If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me
 

And that’s when the first major trial of Vintage 2021 occurred. (Note: We will spare you the minor trials we experience every day, like lifting the fog, finding the internet hotspot sweet spot or co-locating with the tractor keys). Once the shoots are all tucked into the wires, Ernie gets out the hedger to trim the tops of the shoots. Like the periodic colonoscopy, this has become a fairly straightforward procedure. But this year is the year where the THIRD Landini tractor wheel failed. And it failed in the most spectacular fashion, on the downhill run of row 18, block 29. That is a lovely block of Pommard clone on 44-53 rootstock.

 

Once the shock and initial inspection was complete, the reality set in. How in the hell do we get the tractor out of the vineyard on 3 wheels? With the hedger attached no less. Fortunately, there are 12 bottles of beer in a half rack, and that affords the winegrower some time for creative thinking and limited critical reasoning. And since it’s summer, we can pee outside. And often do.

 

It turns out the solution was not to move the tractor out of the field on three wheels, but to remove, repair and replace the broken wheel. With Dena’s help and cellphone at the ready in case of emergency, Ernie gathered unto himself all of his tools, jacked up the machine, removed the broken wheel and wheel studs, and exited the field unscathed.

 

Then a quick call to Ray King of King’s Industries was in order. Ray recalled fixing the last two broken wheels and was up for a welding trifecta. First, Ernie had to stop off at Les Schwab to remove the rubber tire from the steel wheel. Ray doesn’t like to apply heat and high voltage in close proximity to rubber. There are old welders and bold welders, but not so many old, bold welders. Then just as quick as you please, that’s less than 24 hours in farming time, Ray had the wheel ready to roll. Then it was back to Les Schwab for a reinstall of the tire.

 

And since the tread was wearing down, Ernie took the time to find out how much a replacement tire would cost. “No sir, that size tire is no longer available.” It seems like just a couple years ago when Ernie found out replacement wheels were no longer available. So, it was back to block 29 to reinstall our very precious wheel and irreplaceable tire.

Installing the wheel is a simple process – line up the spokes with the hub and slide the wheel studs through. Add NEW lock washers and torque down the nuts. All good, except when a vine is between you and the wheel. The vine rows are set at 90 inches wide and the front wheels track at 55 inches wide. That leaves about 17 inches between a front tire and a vine. Fortunately, it was a sunny day, not too hot and with nothing much else to do until the wheel was replaced. After a commensurate amount of time, Ernie had the wheel replaced and was able to drive the tractor out of the confines of block 29 under its own power .

 

 

May through August is the time when we must spray the vines. Much like we spray flowering shrubberies such as roses, we spray vines to keep mildew from attacking our wine berries. And to do this we use a sprayer. The sprayer takes power from the tractor PTO (Power Take Off) driveshaft to power the pump that pressurizes the solution that is sprayed on the vines. The pump is a diaphragm pump. A diaphragm pump with a failed diaphragm will not pressurize the sprayer. And this was the second major trial of Vintage 2021.

 

The quick answer is sometimes the best answer, just ask Occam. In this particular case, a replacement pump would be the best repair. Maybe a little more money, but far less time. The vineyard spray schedule is about every 7 to 10 days. That means there is a small and dwindling window of time to make this repair. If not, mildew would have the great opportunity to infect the entire vineyard. Delayed spray intervals have the potential to create a total loss. These types of thoughts have a tendency to focus the mind and enact decisive action.

 

And of course, Ernie discovered his pump’s ruptured diaphragm on a Saturday. So he sent off a few E-mails and found another wanting project to absorb his excess time. Come Monday afternoon, no responses. A few calls to the sprayer manufacturer went straight to voicemail. Monday must be a busy day for these folks. So, the next logical step is to call the pump manufacturer. Success favors the prepared mind.

 

Well, it turns out that the manufacturer must have had a slow day because Ernie had about 30 minutes with them. They confirmed what Ernie had suspected, he was the proud owner of a boat anchor. The next task was to contact the local dealer to source a new pump. The number he was given to the local dealer happened to be in Washington. And they had no pumps in stock. They did have several on order, but none in stock.

 

“Why don’t you call the Oregon dealer? It says they have 7 in stock.” Well why not, indeed? So Ernie took down the number and called them up. Sure enough, they did have 7 in stock. Ernie reserved one and confirmed the drive time to be about an hour. Great, just enough time for lunch. And then the phone rang. It turns out the pumps were not in the warehouse. “We can’t find them. They are not where they are supposed to be. But they do have some on order in Washington.” Great, just great.

 

Lunch was ready, and this was a problem that was going to have to wait for 30 minutes. At about the 20-minute mark, the phone rings. “We found them.” The disappearing and reappearing pump is an example of the self-correcting problem. This is the very best kind of problem to have.

 

What followed on next was supposed to be a simple pump R&R (remove and replace). And it was, right up until it came time to remove and replace the drive gear that was pressed onto the input shaft. “No, you should not have to take that to a machine shop,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. You would think after 20 some years farming, Ernie would be less gullible. The next time you see Ernie, just remember he looks that way for a reason.

 

It was the rest of the day with a gear puller from his drag racing days that he removed the drive gear from the failed pumps input shaft. With a strong feeling of accomplishment and sense of self-reliance, Ernie held the drive gear up to the new pump’s input shaft. It easily slid down about ¼ inch, with about 3 more inches to go.

 

Reality began to seep in like the feeling you get when you realize that last beer was not necessarily in your best interest. While the path of excess does lead to knowledge, at some point you reach the point of diminishing returns. The drive gear has to go on the new input shaft at exactly the same depth of position as it was on the failed pump’s input shaft. And the only way it is going to go down that shaft is with a precision application of percussive maintenance.

 

Starting with the smallest hammer, a full can of WD-40 and a tape measure, the disciplined application of force began. Tap, tap tap, whack, whack, whack and measure. Ok, that was another ¼ inch. Time for a little bigger hammer. The next day later, with the BFH (Big Farmin’ Hammer), the drive gear was right where it was supposed to be. Ernie set the pump back in the sprayer and hooked up all of the hoses and the drive chain. It was the moment of truth. And it WORKED! The FIRST time! Clearly something was wrong, but whatever that may be, it performed like a champ all year.

 

Climate Change Visits the Willamette Valley

 

In sales they say if you can’t change your people, then it’s time to change your people. In farming, you put down roots in a piece of dirt that has the soil characteristics you want in an area that has the climate that will ripen your desired and saleable crop. For us that means sedimentary soil in the northern half of the Willamette Valley where we can grow world class wines. And we respect that each year there will be highs and lows and that the climate tends to vacillate over the years.

 

 

The third major trial of Vintage 2021 was summer heat and drought. Our record high temperature was 118 degrees recorded on June 28^th. That set a record for the state and a personal best for Dena and Ernie. A second bout of heat hit us about a month later on July 30^th that topped out at 103 degrees. Our vintage 2021 growing season Degree Days are 2,755. The next closest vintage was 2003 at 2,699 Degree Days. No matter how you spin it, that’s pretty farmin’ hot.

 

September added 404 Degree Days with a high temperature of 94.8 degree recorded on September 7^th at 3:48 pm. The low temperature was 39.7 degree recorded on September 16^th at 5:48 am. October was a return to a more typical Oregon fall recording 98.4 degree days. The high temperature was 73.8 degrees recorded on October 3^rd at 12:36 pm. The low temperature was 31.6 degrees recorded on October 12^th at 6:48 am. The two days of hang time in November for the Syrah harvest added another 1.2 Degree Days with a high temperature of 53.2 and a low temperature of 43.2. And that concluded the Great Cluster Pluck, Vintage 2021.

 

We recorded 3.56 inches of rain from April through June with the last rainfall recorded on June 14^th. The next meaningful precipitation arrived on September 18^th with 1.22 inches of rain. That is a 3-month summertime period with no precipitation and record heat. Aka, a long dry spell… Total rainfall for September was 2.73 inches. The first half of October provided another 0.95 inches of rain as we finished up the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir harvest. The second half of October gave us quite a lashing with 3.56 inches of rain and a sky full of birds when it wasn’t downpouring. Somewhat odd that the last half of October rainfall matched the first three months of the growing season. But it did.

 

The summer heat arrived when the wine berries were still green. The vines flowered on June 1^st and they had about 6 more weeks before they started to turn color and enter veraison on July 28^th. The immediate, obvious impact to wine quality was purely speculative. As this was an unprecedented event, no one knew for sure what the impact would be and what follow-on events leading up to harvest would occur. These were the ideal conditions necessary for talking heads to flood social media. This is a recurring problem not confined to all things Vinous.

 

However, shading of the fruit during the growing season will be a factor in the wines, it always is. The more sun exposure, the more tannin will be developed in the wine berry skins. Just like a day at the beach, the more unprotected sun exposure means a stronger reaction in your skin. And if you happen to be a wine berry (more on that later), excess sun exposure means excess levels of tannins.

 

It is yet to be seen how these climatic factors will impact the wines from Vintage 2021. What we can say for sure is that each of these factors will influence Vintage 2021. But whether the influence is in a positive way, is yet to be seen.

 

 

The Human Factor

 

Wine growing is a labor-intensive endeavor. While we mechanize where we can, and enjoy the opportunity to go in depth with the associated maintenance, there are just some tasks in growing premium wine that are best left to the humans. Case in point is mechanical harvesting. Those machines are roving the vineyards in our area, but we are not having any of it. All of our wine berries at Amalie Robert Estate are cluster plucked by hand. Or beak, if the winged cluster puckers get there before we do.

 

The Great Cluster Pluck lies at the intersection of when you want to pluck, when humans are available to pluck and the weather conditions allowing you to pluck. While not a factor in Vintage 2021, air quality can play a role, as in negating an entire vintage. We had to call off the Great Cluster Pluck in Vintage 2020 due to smoke taint. Pluck Off!

 

We focus on the one factor we can control and that is when to pluck what. Out of 55,000 vines cut into 47 blocks, we know some are ready before others. In Pinot Noir, we look for expressive aromas and flavors that tend toward Montmorency cherry with a strong showing of acidity. In Syrah, we look for something other. While each vintage offers something to love, we look for the same aroma and flavor markers in each vintage. This helps us put some form of order or consistency to the finished wines, while capturing the individual characteristics of each vintage. And having only a single block of Pinot Meunier, that wine gets elevated status as there is no margin for error.

Finally, we have to contend with the people in the mirror. And this year, that’s all we had in the winery. Fortunately, we had a really good architect who listened to us when we said, “The two of us should be able to run this winery with a pallet jack.” Because we did. We will admit that mirror placement was a critical factor in our success. Please bear in mind, we are living the dream, so you don’t have to.

 

 

The Great Cluster Pluck: Vintage 2021

 

Hang time is the term used to describe the final days of ripening when the wine berries develop the most expressive aroma and flavor. Some fruits can ripen after they are harvested, pears come to mind. But not wine. Once you pluck the wine berries from the vine, aroma and flavor development will cease. The ability to give the wine berries hang time depends on several factors including rootstock, vine age and root depth, canopy management and rainfall, or the lack thereof.

 

We have a few words to share regarding canopy management and alcohol potential. We have come to believe that the taller the canopy, the higher the alcohol potential in the finished wines. Taller canopies have a tendency to use more soil moisture, thus reducing hang time. This is especially true in the warmer vintages. We learned this lesson years ago with Viognier, which is all about sugar accumulation. Our response was to hedge a shorter canopy to remove the top story of leaves creating the issue. The fewer leaves at the top of the canopy means lower sugar concentration in the vines. And that means lower alcohol potential in the wine. Planning ahead is a variant of the “self-correcting problem” scenario.

 

One of our key factors in selecting harvest dates in Vintage 2021 was rainfall. After an unprecedented hot and dry growing season, we wanted to see some moisture rehydrate the vines to alter the sugar and acid chemistry in the wine berry. We also wanted a few more days of hang time to allow for more aroma and flavor development. Better wines through naturally altering the chemistry on the vine – that’s what hang time can do for you.

 

And we got it. September blessed us with 2.73 inches of rain. The opening salvo was from the 18^th to the 20^th with 1.22 inches and the second round was the 27^th and 28^th with 1.51 inches. Get out the buckets, we’re going cluster pluckin’! And we did.

 

The Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay harvest continued through October 16^th as we dodged a few more vintage extending showers. Then all we had left to go was Ernie’s acre of Willamette Valley Syrah and Viognier. The showers continued on and off and on again throughout October. “Not to worry” was Ernie’s response.

 

And then it was time. Sunday, October 31^st was the last best day of hang time. The sun was out and a mild breeze cleared the air. The sweet smell of fallen leaves beginning to decompose filled the air. The harvest window was set for Tuesday, November 2^nd. It was a bittersweet harvest in the sense that we had to wait for aroma and flavor to develop, but the winged cluster pluckers were not so inclined. While the quality of the fruit was phenomenal, there is a short supply of Vintage 2021.

 

As we close the chapter on Vintage 2021, we would like to share the five stages of Pinot Noir with you.

 

Pinot Noir Pre-Harvest. This is Pinot Noir on the vine. We have assessed the quality of the fruit and found it to be exceptional. Cluster Plucking will begin at first light.

 

Pinot Noir Post-Harvest Pre-Fermentation. This is Pinot Noir clusters successfully extracted from the vineyard and awaiting fermentation at the winery. First things first, they all get weighed.

 

Pinot Noir Post-Fermentation. We have fermented the sugar out of them, and they are spent. They have given their very best and now are off to the compost pile to provide nutrients for a future vintage.

 

Pinot Noir Pre-Blending Barrel Maturation. This is where the magic happens, softening stem tannins and slowly maturing our wines in barrel before each blend is decided.

 

Pinot Noir Post-Blending Pre-You. The blend is complete and here we have a “Clean Skin” bottle awaiting a label and capsule. Once the packaging is complete, each bottle will be lovingly matched to 11 others and stored for bottle maturation before release.

 

Pinot Noir For You! Each bottle is labelled and ready to go! And soon, Christmas is coming. Really, it is!

 

Happy Holidays,

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

Amalie Robert Estate: Thank you & Happy Easter!

Hello and Welcome,  

  

This is us wishing you a Happy Easter! A FLOG communication from Dena and Ernie at @AmalieRobert Estate. 

  

We would like to extend a very personal Thank You to everyone who has taken the time to reach out to us. Yes, we are still here and both physically healthy; the mental health is an evolving work in progress. We appreciate your thoughts and efforts to connect with us. Please feel free to drop us a line anytime or tweet us @AmalieRobert. You can also share an image. A picture is still worth a thousand words.

If you want to see a real Cluster Pluck, check out our harvest video:
http://www.vinestories.com/video.php?video=117974400

Check this space after Easter, and Ernie will share his braised Rabbiduck with white beans recipe. Very Pinot friendly, Meunier and Noir. And if you need some wine (preserved wine berries) for your Easter Celebratory purposes, please visit Amalie Robert Direct. The winery is open for pickups by appointment all week and we are shipping nationwide. If you are looking for a more traditional duck experience, you can always check out Maple Leaf Farms here: http://www.mapleleaffarms.com/

Everyone’s perspective is influenced by national and local circumstances. From what we see it looks like we could be turning a corner. What awaits us around that corner is yet to be seen. But let’s have a look anyway. There are a couple of Coronavirus survivors that can give us all inspiration. Both of these men served our country in World War II, and now it would seem they have survived what could be considered a third War on our World.

William “Bill” Lapschies, who just celebrated his 104^th birthday, and Bill Kelly, who is 95 years young, both live in Oregon and tested positive for the Coronavirus in early March. They hunkered down and did what needed to be done - today, just as they did back in the day. The month of April finds them both recovered. There are several wonderful stories written about both men that you can find online - if you have the time…

As the month of April begins to unfold, the vines will start waking up from their 6 month hiatus to find they are now subject to social distancing. Not really a big deal for them, as they have been 4 feet apart since they were planted back at the turn of the century.

The barrels however, well, that is a different matter. Their bung holes are only about 3 feet apart. In response, we have instituted a more frequent inspection schedule to ensure all bung holes are properly sealed with a tight-fitting bung. Chaste, we remain.

Just so you know, vines can get viruses, too. Mostly they are infected by some type of insect that is a carrier (or vector) for a virus. (If you think mosquitos and malaria, you are on the right mental track.) The most recent example was a bacterium called Pierce’s Disease that devastated the Temecula winegrowing region in California. The vector that spread the bacterium from vine to vine was an insect called the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

The vineyards were decimated, and the fledgling wine industry was devastated. That was the 1880’s. Fast forward to the 1990’s and Temecula vineyards had been replanted, but the bacterium and the glassy-winged sharpshooter were still there, just lying in wait. Once again devastation and financial ruin followed. This guy Peirce had some disease.

So, logically, as long as the Coronavirus has at least one host, going forward we can expect to be on guard for quite some time. And while we are viticulturalists and not virologists, we can expect slight mutations of the Coronavirus to keep us up on our (lip) sanitizer regime. We know this because Dena has summer allergies and slight mutations to the drug manufacturers’ formulas maintain their patent protections “ad infinitum”.

And vines need “vine yard” workers. Sure, Ernie has 3 tractors that he can deploy at a moment’s notice (assuming they will start), but most of the ultra-premium wine grown in the Willamette Valley needs hand labor. @AmalieRobert Estate if we are lucky and Mother nature smiles upon us, we need about 7 minutes of hand labor per plant to get us ready for harvest.

Speaking of harvest, there are quite a few new webinars now available to watch ranging from sipping wine to who knows what all. If you want to see a real Cluster Pluck, check out our harvest video:

http://www.vinestories.com/video.php?video=117974400

Fortunately, during this “Stay Home, Stay Safe” period the vines are still dormant and do not require any attention. May is the month where we need vineyard workers to do some seriously intense canopy management, by hand. We will see what the labor pool looks like around Mother’s Day.

In the interest of your health, and those around you, Ernie would like to share his Super Antioxidant Smoothie recipe. And yes, you can put a shot of distilled spirit in the blend, right at the end. You will want a blender or “Super Bass-o-Matic 76” (especially if you try this “by hand” the first time), 2 ripe bananas, one cup of nonfat yogurt, a dozen strawberries, ½ cup of apple juice, ½ cup of blueberries and you can throw in a few almonds or walnuts if you are into that sort of thing. Add the liquids followed by the solids and activate your Super Bass-o-Matic 76! It’s just that simple!

The Super Bass-o-Matic 76!

It's just that simple!

If you are unfamiliar with how to operate the Super Bass-o-Matic 76, you can click on the captions below these images to view a brief YouTube tutorial hosted by “Not Ready for Primetime Player” Dan Aykroyd, circa April 1976.

You may be reading this and speaking to your monitor as if Ernie can hear you, “Hey Ernie, there are no fresh blueberries or strawberries at my grocery store.” Yes, he is nodding and smiling back at you. If farm labor supply becomes tight, you can expect more of these outages. Frozen berries may be the next big thing after toilet paper. Gotta see a man about a freezer…

Living here in rural utopia, we encounter those sorts of outages from time to time. Sometimes when we go to the store, we buy things that we don’t really need. We do that because they are out of the things that we do really need. And we would like to continue our evening meal ritual.

So, let’s look at how you can have your Super Antioxidant, High Octane Smoothie without the comfort and convenience of fresh berries. Back in the old days, the summer’s bounty was preserved by drying fruits and vegetables, and smoking or jerking a variety of proteins.

While not that common for most of us today, you may once again, someday, be able to dine at the Herbfarm in Woodinville Washington for a modern implementation of the old days. Tweet Ron @Herbguy.

Or Fitts Seafoods in Salem, Oregon will ship you some fresh salmon that you can prepare, smoke, freeze, can or jerk. Tweet Rod @Fittscfood.

Back to your Smoothie. As humans advanced along their culinary journey, technology answered the call in the form of ice and iceboxes. All manner of foodstuffs could be put into an icebox containing ice. The foods would nearly freeze, thereby prolonging their “use by date” and denying the spoilage organisms and bacterium that most certainly awaited.

Canned goods and home canning were invented shortly thereafter and that is how we came to know botulism. It would be several decades until a commercially viable product would be developed from this deadly bacterium. And then to sell this product, Botox parties were invented!

Let’s stick with the evolutionary period that gave us iceboxes. Getting things cold to preserve them is a relatively lo-tech invention that is pretty easy to implement. Consider the last time you ate melted ice cream or drank warm beer. Refrigeration is not that complicated. You are perfectly within your lane to add frozen berries to create your Super Antioxidant, High Octane, Bass-o-Matic 76 Smoothie. And if you don’t finish it all, you can put it in the icebox for later! Note: With a slight modification of ingredients, you can make lime smoothies, aka Margaritas. This is an exercise left to the reader, and may add a little zip to your morning Zoom meeting.

And that brings us to the preservation of wine berries for future enjoyment. Unless you are drinking Beaujolais Nouveau, those tons upon tons of wine berries are not going to last very long if you do not find a way to preserve them. The technologies discussed so far including drying, jerking, canning, smoking (ask the California wineries about this one) and cold storage are not the right solution for the preservation of wine berries.

Portfolio of preserved wine berries showing the breadth and depth of Amalie Robert Estate

The need to preserve wine berries is at the root of modern day winemaking. It was discovered that allowing the wine berries to ferment would create alcohol that could kill any pathogen in the resulting wine. Humans caught a break there, as we were not all that smart way back when. Hemlock anyone? The fermented wine berries were then transferred into vessels that would slow the rate of spoilage until the wine could be consumed. Some vessels were good for a few days, others for a few months. Some vessels were simply not good at all. Add in the geo-political factors, and you end up with Madeira.

In modern times it is not uncommon for humans to gather in small groups to inject botulism toxin into their dermis and consume preserved wine berries while doing so. The next big thing on the horizon seems to be repurposing distilled spirits into hand sanitizers. And from there, no one knows where we go.

But we can supply you all of the Estate grown preserved wine berries you could ask for at Amalie Robert Direct. And still, a free cork in every bottle!

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate: A Personal Note from Dena & Ernie

Hello and Welcome, 

  

A personal note from Dena & Ernie. 

  

The known number of people infected by the Corona virus is increasing at an alarming rate. The good news is that the rate of contagion is not exponential. The strategy to mitigate the virus seems to be to avoid any potential encounter with the virus whether from another person or in a social setting – like foraging at the grocery store. For now, that is our first, best defense. 

We were fortunate to conclude a winter sales trip and return home to Oregon before this pandemic unfolded. We both arrived safely back in Oregon on separate flights and it has been over two weeks of close quarters with no signs of infection. Based on the number of airplanes we were on, and number of people we came in contact with, we consider ourselves to be extremely lucky, and blessed. If you, or a loved one is quarantined or has tested positive, we recognize your path is a different one. We wish you a complete and uneventful recovery, Godspeed.

In the meantime, you are sitting there looking at your computer monitor. We are sitting here looking at our computer monitor. Maybe it is time to take a respite from the seriousness. Social distancing yes, but not socially distant. Except for Ernie, who spent most of last week sequestered in a 30 cubic foot glass enclosure. Not a big space, but that is the size of the cab on his Italian tractor. And we have Home Tasting Kits now available for direct shipping!

The first day of spring was March 19^th here in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and as if on cue brought

with it the first hummingbird. That is always a sign of good fortune. There are 7 species of hummingbirds in Oregon, and Anna’s was our first visitor. According to the Audubon Society, if you are fortunate enough to see a flock of hummingbirds, you are suggested to describe them as a bouquet, a glittering, a hover, a shimmer, or a tune of hummingbirds. Ernie prefers the term squadron.

The first day of spring in the southern hemisphere will be Tuesday, September 1^st. Right about now they should be thinking about getting harvest operations and logistics in order. While we are all in this together, we each have a different perspective.

And we celebrated national pi day on March 14^th with a freshly baked cherry pie. That was about the time Ernie ordered in 200 gallons of diesel and began preparing the vineyard floor for Growing Season 2020. This is Ernie’s time of year to get a leg up on things, and he rarely misses an opportunity. Note: We are still classified as “Dry Farmed, Non-Irrigated”.

It was two passes of flail mowing to chop up last year’s brush and a chisel plow pass to open up the soil and prepare for the Rotovator. The Rotovator is a German implement that does a wonderful job of aerating the soil and incorporating last year’s nitrogen fixing cover crop. But Rotovating alone can form a hardpan in your soil that acts like a barrier to nutrient recycling. Ah, but Ernie figured this out long ago and that is why the chisel plow makes its inaugural run before the Rotovator.

The chisel plow breaks up monolithic blocks of compacted soil and frees up the colloids to move throughout the soil profile. If you are a colloid, this is a big day for you. The rest of the year you just lay there waiting for something to happen. Maybe a gopher will tunnel by or a seed will germinate, or a bird will leave a dropping on you. That is “living the dream” in the soil profile.

The wild cherry trees are starting to bud out. We “bought the farm” in April 1999 when the cherry orchard was in full bloom. Montmorency cherries have big white flowers and they are clustered at the end of the branch. Ernie described driving the tractor through the orchard that first year like he was driving through a Montana blizzard in freeze frame.

The vines are surely not far behind. Around April 15^th when you are finalizing your National Mathematics exam for the IRS, we should start to see our Pinot Noir vines bud out. And if you need a hand with your form 1040, we have about 40 million school aged young adults on waivers. Tom Brady was on waivers, for about 12 seconds, before signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

If you have any questions about farming, or wine growing or tractor repair, send Ernie a note. He would be more than happy to immerse you in the fine details and vagaries involved with our agrarian endeavor. And then if you have some time on your hands, you can check out what we will be doing in about 6 months –

The Great Cluster Pluck! http://www.vinestories.com/video.php?video=117974400

And that reminds us that most new monitors have built in cameras. Not Ernie’s of course because he went to school learning about computers and all of the data that they can collect (some involuntarily). He also spent many hours of his formative youth listening to George Carlin records. (Remember those? Records? The 7 dirty words monologue became a case that went to the Supreme Court.) George Carlin foretold of a time when your words would be captured and preserved until such a time that they could be sold back to you, at a significant profit. Today, we see all manner of media being captured (some involuntarily) and published on social media sites. Hey Aretha, Who’s Zoomin Who?

Amalie Robert Estate Home Tasting Kits are Now Available!

Free ground shipping with any 12 bottle order! Don’t delay, get yours today! Pinot in Pink Rosé Lip Sanitizer available for a limited time!

In these uncertain times, we can help provide a little clarity in your vinous journey. The Amalie Robert Estate Home Tasting Kit will help you determine if your wine tests POSITIVE or NEGATIVE. Each Home Tasting Kit includes all of the sundry items you will need including: 2 Amalie Robert logo Riedel burgundy glasses, a polish cloth (2 pack), a corkscrew for those deeply seated cork issues we all sometimes face, a necker drip ring, red and gold logo synthetic wine stoppers, and a set of Amalie Robert Estate evaluation sheets specific to each wine in your 12 bottle order.

Wines shown are an optional purchase

We recommend replicated tasting trials of each wine where possible. This exercise can be performed by a single evaluator or in situ with a small group according to the laws in your local community. Note: It is hard to perform this rigorous evaluation in jail, not that the authorities will throw you in jail for defying their community ordinances, more likely just a large fine. This means you will have less money to spend on wine. Check with the Spring Break crowd for further guidance on civil disobedience enforcement in your area. They post on social media, excessively.

The following 5 points of criteria should be evaluated independently. A binary result of POSITIVE or NEGATIVE will be the only outcome from each criterion. You may add additional sensory evaluation in the white space provided. After each criterion have been evaluated, or the wine is fully consumed, you may draw a conclusion as to whether the wine in question tested POSITIVE or NEGATIVE. Partial specimen bottles may be stoppered with an Amalie Robert logo synthetic wine stopper.

Note: This is referred to as a “Destructive Testing Procedure”. Whereby the sample wine is NOT to be returned to the specimen bottle after evaluation. This is an important distinction in a replicated tasting scenario. The procedure has been well thought out and is to be strictly implemented.

Aroma:                 _____ Positive                  _____ Negative

               

_____________________________________________________________

Flavor:                  _____ Positive                  _____ Negative

_____________________________________________________________

Texture:                 _____ Positive                  _____ Negative

_____________________________________________________________

Finish:                   _____ Positive                  _____ Negative

_____________________________________________________________

Perceived Length: _____ Positive                  _____ Negative

_____________________________________________________________

You may audio or video capture (or both) your evaluation session and post to social media. Please note the section above regarding the unintended consequences of such behavior. If you have any doubts as to how to proceed, just ask yourself what George Carlin would do. That ought to clear things up pretty quickly, and (if you are like Mr. Carlin) will earn you a file at the FBI.

Please follow this link to place your order for the Amalie Robert Estate Home Tasting Kit. Your $59.00 kit ships free with any 12 bottle order (discount will be applied manually with order confirmation). Note that all 12 bottle orders have shipping included if you are on the A-List.

Amalie Robert Estate Home Tasting Kits can be purchased separately for $69.00 and shipped direct to your home in all states with no signature required.

We recommend a perfunctory Lip Sanitizer such as Pinot in Pink Rosé before you begin your evaluation. A six pack of Pinot in Pink Lip Sanitizer delivered with ground shipping included is a sweet $100, but just $80 for A-Listers.

If you would like assistance with your evaluation wines, we would be happy to provide a recommendation based on our personal preferences.

You can reach Dena by email at dena@amalierobert.com and by phone at 503-88-CUVEE (503-882-8833).

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie