Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2008 May

Hello,

This is the climate update for the month of May 2008.

We have (finally) recorded about 206 degree days from April 1 through May 31. This is within tolerance (read "sampling error") of the 194 degree days recorded during the same period in 2007 and a bit short (like 30%) of the 259 degree days from 2006. However, I do not see any impairment to wine quality at this point. Unless you factor in the Euro, but more on "politi-nomics" another time.

During May, our highest high was 102.60 and our lowest high was 97.10. Our lowest low was 35.70 and our highest low was 38.70 degrees Fahrenheit. The rainfall for May was a quick 0.23 inches and was about 0.88 inches less than last May's rainfall of 1.10 inches. Year-to-date rainfall is 17.23 inches compared to last year's 16.32 inches.

We began Bud Break in the Pinot Noir on or about 3 pm, Monday, May 5, 2008. We observed the 2007 Pinot Noir break bud on Thursday, April 5 which, agriculturally speaking, is "nearly exactly" two weeks ahead of the 2006 Pinot Noir bud break of April 19. The 2005 Pinot Noir bud break was March 15.

Our first sulfur spray was the last week of May. Doubles have been thinned, but the catch wires remain on the vineyard floor with the resilient, but slowly dying Wild Garlic. A quick note to those of you looking for a nice herbicide spray that will knock back your weeds and suckers, try Rely. Look for the new and improved "Rely 200" with lower use rates.

My summer cover crop is Buckwheat and Vetch.

Ernie

It has recently come to my attention that someone's winemaking career now spans 3 decades - that's 210 dog years. At this time, I would like to point out that there is a difference between 30 years of experience and 1 year of experience 30 times. Congratulations Steve - Very Nicely Done!

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2008 April

Hello,

This is the climate update for the month of April, 2008. The Spring of 2008 has been cold, or maybe I just need a better hat.

We have accumulated 1.83 inches of rain since the 1^st of April and that is 1.08 inches less than the same period in 2007. Q1 2008 rainfall was 15.24 inches and was 2.93 inches more than the 12.31 inches of rain for Q1 2007. The historical 30 year average for Q1 is 19.72 inches of rain, or 536,384 gallons per acre. Also, based on this historical average, we can expect Q2 to provide about 5.91 inches of rain, +/- 5.91 inches of rain.

We have not recorded any degree days this month. Our highest high was 80.90 and our lowest high was 76.70. Our lowest low was 27.60 and our highest low was 29.30 degrees Fahrenheit. For comparison, we did not record any degree days for April 2007; about 25 degree days for April 2006 and 49 degree days for April 2005.

The vineyard floor has been chisel plowed and rotovated in alternate rows and an early Round-up spray was applied in alternate rows. Note to self - replacement chisel plow springs are about $32.80, each plus s/h.

We experienced bud break in the Chardonnay on April 28, and it was the only variety brazen enough to do so. As they say, "he, who travels fastest, travels alone."

Once again, we appear "on-track" for the vintage of the century

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2007 September

Hello,

Congratulations! We have made it to October, and will harvest Pinot Noir this month!!! Getting through September was a thrill. Here are the numbers.

First off, the rains came at the end of the month as was foretold by just about every weather forecaster. Specifically, we received 1.59 inches during the last few days of the month. This averaged about 0.40 inches per day. Total rainfall for the month was 1.79 inches.

September did put a good foot forward in the degree day ledgers. We logged 394 degree days (293 through the 15^th and an additional 101 through the end of the month.) This brings us to a cool climate viticulture total of 1,891 degree days for the growing season. Oregon was granted Statehood in 1859 and will celebrate the sesquicentennial of Statehood in 2009.

The fruit, so far, is looking good - nice and clean, eager to get warm in a fermenter. Birds and deer have not been a problem, but I see them - often. Sugars before the rain event were in the low 20s with pHs ranging from 3.19 to 3.30. It seems to me, flavors have come on early, while sugars and acids have yet to find their balance. The canopy is showing signs of impending harvest. However, with the rains, all bets are off. I think if we can see a window of dry, breezy days, harvest would quickly set upon us.  

Thanks

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2007 August

Well, Hello There!

It seems summer has arrived, just in time. We have a fairly determined breeze with about 20 mph gusts and temperatures in the lower 90s. The haunt of September 2003 seems to be visiting today. Our Pinot Noir clusters that survived the thinning process are sporting a nice purple to "gunmetal blue" tan. We will be removing wings beginning this week. We have not detected any signs of Botrytis from the August rains; however, I was sleeping easier at night knowing I had sprayed for it at cluster close and veraison. Veraison seemed to happen somewhere around the 5^th, and then again on the 12^th. I think many clusters are carrying berries from separate and distinct pollination periods. They are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive, if only we could ferment them that way.

Here are the numbers through August. We have recorded about 442 degree days for the month of August, providing a total of 1,496 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1^st. This compares with 503 degree days last August and a comparative total of 1,750 degree days for 2006. In 2005 we had accumulated 1,630 degree days through the end of August. Add 645 degree days if you think we will be having a 2003 September, or 360 degree days if you like the odds of a 2005 September.

During August, our highest high was 97.1 and our lowest high was 90.9. Our lowest low was 44.7 and our highest low was 49.0 degrees Fahrenheit. The rainfall for August was 0.78 inches and was 0.73 inches over last August's rain of 0.05. Rainfall since April 1^st through August 31^st was 4.44 inches, and is 0.03 inches less than last year's growing season to date rainfall of 4.41 inches (How about that for insignificant!) From the vines' point of view, we are 254 degree days short of last year and about spot on for rainfall.

The cover crop is still mostly dormant and is being sustained from the morning dew. The canopy is very green, lush and healthy. The canes are lignifying to a "café au lait" brown that sets off the dark clusters at first light. Sorry, I got confused and grabbed my marketing hat.

Back to farming.  I took the precaution of a 3^rd hedge to remove as many growing tips as possible. I gambled that if we continued to see a cool down in September, that I had done what I could to achieve harvest within the month of October. If we have a warm September, well then I have removed more young leaf tissue that would have transpired excess water and contributed to over-ripe phenolics. Heads I win, tails we call it a draw. If nothing else, in 30 days we will be "all-knowing." So, we got that going for us, and that's nice.

We are seeing a few birds, mostly in our neighbors' fields. I have 2 "Bird Gard" devices that replicate the sounds of birds of prey in a target rich environment and also the sounds of said meals being plucked from the sky. The mylar streamers we put out remind me of Christmas tinsel and it is nice to see the wind catching them when driving along the road. And of course, we are trapping yellow jackets at the rate 10 to the 7^th power. Or about 10,000,000 cells per mil, if you are into that sort of thing.

The only issue I see at this point is the split berries.  As is typical, my favorite clone 114 seems to be showing the worst. The remainder of the field has some instances, but not significant. I am hopeful that the warm temperature and dry breezes will be of help. The main issue I can control is yellow jacket damage. As I mentioned above, we are "on it." If that fails, we will pull out "The Big Guns" - see attached: http://www.remington.com/pdfs/msds/ss8ga.pdf

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2007 July

Good day and welcome to August,

The strategy in the vineyard has been implemented and we now begin the long march to harvest under Mother Nature's watchful eye. I have heard tell that the valley is looking to experience an early year. All I know is that here on the farm, we are a bit cooler than last year at this point, and drier. Also in 2006, we spied the first PINK berries on August 2nd. No such luck this year.

We have recorded about 557 degree days for the month of July, providing a total of 1,054 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1st . This compares with 590 degree days last July and comparative total of 1,246 degree days for 2006. In 2005 we had accumulated 1,062 degree days through the end of July.

During July, our highest high was 102.6 and our lowest high was 97.1. Our lowest low was 45.4 and our highest low was 49.0 degrees Fahrenheit. The rainfall for July was 0.39 inches and was 0.21 inches over last July's rain of 0.18. Rainfall since April 1st through July 31st was 5.22 inches, and is 0.78 inches less than last year's growing season to date rainfall of 6.00 inches. So, we are 192 degree days short of last year and just under an inch less of rainfall.

While doing cluster weights, I am noticing random clusters with hens and chicks. I suspect this is due to the heat spike at the end of May followed by a couple weeks of cool damp weather. I have checked the smaller berries and found they contain a single seed, and it is hardening off. I will let you know when we start to see color change.

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2007 June

Hello,

This month has just flown by Why, it seems like just last week I was writing the May climate summary. Here is what June felt like if you lived in the vineyard (keep your head down when the hedger comes by.)

We have recorded about 303 degree days for the month of June, providing a total of 497 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1. This compares with 254 degree days last June and comparative total of 514 degree days. Year to date, the percentage difference (3.42%) is about equal to "the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle" or "the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet." I like mine with peaches.

During June, our highest high was 93.2 and our lowest high was 88.7. Our lowest low was 40.2 and our highest low was 42.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The rainfall for June was 082 inches and was about 0.19 inches less than last June's rain of 1.01. Rainfall since April 1 through June 30th was 4.83 inches, and is 0.99 inches less than last year's Q2 accumulation of 5.82 inches. In other words, we are short about 27,000 gallons per acre from last year during this period, or about 11,400 cases worth.

Second wires are up and the shoots are clipped into place. We are now raising third wires, but I fear the race is lost to exponential growth we are seeing. I have hedging on my mind a little early this year, followed by leaf pull. I have rotated out of sulfur and into Flint for our first post bloom spray due to the Botrytis control. The rest of the season I will rotate with DMIs, other strobies and a blast of Quintec.

Fruit set is generally looking very good. I am seeing some clusters that are much more developed than others. I think bloom was impacted by warm weather at the end of May and then cool and somewhat damp weather during bloom. We could have some clusters ripen significantly earlier than others. This happened to our Dijon clone 114/5C in 2004. We had a shot of rain in late August and a significant portion of the berries split. Please see the enclosed graphs for the high, low and average temperatures during bloom.

These graphs show the high, low and average temperatures from June of this year and 2006 from the data logger most centrally located in the vineyard. The blue line is set at 75 degrees and the red line is at 50. Bloom began for us on June 5^th in 2007 and June 8^th in 2006.

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2007 Flowers aka Bloom

Hello,

I spotted our first Pinot Noir flowers as of June 5^th. This is 3 days ahead of the 2006 growing season and about 10 days before the historical average of June 15^th. Based on this information, I predict an above average harvest will occur here between September 15 and October 20.

This year, I used water shoots (aka suckers) to manage vigor during bloom. My intention was to achieve a reasonable set in all blocks. I began removing water shoots about 2 weeks ago in the least vigorous blocks and am finishing with the most vigorous blocks (10, 18 19 and 20) this week. I will report back set information in a couple weeks, after leaf pull.

The law of unintended consequences was also at work. By allowing water shoots to grow at the base of the vines, we had (in theory) less growth to manage in the canopy. I am not convinced shoot positioning was any easier or faster this year, but I believe there was less growth to position by allowing water shoots to divert excess vigor outside of the canopy. This may be an alternative to “kicker canes”, which I have found to be very difficult to manage in a VSP trellis.

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2006 August

Hello,

August is in the record books and we are entering the crucial month of September. During September, I will take cluster samples and report maturity and climate data specific to your blocks. It seems like only a few months ago that we were flowering and hopeful for enough fruit to fill fermenters. Someone out there, it appears, was hoping a little too hard.

The 2 week weather forecast I have seen calls for warm daytime temperatures in the mid 80-90 degree range and nighttime temperatures in the 50s. The Pinot Noir crop load has been reduced to one cluster per shoot with wings removed. The canopy remains very green and is holding up to the dry summer very well.

For everyone who has yellow jacket issues, may I recommend baiting your yellow jacket traps with salmon scraps. We have found this extremely effective and deeply rewarding, as I am allergic to bee stings. Using 30 traps for 48 hours resulted in 1.5 plastic Safeway bags full of dead yellow jackets. We mostly place the traps on endposts that are near blackberry bushes where we will also have harvest bins.

Here are the climate numbers for August. We have received 503 degree days through the 30^th of August, which brings us to a total of 1,749 degree days for 2006. For comparison, at this time in 2005 we had logged 1,629 degree days. So, we are still ahead by about 120 degree days, or about 7.4% over last year. Our highest hi was 103.4 and the lowest high was 90.9. The lowest low was 43.9 and the highest low was 46.8.

The only moisture we received was 0.05 inches on August 30^th which brings the year to 29.20 inches and is 9.10 inches above last year's total of 20.10 inches through August 30^th. Last year we were a bit more fortunate and recorded 0.06 inches during August.

Looking back to last year's September conditions, I see degree days of about 360 and 1.7 inches of rain. For those who like to "LET 'EM HANG!", we picked up another 60 degree days and 1.6 inches of rain through October 19. As a reminder, the 2003 vintage gave us about 645 degree days in September. Steve Goff has been really working his crystal ball, and when I get a look at it I will let everyone know when we will be picking.

Something to note in this big berried year is the August degree days and nighttime temperatures compared to the last 2 years. It seems to me, we have been cooling a bit more this August than in previous years. It is eerie that the July temperature numbers for 2004 and 2005 are the same. Here is a brief table with the numbers (in case you don't have enough to think about already.)

	Degree Days and Night Time Temperatures
	July	Hi	Low	August	Hi	Low	Total
2004	603	48.30	44.70	556	51.80	49.70	1,159
2005	548	49.70	46.10	568	48.30	45.40	1,116
2006	590	49.70	46.10	503	46.80	43.90	1,093
Average	580	49.23	45.63	542	48.97	46.33	1,123

Thanks,

Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2006 July

Hello & Welcome,

Here is a brief update on how the vineyard is coming along. Generally speaking, I am very pleased with the growing season and the vines have blessed us with a moderate to above average fruit set. Of course, there is plenty of race left to run with the months of September and October being crucial to another great vintage.

The climate for the last two months has provided us with 844 degree days (June 254 and July 590.) This brings us to a total of 1,246 degree days as of the 30th of July. For comparison, at this time in 2005 we had logged 1,062 degree days (June 254 and July 548). So we are up about 184 degree days or 17% over last year at this time. The highest hi temperature in June was 85.80 and the lowest high was 79.50. The lowest low in June was 40.20 and the highest low was 43.20. July had a heat spike that sent our highest hi to 108.50 and our lowest hi to 99.40. The lowest low in July was 46.10 and the highest low was 49.70. I am using decimals here, as it has been recently brought to my attention that 4.00 out of 3.00 people have trouble with fractions.

Looking forward, if we add the 2005 degree days for the remainder of this year (997 degree days) to the current year, we would end this season at roughly 2,243 degree days. Rainfall since April 1 through July 30th has totaled 6.00" inches here at the vineyard (1.01 for June and 0.18 for July) compared to 10.50" inches last year (2.35 June and 0.17 for July.) My forecast for the month of August comes from a lyric in a Sting song: "There'll be clouds but, no rain."

The vineyard is looking very green and healthy. The vineyard floor has a small amount of cover crop (barley and vetch) planted in alternate rows. It is clear to see where excess soil moisture is present as we have more vigorous growth compared with where the cover crop has gone dormant. I think this is equalizing the vineyard and helping to get these damp/vigorous areas

through the light red fruit phase of maturity into the dark red and blue/black fruits. Dena and I are pretty happy with the progress. We talked it over for an hour and a fifth the other night.

The canopy has been hedged twice and I see a third pass in my future. Leaf pull was again minimal this year as I am trying to mitigate the tannin and astringency that seems to be the characteristic of our site. The fruit is healthy; I am current on the spray program and have not detected any disease pressure. We are currently sitting about 3.5 to 45 tons per acre depending on the block. We are finishing up lag weights and will begin thinning crop/wings down to 2 tons per fruiting acre next week. I would expect to see some "pink" berries in the Pinot noir by the 10th of August. For us, clone 777 on 44-53M has historically been the first to turn.

Thanks,

Ernie 

BTW: The Syrah flowered on June 17 this year.

Amalie Robert Estate: 2006 Spring Cellar Report

Hello and Welcome,

Spring has finally arrived and we are grateful. Ernie thinks the winter lasted a bit too long and cabin fever began to set in. But, the "off season" is a good time to reflect and make plans for the following year. We have taken advantage of this time and have some updates to share.

The most recent news is that Ernie has completed planting the "North Orchard." You may recall this block is about 8 acres and is the highest elevation on the property. This brings us up to about 30 acres, nearly 45,000 vines. We planted all of this acreage (about 12,000 vines) to Pinot Noir (Pommard, Dijon clone 114 and 667) on 3 different rootstocks. The next step is the trellis with about 160 posts and 65 miles of wire. If all goes well and Mother Nature smiles upon us, the North Orchard will begin to bear fruit in 2008. We will keep you "posted".

Dena has also been busy with label designers trying to refine our look. The 2004 labels were updated just slightly with better color utilization and the use of a proper burgundy bottle. The 2005 front labels will show off Dena's handiwork and we will retain the burgundy shape bottle. The back label is Ernie's design and it reflects the structure and discipline you have come to expect from him. We have rekindled the cork debate and may be going "old school" back to real corks for our 2005 Pinot Noirs.

We were very honored earlier this year to be invited to join the ¡Salud! Pinot Noir barrel auction this fall. This event is in its 15th year and is held each November. The purpose is to raise funds to provide healthcare to the people who work our fields and move from crop to crop as the seasons change. Both Dena and Ernie are big supporters of this mission and Ernie is on the Steering Committee. His primary responsibility is the Saturday Big Board Auction. Click here to learn more. www.saludauction.org

The next big thing is our winery project. Last fall we began planning for our estate winery. We chose an experienced architect whose projects include Domaine Drouhin, Domaine Serene, and Stoller Vineyards. We were fortunate that a very experienced builder was available to construct our winery. Their prior projects include Bethel Heights and Penner-ash.  We broke ground on February 9 and are targeted to complete the construction by mid-August. Our goal is to crush 20 tons of our estate grown fruit this fall. The best part is that we will have Syrah and Viognier for the first time!

Let's talk about the wines. Our site and Mother Nature really hit it off in 2005. The wines in barrel are just flat-out gorgeous. We will again have a Dijon clones bottling in 2005 and perhaps a bit larger production of Amalie's Cuvée. We will also be crafting a ¡Salud! wine from a very small lot that we personally hand harvested last fall. The clones are our favorites, Dijon 114 and 115. We have also tasted through all of our customers’ cellars and everyone is extremely pleased with the 2005s.  We sell fruit to Beaux Frères, Cristom Vineyards, Elk Cove Vineyards and Dick Erath.

As you know, our 2004s are just being released. We knew the barrel lots were great, but waiting for them to come out of bottle shock is a trying experience. Maybe the move to real corks will help this process. These wines are unfined & unfiltered and are beginning to develop some sediment. Decanting is not required; however setting the bottle upright for about 30 minutes is a good idea.

We submitted these wines to a reviewer who has a palate we trust - Stephen Tanzer at the International Wine Cellar. We were very pleased with the scoring, but even more excited about his descriptions. Here is what he had to say about our 2004 Pinot Noirs:

Amalie's Cuvee (91 cases produced) - Dark red. Raspberry and strawberry preserves on the nose, with hints of cola and dark chocolate. Sweet, plump cherry and blackberry on the palate, with good breadth and depth but not the purity or vivacity of the Dijon Clones bottling. A lush, weighty wine that picks up some exotic spice notes on the back end, finishing on a sweet, ripe note. (This was the first vintage under the label of this estate, which still sells half of its harvest to top local producers like Beaux Frères and Cristom.) 89 points

Dijon Clones (254 cases produced) - Light red. Flat-out gorgeous nose of red berries, yellow rose and five-spice powder, with a chalky mineral element adding energy and lift. Juicy, vibrant and pure, the nicely concentrated flavors running the red fruit gamut (especially wild strawberry), with an earthy note of rhubarb. Wonderfully clean and brisk, but with no shortage of concentration or flavor impact through the finish. Develops a wild, sweet note of underbrush with air. This is strikingly pure, unadorned and pretty pinot. 91 points

                                    - Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, May/Jun 06

If you have made it this far, you know that you won't see or hear from Ernie again until the Harvest Review. His primary job from here until harvest is directing the field work and putting in the tractor time that will steward our fruit through the summer and into the winery where our first crush awaits. During this time, Dena will be keeping everything else together and staying in touch with you. 

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie