Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2012 July

Hello and Welcome,

This is the climate update for the month of July 2012.

“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” Looking back on the ¡Salud! Pinot Noir auction and how we got started growing wine. Speaking of which, that event is coming around again this November 9^th and 10^th. You can learn about the mission and how to secure your Amalie Robert Estate ¡Salud! Cuvee here: http://www.saludauction.org

July has been a really nice month for farmers who farm wine. We started with some very warm and sunny days. The vines picked up on the increased warmth and tapped into their reserve of soil moisture to put up some impressive growth. Good for them. Our job was to harness that growth and put catch wires around it. Not so good for us.

This struggle for control lasts a couple of weeks and the vineyard begins to resemble an overgrown jungle. However, we have seen this before and know what to do – ROADTRIP!

Wait a minute, that’s not it. Ernie pulls out the hedger, that’s what he does. The vines seem to sense this and push even more growth, that’s what they do. Yes, this piece of equipment gets quite a work-out every year. Notice how Ernie has the flail mower hooked up behind the hedger so he can “sweep up as he goes along.” Now that’s farming! We wouldn’t say the hedger has paid for itself, because that is not what farmers say. They say things like, “Well, that looks like a piece of grit to me.”

The hedger turns chaos back into order. We like to hedge a pretty big canopy. We are strong believers in leaves. The past few vintages have been fairly cool here in the Willamette Valley and having more leaf surface is certainly an advantage in achieving ripeness. This point is made in mid to late September through October when the temperatures are slow to warm up. Cool conditions mean that there is very little time for the leaves to create and export energy to the rest of the vine. So, we plan for this and make sure we maximize our leaf surface area. And it looks nice, too.

We end up hedging the top of the shoots back down to a height of about 90 inches. By design, this is the width of the rows in the vineyard. The growth starts at what we call the fruiting wire, which is at 30 inches, and gives us a 60 inch “solar array” to harvest sunlight. Because that is what farmers do, we harvest sunlight. Actually the vines do the harvesting this time of year. If all ends well, we will be back in October for a little “cluster pluck” of our own.

Right now we are plucking just a few leaves in the fruit zone to expose the developing berries to the morning sun. This part of the canopy management is often overlooked in how important it is in shaping the flavor and aroma profile in the skins. If we pull too many leaves on our Pinot Noir and we see a nice hot August the fruit can develop an almost Syrah like intensity. Of course we want that in our Syrah. Viognier, however, will sunburn like an Irishman in Portugal, so we leave all of those leaves on.

Leaf plucking is the beginning of winemaking in the vineyard. This is when we look for a rift in the time/space continuum to see what the month of August and September will bring. We don’t have ground hogs in Oregon, so we have to go hi-tech.

If we see a dismal, cool growing season we may be inclined to remove a few more leaves. But if we see a repeat of 2003 when we could have ripened Zinfandel, then we are inclined to leave a few more leaves to shade the fruit.

Among all of the “most important” things we need to get right, sun development in the skins and the fermentation temperature that extracts those flavors and aromas are key to the style of wine we produce. Did we mention that leaf plucking in Burgundy is not such a big deal? Hmm…

Well, it is about time to look at the farming numbers.

We have recorded about 449 degree days for the month of July, providing a total of 929 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1^st. This compares with 381 degree days last July and a comparative total of 689 degree days for 2011. During July, our highest high was 90.9 and our lowest low was 43.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

We received no measurable precipitation for the month of July. July 2011 brought the gift of 1.02 inches of rain. Rainfall from April 1^st through July 31^st was 8.96, and is 0.40 inches less than last year's growing season to date rainfall of 9.39 inches. Timing is everything.

The trend seems to be warmer and drier than last year. Hard to believe it could be wetter and colder, though as we now know, anything is possible. Mother Nature, not very reliable but somewhat predictable, seems to be turning on her charm.

Next up on the Julian calendar is Lag Phase. This is the time in the berries’ development when we can predict final harvest weights. Of course they will be wrong, but they are usually close enough. Once we know how much fruit we are hanging, we can go back to the vine and thin off a few clusters to get us where we need to be. Being where you need to be when you need to be there. That’s the secret to a happy farmer and catching your flight home.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2012 June

Hello and Welcome,

This is the climate update for the month of June 2012.

We were happy to report bloom occurred earlier this month, and now we are paying for it with the “June Gloom.” That’s right, we have been experiencing showers, mostly overcast skies and warm, humid conditions. It’s like taking a shower in the morning and never leaving the bathroom, or walking to work in Seattle. Oh sure there have been sun breaks, but those were in ARIZONA! It kinda puts the “F” in Farming.

With the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) announcing a few big rulings this month, we think a lot of folks got a first hand feel for what it is like to be a farmer. Farmers are always watching the weather. We try and “predict” where Mother Nature is leading us, especially around harvest time. Such was the case this month with some folks “predicting” the rulings from the high court based on a few days of questions and answers.

The result, of course, was predictable. Few, if anyone, predicted the final outcome, but it didn’t stop the pontification leading up to the big news. In growing wine, not only do we have to make it through harvest to determine how well our wines will represent our soils and the climate, we also need to get past wine critics. And that is before the wine is even bottled! The real evaluation of the vintage takes place a few years down the road when a bottle of wine is enjoyed with a meal.

From the “Mother Nature v the law” file, we have this telling story. Patent number 5,968,597 was granted on October 19, 1999 and gave one group sole rights to Broccoli Sprout production. The sale of seed intended to produce Broccoli Sprouts and all Broccoli Sprouts had to be produced by or licensed by the patent holders. (Note: It’s not that “farming difficult”- you get them wet and Mother Nature does the rest.)

The wisdom of that patent finally met with the harsh light of day. Right around Pinot Noir harvest time, October 11, 2001, the patent was ruled invalid. It took a while, but Mother Nature wins again! Much like the 2007 vintage, those wines are just “farming magic” in a bottle.

And speaking of farming, we have been diligent in our field work. Our first set of catch wires has been raised and clipped into place. Well done! We came back around for a second pass, but noticed many of our shoots have not quite made it up to the second set of wires. Just when we thought we were getting ahead - hurry up and wait. At least Ernie gets a chance to change the oil in all 3 of his “farming tractors” while he waits.

What is not waiting is our cover crop. Since Ernie drilled that in last month it has taken off like a rocket. So far we have been able to harvest a few pea tendrils and those are a great addition to a Duck Confit salad. The goal, however, is to harvest healthy and mature flavored grapes to make wine. It looks like it may be a while before we are done “farming around” with this vintage.

Our biggest objective this time of year is to transition from bloom to fruit set without any Powdery Mildew or Botrytis infections. The warm, humid weather is creating great conditions for both of these pathogens to grow and get a foothold on this year’s vintage.

Early in the growing season we combat these two undesirables by applying sulfur to the vines. As the sulfur volatizes, the effect is similar to entering a small room where a million bottle rockets have just been lit off. The sulfur dioxide from the burning fireworks really irritates your soft tissues such as eyes and lungs. If you are familiar with the campfire scene in the movie Blazing Saddles, then you get the drift.

The sulfur we apply to our vines has a very similar effect to the cell walls of Powdery Mildew and Botrytis. They do not die, they just lie in wait until the conditions improve where they can grow again. It is our job to keep them in stasis while the fruit matures.

However, we cannot apply anything to the vines while it is raining. So, we just sit out here and grab another beer. And not just any beer mind you, we are looking to enjoy a tall, cool Phuket beer. By the way, the bird featured on the logo is a Hornbill and a quite nice one at that.

And now the paragraphs you have all been waiting for – the numbers! It’s Ernie’s chance to geek out in a very normal and mature kind of way. Sometimes he is “farming serious” and other times he is just “farming kidding.” And it gives him something to do when it’s raining.

The month of June accumulated 244.2 degree days, had a high of 86.6 and a low of 37.2 with 2.92 inches of rain. This brings the 2012 growing season up to 480.3 degree days since April 1. And yes, we did receive exactly 2.92 inches of rain last month. We would say this is odd, but it is divisible by 2. Was it sampling error? Ah yes, human terroir.

However, we can compare this year to the character building vintage of 2011. We logged about 270 degree days in June (up from 249 degree days in 2010) providing a total of 308 degree days through June of 2011. This is a “big farming deal” early in the season to record about 55% more degree days then the previous year.

So the next time someone asks you if we are ahead or behind this year, you can reply with the utmost “farming confidence.” “We are about 55.8% ahead of last year.” Then wait for the deer caught in the headlights look.

As we turn to the page for July, we are predicting some really beautiful “farming weather.” We can use it too, as harvest is only about 103 days away!

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2012 June Flowers

Hello and Welcome,

We have just received the most definitive sign yet of our upcoming harvest - Flowers! This is a Big Farming Deal (BFD) from the winegrower point of view. As consumers, we can buy wine everyday - except Sunday in some states, and you know who you are. But from our winegrowing point of view, you only get one chance each year to get it right!

The vines have given us a really big clue as to our upcoming harvest window. We first spied flowers on Monday, June 18th, in Block 8. Now, Block 8 is one of our small Dijon Clone blocks planted with 1,063 vines of 115 clone Pinot Noir grafted onto Schwarzmann rootstock. It is also one of the first lots in the winery that Dena seeks out during her blending trials for Amalie's Cuvee.

But hold on here a minute. Before we can start blending, we need to harvest these grapes! This is where we can use our clue. We know that we need about 105 days from the time we see flowers until we get the buckets out and start harvesting. We track these sort of things in our 2012 Julian Calendar. So we have flowering on day 170, and that means we can predict beautifully sunny skies and a nice cool, dry breeze for the 4 week harvest window beginning on day 285. That would be Thursday, October 12th at 7:05 am - very nice.

Of course, the Syrah and Viognier will again be in no hurry this year. We start looking at these vines around Halloween to see if we are going to get tricks or treats. Since our first harvest of these noble grapes in 2006, we can say it's been all good!

Comparatively speaking, we have come back from the lunatic fringe of the 2011 growing season. We saw our first flowers on July 3rd, day 184. Harvest began on October 23rd (day 296) and lasted through November 14th when we snatched the Syrah and Viognier from the jaws of defeat. Then it got really cold - like Montana cold where we were below freezing for several days in December - not nice.

During our previous lives we both expatriated to Europe. Moving to and living in Europe for the first few months was somewhat of a challenge. The hardest part was sharing a language where we used the same words, however they often times had significantly different meanings. This lead to a few occasions where Ernie looks back now and says, "Yeah, been there, had that done to me."

That pretty much sums up the 2011 growing season. For now, let's call 2011 a "Character Building" vintage.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2012 May

Hello and Welcome!

This is the climate update for May 2012. All in all, it has been a pretty good mix of rain, sun, clouds, wind and favorable working conditions in the vineyard. Par for the course, there were a couple of equipment “malfunctions” that required repairs including an adjustment of the loose nut behind the wheel. When preventive maintenance fails, the last tool in the toolbox is usually the right tool for percussive maintenance. Ah Janet, it’s springtime in the Willamette.

The vines are budded out with shoots that are about 12 to 18 inches and we have just finished their manicure. That is where we run down the length of their 4 foot cane and remove excess shoots that are spaced too closely together. The idea here is that if the shoots are too close together, the leaves and fruit will impede the sunlight and air circulation we need to properly ripen our fruit throughout the growing season. This congestion in the canopy will also make it easier for those nasty little mildew and botrytis spores to take hold - and that is completely unacceptable.

The next step for our 44,155 precocious little winemakers is to straighten their remaining shoots and clip catch wires around them. The purpose of the catch wires is to keep the shoots growing vertically through the trellis. It is a requirement of a VSP (Vertical Shoot Positioned) trellis system.

“What does this mean and why should I care?!”

Welcome to advanced canopy management for cool climate Pinot Noir (as if there is any other kind.) The primary design benefit of a VSP trellis system is to separate the shoots and expose the fruit clusters to sun and circulating air, in hopes no mildew will grow there.

The alternative is to not position those shoots vertically, but to let them flop down all over themselves. The result will be less sun exposure to develop flavors and aromas in the skins, and a damp environment around the leaves that will make the perfect home to a mildew epidemic.

As mildew grows it takes about 7 days to produce new spores that will infect new leaves. Once the fruit makes its debut on the scene, the mildew will attack the fruit and all will be lost. In other words, there will be no wine, just lots of whining - and that is completely unacceptable.

The vineyard floor is looking really nice. The permanent grass rows have been mowed down twice, with the last pass just before the rains. This is very fortuitous timing as the clippings will decompose faster, returning nutrients to the soil, which as you know, is the plant’s stomach.

Ernie has incorporated last year’s cover crop of Peas and Oats into the soil to be digested by all those little soil microbes. As the growing season progresses, all of that organic matter just decomposes right before our eyes. We see it again in the new green growth of the vines’ shoots and leaves. This is the circle of life, if you live in the soil.

Just as quick as you please, Ernie returned with his mighty (expensive) seed drill and installed his summer cover crop of Buckwheat and Vetch. The idea here is to fix nitrogen with the Vetch and for the Buckwheat to provide pollen protein for our carnivorous little beneficial insets if they run out of non-beneficial insects to eat. Love you guys!

Reminds Ernie of a photo he saw of a grizzly bear in Alaska with a rather large salmon hanging out of its mouth. The caption was “Are you the Salmon or are you the Bear?” And of course, until the final moment, how would you know?

Step into the Vineyard Vestibule and we will tell you that we have accumulated some heat units this month!

Wouldn’t be easy if we could just “cap and trade” heat units? We could dial in the “perfect” Wine Spectator vintage every year! Maybe the folks in Spain are just too hot and we could trade them some cool Willamette Valley breeze for a few days of hot, dry heat. That’s kind of what happens when vineyards turn on the irrigation – think about it.

OK, back to reality. Here are the numbers for the month of May 2012.

The month of May accumulated 196.32 degree days, had a high of 88.0 and a low of 31.7 with 2.92 inches of rain. This brings the 2012 growing season up to a very respectable 236.08 degree days from April 1 through May 31. We are significantly warmer than 2011’s heat accumulation of 37.61 degree days by nearly a factor of 10! Rainfall for the growing season is 6.04 inches, which is less than the 2011 ark building rains of 7.71 inches.

But there is more to the story. While we recorded a low temperature of 31.7, we did not see any frost damage. Other sites in the valley were not so lucky and have reported frost damage. This will not kill the vines; they are too tough for that. However, there is a very strong likelihood that there will be no fruit from the damaged shoots - no wine, just lots of whining.

As June unfolds, we will be scouting for the next sign of harvest – flowers. It is with this event in the vineyard we can begin to establish a harvest window. We like to see 105 days from flowers to harvest. Of course, we will take what we can get and not complain. Maybe just have a glass of wine.

Kindest regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2012 April

Hello and Welcome!

As previously noted, the first sign of harvest occurred on Monday, April 23^rd, with the arrival of bud break. After the delayed, protracted and intolerably cold post-harvest season, it was widely rumored (aka common knowledge) the vines would take the year off. No such luck, they are back to test our mettle and taunt us for yet a 13^th time here at Amalie Robert Estate. Here's to lucky 13!

The sign of new Spring growth is a welcome sight that replaces the dense ice fog that plagued much of the vines’ dormant season. Damn, it was cold. The vines were oblivious, much like the notion of rain to a fish. But the most important thing about bud break is that it gives the winegrower a sense of renewal. All of the farming "learning opportunities" from the prior vintage have been duly logged and process improvements have been devised. We begin the year anew, a little older and hopefully a little wiser, yet blissfully unaware of what dark forces wait to set upon us. We are confident only in knowing there are several.

Along with that uplifting Spring growth comes vineyard activities. The first of which is the annual ritual where Ernie hopes the tractor will start. This is usually followed by a parts run and then a changing of the battery. Ok, back up to square one. A quick bump of the key and a tap on the throttle brings the engine to life. The glorious sound of 4 turbocharged diesel cylinders spinning up to maximum torque fills the air! This is the equivalent of bud break for farm equipment.

Mowing the vineyard is the early season activity and it is quite a job. Ernie uses the crawler this time of year to avoid compaction in the vine rows. The concept here is that the soil has pores that hold water during the rainy season and air during the growing season. This soil condition is key to a healthy soil that is a microcosm unto itself.

By using the crawler, Ernie spreads the weight of the equipment along the entire surface of the two steel tracks as opposed to 4 tire contact points. This provides a lighter footprint that does not squeeze the water out of the pores in the soil. A wheel tractor will put all of the weight in 4 spots as it rolls through the vineyard. The soil will bear a heavier load and the pores will collapse causing compaction. The soil microbes and vine roots don't much care for that condition.

A well aerated soil provides a great place to conduct microbial activity. Agronomically speaking, a healthy soil is a hidden economy where each organism has a place and a purpose. New growth displaces dead matter that is converted into energy by the life forces in the soil. The vines utilize this resource for nutrients and water to produce fruit. As winegrowers, we replenish the soil with fresh green cover crops and mulched brown vineyard prunings from the prior year.

Each mowing pass, and there are several throughout the year, is a sweet little 37.5 mile ride @ about 2 miles per hour. If Ernie were to "play through" and not stop, he would wrap up in about 19 hours. Of course it never works out that way, so a better average time is about 1.5 miles per hour, yielding about 25 hours of elapsed time. But there are physical limits and you can only drive the crawler so fast. It can go faster, but not with you on it.

Sometimes he misses the showers and sometimes they will not be denied, but driving an open station crawler is the only way to appreciate the wonderful Springtime weather that passes by from time to time. The warmth of the sun on Ernie's face, a gentle breeze and the odd hailstone produces a nice fire engine red glow for the rest of the day. A reminder that it is time to find the sunscreen and a better hat.

Note the fully deployed yellow rain slicker Ernie wears to maximize his total immersion in this rich vineyard experience!

Here is a quick rundown of the numbers.

We have recorded about 52.89 degree days from April 1^st through April 30^th. All of this heat accumulation occurred in the second half of the month. We checked at April 15^th, but we had nothing. We reached a high of 81.5 and a low of 31.9 with 3.12 inches of rain directed mostly at Ernie as he drove his crawler through the vineyard.

We accumulated NADA for degree days in April 2010. The high temperature was 80.50 and a low of 32.40 with 4.75 inches of rain scattered throughout the month.

So, we are a bit warmer than last year and the vines are sporting swanky new green shoots. So far, so good. Next up will be to incorporate (rototill) the Oats and Peas that were drilled in last fall. As this green matter is digested by the soil, it will release nutrients for the vines to grow the most spectacular vintage of Pinot Noir known to mankind. Not only is this great stewardship of the land, it also makes for a nice piece of dirt we call home.

Stewardship is key to saving the planet and you should be doing your part. We were recently reminded as to why this is SO important. Other than the obvious reason that we call Earth home, it is also the only planet that grows wine!

But we can suppose that if the other planets did grow wine, what would they grow? Ernie thinks Mars would most likely make a fine Viognier or Vino Verde that is served over dry ice. Dena thinks Venus would produce the most ethereal Chardonnay. Mercury would grow a firebrand Shiraz, and Pluto would be relegated to Rhubarb wine - it's a dog thing - with very little intergalactic export possibility.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it looks like the rest of the month of May is going to be sunny, dry and stunningly beautiful. As you go outside and enjoy the sunny dry weather, consider taking a few moments to wet your plants. Especially the Rhodies…

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2011 Harvest After Action Report (AAR)

Hello and Welcome,

This is the final climate update for the 2011 growing season.

The best way we can think to describe this growing season is “It ain’t over, ‘til it’s over.” And now, it’s over. The delayed, protracted and extended 2011 cluster pluck officially concluded on day 318, November 14th, 2011. The last of the best was our Estate Grown Syrah and Viognier. Love you guys!

Why so long? Well, we got a late start. Let’s fast forward to mid-October. We were seeing some dark and rainy days during the first couple of weeks of October. But right around the 14th, Mother Nature must have gotten a little depressed and let the sun shine. We may not have been the first, but we rushed right outside to get some on us.

Ernie kept a log of each day in case he was called to refute some misguided wine writer. There was an (un)fair bit of that going on in early October. Reminded Ernie of a certain kind of sandwich that benefits from some extra bread. You don’t need to be a farmer to know where he’s coming from. Here is the brief (and family friendly) version of his log:

Friday, October 14th – Sunny! Look the Orb has returned!

Saturday & Sunday, October 15th & 16th – Partly sunny and overcast, must be the weekend

Monday, October 17th – Sunny and Dry

Tuesday, October 18th – Sunny and Dry and 79

Wednesday, October 19th – Partly cloudy, good thing as I used all of my sunscreen

Thursday, October 20th – Mostly sunny, looking for my big hat

Friday, October 21st – Sunny and 70, WTF (wow the flavors) are really coming on!!

Saturday, October 22nd – Sunny, breezy and dry, just another day in paradise, 72

Sunday, October 23rd – Harvest Day 1, let’s bring some of those grapes in and see what we’ve got to work with

Monday, October 24th – Start the coffee, it’s 34 degrees, clear as a bell and cold, as well

Tuesday, October 25th – GORGEOUS!

Wednesday, October 26th - A little spittle and some clouds

Thursday, October 27th – GORGEOUS! Part II

Friday, October 28th – A little spittle and a lotta sun, nice

Saturday, October 29th – Dry, a few clouds and another day of hang time

Sunday, October 30th – Mostly sunny, dry and a little breeze, what planet am I on?

Monday, October 31st – Halfway point of Ockto-vember, and I am just about out of bier

That, in a detailed and irrefutable format, is how the last half of October looked and felt. But we weren’t finished yet. Just like last year, our biggest Pinot Noir harvest day was on the day before the big deluge of rain and it was a BFD (Big Farming Day.)

November 02, 2011 (11/02/2011), was our last scheduled Pinot Noir harvest day. Selecting harvest dates seems a bit like triage. The first fruit we bring in is from our warmest areas of the field. They have had enough and if we wait too long, we see the flavors go from elegant red fruit to dried prunes. Not nice. We prefer the elegant side of Pinot Noir.

The next sets of blocks are the ones we prize the most – mostly. These are the clones and rootstocks that are in the running for The Reserve, Amalie’s Cuvée and Estate Selection. Even though we may think they could benefit from another day or two in the field, we would be devastated if we lost them to a major rain event. This, by the way, is how to make too much money in the stock market – sell too soon.

Then, there are the bonus blocks. Here is where Ernie is willing to hang it out there if he thinks he can take his dearest Wadenswil clone at the exact last second before disaster hits. Once again, he was not disappointed as Block 10 got a few extra days and put up some very impressive Brix and pH numbers. But the real prize here is the Wadenswil aroma. It needs time to develop in the skins and those extra days will pay off in the bottle.

Last are the blocks that have proven to benefit from all the hang time they can get. We know where they are and we wait just as patiently as we can. It’s like playing chicken with Mother Nature. If we wait, we could lose them, but if we don’t wait we miss out on the great flavors and aromas these blocks can contribute. By the way, this is how to make too little money in the stock market – sell after the crash.

November 03, 2011, is when Miss Thing returned to the office to find the rain controls had been turned off. She saw to that in short order. And rain it did, and then some more for good measure. But to little avail, we had ALL of the Pinot Noir from the vine. We felt a little “neener neener” coming on, but it was third down and we still had the Syrah and Viognier to go.

Bear in mind that our harvest window, because of the cool spring, was supposed to start on day 289, October 15th. We blew right past that and didn’t start until 8 days later. Then we kept the harvest window open for another 10 days through November 2nd. While this is just about as good as it gets for Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, Ernie’s thoughts were closing in on “old Rhône week” and wondering just which week that might be.

Ernie has a story that he occasionally tells about turning back time – it’s been long enough that any impacted person will have forgotten, except maybe you, Sean. He was in Ireland running the European Operation Centre (EOC) Licensing Business. This was how Microsoft did business with very large Multinational companies – they licensed the use of their software.

Each quarter these companies would report “usage” of new licenses and Ernie was supposed to send them a bill. Easy enough, until the marketing folk (ilk) got involved. They wanted to be sure a reseller was involved in the middle. Often times these resellers would prepare the reports for the companies. Of course, Microsoft required a signed report by the company, regardless. A man with two watches is never really sure of the time. This was the case with competing usage reports.

The real fun came at the end of every quarter when the invoices went out. Note, the Irish are big on tea (and Guinness), not coffee. When Ernie first arrived on the scene, each of these reports had to be entered individually, by hand, to generate an invoice. This is when Ernie started to think he was working for the greatest marketing company on earth. In short order he had the IT folks create an interface that allowed spreadsheets to be uploaded directly into the so called “system.” So clever, he thought.

At quarter end when the big day arrived, everyone crowded around one desk and began uploading their reports. It was good fun, but Ernie could not help but wonder why this was being done at one desk. He was told it was for “control” purposes. Upon further examination, Ernie found that the process IT had designed was serial, not parallel. Each person, one usage report at a time, would upload, then the next person, one at a time and so on.

After a brief “That is what you asked for” countered with “Does this look like a reasonable implementation to you?” Ernie knew he would run out of time to get all of them time stamped by quarter end. This was important, as this revenue figured into each GM’s quarterly bonus. No licensing revenue, no bonus. Even the IT people figured that one out. Besides, the pubs were closing at 11:30 – we were never going to make it.

After a few gyrations, there was only one thing Ernie could come up with. It was the nuclear option, but there were no other options, not even bad ones. Ernie reasoned that Microsoft was an American company based in Redmond, Washington. Redmond is where the “system” was located. Redmond was also 8 hours behind Dublin. Ernie found the Chief Bit Twiddler and asked him to reset the local system clock to Redmond, Washington time.

“I can’t,” he casually replied. “You can’t or you won’t?” Ernie asked for clarification. “It can’t be done,” he clarified. At that point, Ernie went to his PC and reset the time. “Can’t or won’t?” Ernie re-queried. Within minutes, Ernie had 8 more system hours and the time stamp issue was resolved.

Now, he was confronted with a different problem set - how to bring the Syrah and Viognier harvest forward? Fate would take a hand.

Late Thursday afternoon November 10th, Ernie found himself in a very well tended acre of Syrah. He walked the field with the winemaker who had decided not to take the fruit. Ernie was familiar with all of the clones and had tasted previous vintages of the wine.

“We decided not to take it this year. Do you want it?” he was asked.

Ernie was aghast. This was like seeing a pile of money laying on 48th and Lexington. This fruit was amazing in flavor and aroma development. The Brix were low to assure moderate alcohol and the acids were high. This was cool climate Syrah just waiting to be plucked. And the stems, oh the stems, they were perfect for whole cluster fermentation.

“We have turned off the bird cannons so there won’t be much left by tomorrow afternoon. You will have to pick it, though.”

Ernie had one empty fermenter left. That was only because he borrowed two from a friend the week before. The planets had appeared to align. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition, number 44: “Never confuse wisdom with luck.” Ernie’s corollary: “Luck favors the prepared mind.”

“Yes, I would like to pick about one fermenter’s worth,” Ernie stammered.

With that, the Syrah harvest moved forward to, you got it, November 11, 2011 (11/11/11.) Feels like an Orson Wells “War of the Worlds” type designation. We concluded with our Estate Syrah and Viognier the following Monday, November 14th, 2011. People frequently ask us if we co-ferment our Syrah with Viognier. Not only do we co-ferment, we co-grow and co-harvest as well - co-cool!!

Here are the numbers for October, in case you were concerned we were getting soft.

We have recorded about 52 degree days for the month of October, providing a total of 1,794 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1st. This compares with 160 degree days last October and a comparative total of 1,722 degree days for 2010.

During October, our highest high was 78.1 and our lowest high was 74.6. Our lowest low was 28.4 and our highest low was 33.3 degrees Fahrenheit.

There was significant rainfall (2.54 inches) in the first half of October, then relatively dry the second half with a few drops recorded on the 29th and 30th (0.22 inches.) Total rainfall for October is 2.76 inches and is 2.54 inches less than last October’s rainfall of 6.22 inches.

Rainfall since April 1st through October 31st is 12.15 inches, and is 9.71 inches less than last year's growing season to date rainfall of 21.86 inches. The average monthly humidity was 79.09% and the average dew point was 42.04 degrees; Dog nose weather – cold and wet.

Kindest Regards,

Dena and Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2011 Harvest Brief

Hello and Welcome,

This is a brief harvest update covering the last half of October. The weather the last two weeks of October was just as nice as the day is long - we even picked up a few degree days! Harvest began as it always does, in earnest, on Sunday, October 23rd. Once harvest is finished, we will publish a complete harvest "After Action Report" (AAR.)

As we began harvest, our soils had mostly dried out from the early October rains. This was key not only for better concentration of the fruit, but tractor safety. Ernie hauls our hand harvested grapes to the winery using a three "tote bin" trailer. Each tote bin weighs in at about 900 pounds, add the trailer and you are at just about 2 tons. Imagine pulling that load across a 15% side slope on two small trailer tires. Now imagine rainy wet conditions that turn our clay based soils into luge runs. Yeah, it's a long way to the top if you got some grapes to haul...

The 2011 "Cluster Pluck" is winding down. We finished picking all of our Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir on November 2, 2011 (11/02/2011.) The Chardonnay was taken from the vine today, and the Syrah and Viognier, well Ernie just went and bought some bird netting to augment our bird callers. Those grapes are holding tight.

The aroma in the winery is just stunning! We ferment our Pinot Noir in 1.5 ton "Macrobin" fermenters. We sort our fruit in the field and then again when we are loading it into the fermenters. The first portion is the whole clusters, and then we destem the rest of the fruit on top. We add a little Sulfur Dioxide to keep the bad bugs out of the race until our native yeast can dominate the fermentation.

The first week or so is pretty boring, all of the action is at the microbial level. But after that, we can start to smell the sweet perfumed aromas of Pinot Noir. This is unadulterated juice fermented by Amalie Robert Estate native yeast not complicated by oak barrels. We try very hard to steward these aromas through the barrel maturation time and into the bottle. We realize that some folks highly regard the extracted style of Pinot Noir, but we prefer this elegant elixir hands down.

Here are some numbers to chew on - 3.14. This is what we like to start with in the morning. A nice warm slice of peach 3.14. Then there are Brix numbers. Brix is a measure of fermentable sugars. We are seeing Brix levels range from about 20.5 to 22.5. We estimate a 60% conversion rate to alcohol. So lets say we average 21.5 brix for the vintage, then we should see final alcohols in the 12.9% range. Nice.

Next is pH. This is a measure, actually more of a guide at this point, of the juice acidity. This is made up of 2 parts - Malic Acid and Tartaric Acid. We are seeing pH levels in the 3.14 to 3.25 range measured at the end of the day. This is a very nice place to be for several reasons.

The first and most important is for microbial stability in a native fermentation. High pH juice (think sweeter) is easier for spoilage organisms to grow. At Amalie Robert Estate, we like to "tart it up" a bit.

Another benefit of these low pH's is that we are not adding much, if any, Tartaric Acid back to the juice to lower the pH. This should appeal to the so called "Natural Wine" movement.

And finally, the finished wines will benefit from this natural acidity providing the potential for extended bottle development and maturation.

Distill all of this down with another number - 17. That is the number of days we have extended the 2011 harvest window. The longer those grape skins are out in the field, the more interesting flavors and aromas they develop.

We have extended the 2011 harvest window by 2 1/2 weeks. This additional time has been accumulated in the skins, and if handled gently and not over extracted in a hot fermentation or over oaked in the cellar (Parkerized?), will show as layered and nuanced aromas in the finished wines.

Hang time does not in and of itself create bigger wines, but perhaps, just maybe, contributes a bit more complexity and sophistication. We are smelling that now, but you will have to wait a couple of years. On a related note, have you enjoyed any 2007 Pinots lately?

All the best,

Dena and Ernie

Note: The Wine Advocate has just released their review of the latest crop of Oregon Pinot Noirs. This video, while not at all associated with The Wine Advocate (and we didn't make it), may provide some backlighting on the whole "Parker" issue.

Downfall of a Cult Californian Winery

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2011 Mid-October

"Harvest - the final act of farming. Our mission is to boldly wait out the rains and harvest later than anyone has before." (William Shantner voiceover leads to futuristic orchestra score.)

Hello and welcome to uncharted territory,

This is the 2011 mid-October climate update, our first ever. This year we find ourselves on the verge of an unprecedented opportunity. As of October 15^th, we have not harvested a single grape. Sure we have plucked a few cluster samples (more on that later), but the winery still longs for the first of the 2011 vintage.

There is good news to report! Ernie saw his shadow on Saturday afternoon, and for that to happen the sun had to shine. Also, we have minimal bird damage to report, the cover crop is germinating and we have logged a few more degree days for the first half of October.

The signs of harvest are certainly on their way. The Walnut tree is starting to senesce and will eventually turn a brilliant sunburst yellow. Follow this link to learn more about "Why Leaves Change Color." The main harvest tractor is slow to turn over, which means the timing is perfect for having to replace the battery mid-harvest. And the grapes themselves are starting to show the character of the vintage. Yes, we have been sampling.

Sampling is one of the more structured ways we determine when to harvest. The other way is less scientific; we just look outside at the weather. Now there are a couple of ways to go about cluster sampling. Ernie relies on his CPA experience in performing audits. Under this approach, he selects one representative cluster from about every 50 plants which is a 2% sample. If a block has 1,000 vines, he has 20 clusters. Our biggest block is about 2,463 vines, so he has closer to 50 clusters.

The other way to go about this selection process is just to walk a few rows and snip a cluster here or there, but that is really more of a cluster pluck than a randomized sample.

When we get our sample clusters back to the winery we remove the juice from the berries by crushing them in a mesh bag. Right away we take note of the color of the juice. Like most wine grapes the color is held in the vacuoles of the skins. The degree to how easy these vacuoles break open and allow the color pigments to escape is a sign of how ripe the fruit is. Insiders note: Some folks believe color is an indicator of great Pinot Noir. We believe color, like irrigation, is Mother Nature's department and we don't mess with it. But some folks do and they "cold soak" with dry ice (frozen CO2) for a few days to burst these vacuoles and release more color from the skins. The result is a darker hued wine.

Then we smell the juice. It should have a heady aroma, while hard to describe, you know it when you smell it. Then we look at the seeds. Bright green seeds mean you did not trim off the wings. Martini olive green means you are getting close and "Grape nuts" cereal brown means get the buckets, let's harvest!

The next thing we should do is run the numbers, but we are usually a little excited by now and we just taste the juice. Hard to believe Ernie would deviate from his structured approach, but harvest (like the Great Pumpkin), only comes around once a year. The taste of the juice will reveal more about the condition of the vintage than any other factor. We look for sweetness and balancing acidity, but more important are the aromas, flavors and textures on the palate.

The longer those skins can hang, the more interesting and complex the aromas and flavors in the juice and resulting wine will be. This holds true as long as the weather is not too hot, nor the soil too dry, otherwise those flavors can shift over to raisins and prunes. Not too much risk of that this year. Also our evening temperatures have not been so cold as to completely shut down the vine. So we look to the second half of October for a little more sunshine to build some sugars and hopefully desiccate the fruit a little bit.

Here is a quick peak at the numbers. First of all, note that our estimated harvest window was to open on day 289. Day 289 was Sunday the 16^th of October and was 105 days past flowering. This is typically the amount of time needed for our flavors and aromas to develop. Good news, we have entered the harvest window.

We have recorded about 53 degree days for the first 15 days of October, providing a total of 1,795 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1^st. While we may accumulate more degree days this year, we have exceeded the 2010 growing season degree days of 1,722 by a grand total of 73 degree days. I am told that is not the case in the Dundee Hills where they are lagging last year's degree days.

During the first 15 days of October, our highest high was 73.2 and our lowest high was 68.4. Our lowest low was 41.7 and our highest low was 43.9 degrees Fahrenheit.

There was a significant amount of rainfall during the first 15 days of October. We have logged 2.54 inches of rain so far this month. However, that is well short of the 6.22 inches of rain logged in October 2010. This is either a blessing in disguise or something more to look forward to.

Rainfall since April 1^st through October 15^th is 11.93 inches, and is 11.16 inches less than last year's growing season rainfall of 23.09 inches. The average monthly humidity was 79.61% and the average dew point was 47.87 degrees.

In summary, the 2011 vintage is one of those rare years where we are getting some really nice aroma and flavor development in the skins with unprecedented hang time. Through September the summer was moderate and dry. The weather, while cool and damp during the first part of October, is holding the botrytis at bay and allowing the fruit to continue to develop. We are seeing lower sugar levels that will result in lower alcohol wines. We think 2011 defines "Cool Climate" viticulture and is the reason why we selected the Willamette Valley to grow Pinot Noir. With all of the "press" surrounding this vintage, has anyone really done the investigative journalism necessary to interpret the epic potential we are experiencing? Well, maybe Dana Tims is onto something here.

Moving right along, how does this translate into wine? The first thing to understand is that each and every one of our roughly 600,000 Estate grown clusters is a little bit different - Mother Nature wouldn't have it any other way. We do the best we can all year long to care for them and then make a selection of which ones to thin off the vine so that the rest will ripen their seeds and mature.

As harvest approaches we see that some of the clusters are not going to make the final trip to the winery. For whatever reason, and there are several, some clusters will get left behind. Last year, the birds took a few of our most prized berries and the deer can also have an impact. But the main reason we leave some of the fruit behind is botrytis, aka "bunch rot."

When we see a cluster that looks a little furry, it is rejected at the harvest bin. This is where our first sort has always taken place. The rule is sheer simplicity - "If you are not willing to put it in your mouth, get it out of the harvest bin." It's just that easy!

We think of our entire vineyard as our super set and the clusters we accept into the winery as our subset. The difference is the fruit that is cluster plucked out. At the end of the day, they will decompose providing nutrition to the vines for next year. What we are left with is our selection of the best fruit from the vintage.

Once in the winery, we take another look to insure we are bringing in clean, healthy and mature fruit. We are diligent in reading the ripeness of the stems for our whole cluster fermentations and, as always, we let the yeast from the vineyard ferment our Pinot Noir. We believe our job is to preserve the character of the vintage so when you open a bottle years from now, you can say, "Oh yeah, I remember 2011. Nice!"

In closing, we think back to how we found our vineyard. It was covered with cherry trees in bloom. Ernie said, "Well Bob, it looks like you have your orchard on top of my vineyard." Our definition of luck was, "When opportunity meets a prepared mind."

This year marks our 10^th harvest. Certainly we have not seen it all, but we have seen enough to know that in farming "It is better to be lucky than good!"

Thank you all for the positive comments and a special nod to everyone who has been doing the "sun dance."

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie