Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2015 Bud Break

Hello and Welcome,

In response to the wonderful spring like weather during February and March, the vines have decided it is time to get started. Bud Break at Amalie Robert Estate occurred on March 24, 2015. This is day 83 of the Julian calendar. And while it is too soon to say for sure, we could be harvesting around day 273 (September 30th.) That gives us 190 days to get from bud break...

... to harvest.

Bud Break is always a welcome sight. The vines lost their leaves last October and have been dormant all winter. Now, we see the first signs of what undoubtedly will be the vintage of the year! And the vines are in good company. Here are a few other plants that are contributing to Mother Nature’s spring color palette…

   

… and the odd fungus. 

 Bud Break also serves as the reminder to feed the vines. For the next month or so, Ernie will make the yearly spring passes to till in last fall’s cover crop and drill in the spring cover crop. Till & Drill.

Just so you know, “cover crop” is farmer speak for plants that contribute nutrients to the soil. And the soil is the vine’s stomach. By planting cover crops twice a year, we can provide nutrients to our vines organically without the use of chemical fertilizers. Or, to put it more in human terms: “No Coffee – No Workee!”

The next major event will be when the vines flower and (hopefully) set fruit. This is a very important event as it gives us a pretty good idea of when we will be hand harvesting our 2015 vintage. For Pinot Noir in particular, we can add 105 days from flowering to harvest. Then the vines go dormant again, and we get busy in the winery.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate: Culinary Inclinations from the Kitchen at Amalie Robert Estate

Culinary Inclinations from the Kitchen

at Amalie Robert Estate

Pre-Spring 2015

Aka “How to Eat Like a Winemaker”

Welcome to “Pre-Spring” from the Kitchen at Amalie Robert Estate!

Waiting for Spring in the Pacific Northwest is a time for contemplation and planning. The sun is seen from time to time punctuating the rain and on very special occasions lighting up the Willamette Valley with the most impressive of rainbows. The vineyard is sleeping now while it is being meticulously groomed for the upcoming growing season - sure to be the vintage of the year, how can it not? Blending and bottling continue apace in the winery, always more to do, and hoping the white wines complete their persnickety fermentations.

In December we noticed the evening hours approach earlier and more boldly in the late afternoons. The primal urges of hunger and thirst awaken from their midday slumber. Foragers and hunters unite in their common struggle to satiate a never ending desire adjoined with a glass of poetry to nourish their body and soul.

The theme for these first few months of the budding New Year is comfort food. Aromas that fill the kitchen with memories of meals long past that seemed to take all day to prepare. Braised meats, cassoulet, lasagna and poultry on a spit are the makings of legendary culinary experiences. There were no microwaves. There was a wood burning cook stove and wood from a fallen cherry tree.

First Course: The lack of planning is the key to flexibility

We like to begin with a properly chilled glass of 2012 Her Silhouette Chardonnay or Our Muse Viognier. If we have been in the winery all day, this makes our fingers match the sensation in our toes – that of being cold and wet. However, not too cold, a stainless steel fermented wine still needs to be warm enough to lure you to her seductive charms while being cold enough to send a shiver of cleansing acidity up your backside. You expend a lot more than a little effort keeping this contained to your right brain; all the while your left brain is trying to figure out the next course…

Oysters are a great place to start and we like the firmness of the bivalves this time of year. Depending on how your domestic relationship has evolved, you may find that opening oysters together is a very relaxing way to share the day’s triumphs, despite their level of completion. Or, you may find that you are the submissive in the relationship. Green Tabasco can help.

Another seasonally delectable gift from the Pacific Ocean this time of year is Dungeness crab. We like to call cracking and eating Dungeness crab more of a conversational course than a real food course. We always seem to spend a good deal of time on the cracking and very little time on the eating. The wine consumption adjusts accordingly.

Trading up to the BFC. The BFC is our colloquial term for the Heirloom Cameo - Barrel Fermented Chardonnay. As you can plainly see, the BFC does not stand for Big Farming Chardonnay, thank you very much. The Heirloom Cameo offers more intrigue and texture to the Chardonnay experience, surpassing the binary reptilian brain and permeating the limbic system. The pinnacle of this style has often been the white wines of Burgundy based upon the same Chardonnay grape.

Perhaps it is the weekend, as defined by your attitude and not some silly manmade construct of a calendar, and you have the luxury of time to burn. Then a preparation of Dungeness crab cakes sautéed in clarified butter served atop a bed of winter greens or a warm brioche may satiate. The richness of this dish pairs beautifully with the layered texture and cleansing acidity of the 2012 Heirloom Cameo Chardonnay.

For those more adventurous, and living somewhere other than vinetopia, we would also recommend Burgundy snails sautéed in garlic, parsley and butter. Once you have experienced this dish properly prepared and served with a glass of slightly chilled Heirloom Cameo, it is hard to believe that snails were not invented singularly for this purpose.

Second Course: Putting the duck confit into your green leafiness

Weeds. The green leafy plants that help everything go ‘round and come out properly. While they can also be served toward the end of the meal, we find that they lose the battle to the cheese course and are sadly left wanting.

So buck up and get out the duck confit and 2013 Pinot Meunier! Duck confit is widely available at better meat purveyors and online. If you are interested in making your own you certainly can. But just remember that you don’t need to go build your own solar array just because you want some light in your home, but you could. And while we are all about growing your own, please be aware that it takes a while to go from hatching your own duckling to…

If this is a “dress to impress” affair, we highly recommend slowly warming the duck confit for at least an hour so that the entire room has the rich aroma hanging heavy as your guests arrive. You will have them at “Can I take your coat?”

Start with a bowl of fresh green leafiness. Consider adding a little fresh dill frond or pea tendrils (Ernie planted winter peas for cover crop last fall, and we have about 20 acres worth of pea tendrils to source from.) Toss around some toasted hazelnuts and dried cherries, adorn with crumbles of blue cheese or goat cheese, drizzle with your favorite balsamic vinaigrette and top with warm shredded duck confit. Keep in mind people eat with their eyes, another contribution from the reptilian brain, so a few extra minutes on plating can really pay dividends.

It is entirely permissible, and often part of a strict quality control program to sample the Pinot Meunier with the duck confit prior to plating. It is important to factor this into your planning, as you do not want to under serve the duck confit due to excessive quality control sampling. Ditto the Pinot Meunier.

Variations on a theme here include smoked or poached salmon, braised rabbit or thinly sliced venison loin. Be prepared to have your guests compliment you on the lovely green garnish at the bottom of their bowls. Don’t take it personally; it’s the reptilian brain talking.

Third Course: “Pinot Noir is the most exciting wine to pair with food.” – Ernie Pink

While we don’t often quote ourselves, we do find that it adds complexity to the conversation. The reason Pinot Noir can excel at so many culinary challenges is its natural proclivity for acid. Acidity is that cleansing experience that enlivens and invigorates the palate. Acidity cuts through the bravado of rich dishes to reveal balanced flavors and an exponential culmination of the food and wine experience. It stimulates and we salivate, and who couldn’t use more of that, Pavlov?

As our theme this time is comfort food, we are going to go with a cassoulet of braised rabbit. To be sure there is no confusion as to where our journey is headed, let’s define cassoulet as a slow cooked dish of braised, often fatty or tough cuts of meat, or poultry with white beans and sausages steeped in wine.

Our choice of naturally lean rabbit can easily be replaced by lamb shanks, duck legs, or pork shoulder. All are very good choices and pair well with Pinot Noir. However, Ernie’s annual physical is in January, so he likes to clean up the pipes before he sees the doc.

Contact your purveyor of fine meats well in advance to secure a rabbit. You can raise your own, but before doing so please see the reference to ducklings above. Rabbit is a very lean meat that has virtually no fat. If you have ever flown into Charles de Gaulle airport during the daylight hours, those little brown fur balls on the tarmac are rabbits. While most rabbits have a very keen sense of hearing, those do not.

The first task will be to braise the rabbit in a large, well oiled skillet. To do this we recommend separating the rabbit into the following pieces: 2 front quarters (what little fat that is on a rabbit is located here); the saddle; 2 hind quarters. This can easily be accomplished by a competent butcher. If you plan to handle this task in the future, you may want to ask the butcher to wait until you arrive before the dismemberment begins.

If this is to be a DIY, you will most likely need a large, sturdy cutting board, a sharp meat cleaver, towels and a hammer. A first aid kit and an assistant with a driver’s license and car would also be prudent.

Preheat your horno (Spanish for oven) to about 350 and set a large baking dish inside to come up to temperature. Open the Pinot Noir and apply the obligatory quality control procedures. Add the rabbit carefully to your preheated and oiled skillet. Season with fracked (fresh cracked) pepper, thyme and a little powdered ginger. These pieces will not take long to develop a nice patina. Your mission is to seal the meat to retain its juices for the next phase of cooking. Turn repeatedly to sear without deep heat penetration, which will come later.

Carefully remove the preheated baking dish, add the rabbit pieces and return it to the horno. Take a moment to compliment yourself on the beautiful patina with a sip of Pinot Noir.  In the still warm skillet, add equal parts chopped orange bell pepper, sweet yellow onion, julienned carrots (rabbits just love carrots,) a couple minced cloves of garlic, a few small foraged morels and a very little bit of finely chopped Anaheim pepper. Thank your submissive sous chef for the hard work with a glass of Amalie’s Cuvée Pinot Noir, vintage of your choice, but to really make a statement pour the 2008. Note: if you are not intending to see your physician you may consider adding some sausage to the dish at this juncture.

Stir these vegetables occasionally until softened and beginning to brown. Add one to two cups of your favorite white beans. Stir occasionally over medium heat and add about a cup of that left over white wine that is still in the refrigerator from last year. Testing for quality is a must do.

At this point you will have about ten minutes to either a) clean up the kitchen or b) enjoy a glass of that wildly delicious 2008 Amalie’s Cuvée Pinot Noir with your submissive sous chef who has been cleaning up the kitchen as you have been plowing straight through. Clearly, the 2008 was the right call.

When the ten minute timer escorts you back to reality, remove the braised rabbit from your horno and add the skillet mixture. Cover with a glass lid or wrap loosely with foil and return to your horno. Spend about 30 to 45 quality minutes with your submissive sous chef. At the time of your choosing, secure a bottle of 2009 Estate Selection Pinot Noir for the main event and apply the obligatory quality control procedures.

Before plating, you may add any of the following to the bottom of the service dishes: creamed polenta with garlic, smashed skin on red potatoes with thyme and rosemary, parsnip and turnip hash with a wee little bit of rabbit sausage. Garnish with shaved Manchego cheese and chopped cilantro or Italian parsley.

Fourth Course: Something for Her

Sometimes you just know when it’s right. Sometimes you are not sure, but never let on. Other times you haven’t a clue, but you want to find out what will happen. While this may describe a lot of things, like nuclear physics, it also describes the Syrah program at Amalie Robert Estate.

Long story short is that Ernie wanted to satiate his desire for cool climate Côte Rôtie style Syrah on his vineyard site that had never before grown Syrah. “It’s a doddle,” he would say, knowingly. Well, 2006 brought with it our gravity flow winery and the first ever harvest of Ernie’s Syrah. We were about to find out, knowingly.

That first year turned out a fine barrel of wine. Next up was that horrible, nasty 2007 vintage that earned us the title of “Best Domestic Syrah of the Year” from Wine & Spirits Magazine. Some doddle indeed. As the vines age and respond to the vagaries of each passing vintage, Dena sometimes wonders how much was really at risk, how much was known and just how much was “a doddle.” She also knows that in farming, it is often better to be lucky than good.

What she doesn’t wonder about is what pairs well with our 2011 Satisfaction Syrah. The hands down dish of the winter months is roast rack of lamb with creamy Brussels sprouts and julienned parsnips. While the preparation is fairly straightforward there are variations on a theme, as you might expect…

The most functional preparation involves a Frenched rack of lamb with all the excess fat removed. Season with fracked pepper, cumin, thyme, rosemary, smoked paprika, then convection roast at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, turning twice. Let stand for at least 5 minutes, slice between each bone and serve “bones up.”

The next preparation is mustard encrusted and a bit more involved, but allows for some creative dissidence. Begin with a Frenched lamb rack as alluded to above. Mix up a medium consistency paste based on Dijon mustard by adding fracked black pepper, sesame oil, dried thyme, ginger and cumin. Whip this into a frenzy and spread lengthwise on the loin using a small fork leaving the ridges in place. Season with black sesame seeds and sprinkle with smoked paprika.

Convection roast at 350 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes without turning. Allow to stand for at least 10 minutes to cool. The crust will retain much more of the meat’s natural juices and prevent it from cooling quickly.

Note: You may use any combination of ingredients in the mustard preparation, including none at all. You are only limited in the ingredients you use by the natural conflict that occurs between the left brain, right brain and the time allotted by our timeless companion, the reptilian brain.

For all you daredevils out there we conclude with a Beef Wellington preparation substituting lamb loin, or what we call “Lamb Wellies.” You will need two lamb loins removed from the bones and tied together. This will closely resemble a beef loin to which Beef Wellington is based. Do not over cook. You will want to be sure the music is turned way down low when you slice these open diagonally so that you may fully appreciate the “ooh’s and aah’s.” I say, “Well done old man, well done!”

Note: If lamb is not readily available, beef, buffalo, elk or venison will due in a pinch. White Pekin duck breast is an equally challenging and appreciated preparation “à la Wellies.”

Fifth Course: The Cheese Board and Pabuk’s Gift

This is the part of the program where you are craving a little something sweet or sticky or both. The wonderful world of cheese is one where you can find all manor of flavors, textures and more to the point, very unique and pungent aromas. “Époisses de Bourgogne” or Époisses is rumored to be Napolean’s favorite cheese. It is also rumored to be banned from being carried on all forms of public transportation in France.  It’s that “wonderful.”

Your selection may include local or imported cheeses. We recommend your tour of the cheese world include cow, goat and sheep’s milk cheeses in textures from creamy to firm concluding with an exciting streak of blue. If in doubt, ask the “fromagier” to recommend and then try a sample.

Often times our cheese board will also include exciting little accoutrements such as toasted Willamette Valley hazelnuts, local organic honey, quince paste and thanks to some creative bakers, gluten free breads.

Red wines typically can pair with a wide variety of cheeses, white wines seem a bit more specific, and sweet wines seem to have a strong desire for blue cheeses in particular. But with the exception of Cool Whip and pineapple, few of these pairings can be applied topically and removed orally. It is in this realm of wine that Pabuk’s Gift reigns supreme.

Pabuk’s Gift is our naturally botritized Chardonnay. A gift left behind from Typhoon Pabuk that rained on Oregon’s harvest parade in 2013. Made in the Trockenbeerenauslese style, this wine is extremely concentrated and unctuous. In addition to some wonderful blue cheeses, Crème Brûlée and New York style cheesecake are great pairings - and easily applied.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate: Happy Holidays!

As the season turns to friends and family, we would like to extend to you our warmest wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a fruitful New Year. We also welcome new friends to the Amalie Robert Estate community and the "A-List."

The 5th of the month and the repeal of Prohibition! 

The 5th of the month has more significance than Ernie was previously aware. A thirst for knowledge and a little research has greatly expanded his appreciation for the 5^th of the month.

January through March is a write-off. We are just too busy working to be bothered. However for some, the 5^th of the month is payday.
 

April 5^th is a day we wake up and realize the government is about to get more of our money than ever before. However, we owe ourselves about $18.0 trillion (up from about 17.2 trillion last year), that's just about $56,266 (up from about $54,250 last year) per person living in the United States, and $153,455 per taxpayer. Hmmm, back to work. You can check our progress from time to time right here. 

As you well know, the holiday Cinco De Mayo is a celebration on the 5th day of the 5th month. The purpose of which is to celebrate the victory by the Mexican Army over the French Army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Of course, and as always, there is more to the story. Here is a link with more details.

We transition right to June 5^th. This date is very significant to Ernie, as it is Dena’s birthday! As many of you know, Dena’s middle name is Amalie and is the palate defining Amalie’s Cuvée.

July 5^th is the day we would have declared our Independence, however as Americans, we just couldn’t wait. Somewhat like opening a gift, or maybe two, on Christmas Eve.

August 4^th, 2011, again we couldn’t wait, is the first time the US debt exceeded 100% of our Gross Domestic Product - GDP (Gosh Darn Politicians.)

However, August 5^th brings little pink berries to our Pinot Noir vines. Ernie likes this, a lot!

September 5^th is significant to all children and parents. It usually is about the time the children are going back to school.

October 5^th usually finds us in the middle of harvest. Due to the protracted nature of harvesting and fermenting Pinot Noir, Ernie has dubbed the 10^th and 11^th months “Octo-vember.”

On December 5^th we find ourselves at the end of the calendar. 2014 marks the 81st year of the repeal of the social experiment known as Prohibition.

On January 16th, 1919, the United States Congress passed the Volstead Act. The Volstead Act led to the 18^th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This marked the beginning of Prohibition. We wonder what Congress’s approval rating was that year.

This is an excerpt of section 1 of the 18^th amendment:

“…the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.”

During the following 13 years, the people of the United States bore witness to the effects of Prohibition. Further, they were able to compare the politicians’ promises and pontifications to the experiences in their daily lives - aka reality.

It was in 1929 that a curious little product was invented and granted trademark protection. Ernie may be deviating from his factual discourse here, but perhaps this product was used in reference to the politicians of the day who could not tell the difference between a good idea and Prohibition. Sometimes it is hard to tell fact from fiction, sometimes not. The product was a shoe wax called Shinola.

Winegrowers of the time were a hearty breed, they had to be. The manufacture, distribution and sale (including export offshore) of alcohol was illegal. If your livelihood depended on growing some 65 tons of grapes and selling the fermented juice, you were out of business (and so was your labor force), or so the politicians thought.

Now, let us introduce the law of Supply and Demand (Note: Much like gravity this is a law not subject to political pressure.) Despite a small minority trying to legislate morality on the entire citizenry, the American public sought to exercise their rights as citizens living in a free country. After all, that’s why they were here.

It turns out that many people had unexplained illnesses during those 13 years. In visiting their family physicians, it seemed the most cost effective treatment was the prescription of alcohol, wine in most cases, for medicinal purposes. Thankfully, there was not a government run healthcare system at the time to prevent such a low cost and effective treatment. It would have been illegal!

Even today, the debate continues over the health benefits of alcohol, red wine in particular and Pinot Noir specifically, for the high content of Resveratrol. If only the ongoing healthcare debates and litigation were this simple. And thanks to Mr. Gruber, we have a little more information to reflect upon. You can learn more about Resveratrol here.

We now come to the presidential election of 1932. FDR, as he was known, achieved many things. The most wide sweeping change affected nearly everyone in the United States and for generations to come, including several of our foreign trading partners. Recall, the importation of Canadian, Irish and Scotch whisky was also illegal. As an aside, Ernie’s time in Ireland taught him that the Scot’s never acknowledged Prohibition and kept the pipeline open.

On December 5^th, 1933, the 21^st amendment was ratified by the United States Congress. In what may be the most effective and efficient legislation known to this great country, here is Section 1 in its entirety:

“Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.”

As you enjoy the holiday season, please take a moment to reflect on your constitutional right to keep and bear spirits, especially Pinot Noir!

Please enjoy our wines with friends, food and in moderation.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2014 Harvest After Action Report (AAR)

Hello and Welcome,

This is the final FLOG of the 2014 growing season. The 2014 growing season was somewhat akin to dropping a snowball at the top of Mt. Everest and trying to get to the bottom in time to execute a controlled stop. Every year is different, and that is why vintages have consequences in the Willamette Valley. And yes, that is a “Harvest Morning Quicke” in front of the senescing Walnut tree.

The following graphic depicts the total growing season degree days since we have been “growing our own.” We started out hot, gradually began to cool, got downright cold in 2010 and 2011, and then we lit off on a tear for the last 3 vintages.

We will leave the whole global warming v climate change quagmire for the next farmer. But we will say that you can learn a lot just by putting your boots in the vineyard and paying attention to how much sunscreen gets used. What we learned this year was to leave a few extra wineberries on the vine and hedge a bit shorter canopy than usual. We also left a few extra leaves in the fruit zone to prevent the harsh skin tannins that can develop from overexposure. And when you get rain in September, use it.

The real winner this year however, was the Syrah. Ernie was out there ‘most every day after all the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay was in. “Nope, not yet. Not ready,” he would mutter. Dena would soothe him by saying, “Well, if they aren't ready then don’t pick them. Can you go sweep up the front porch?”

Finally the weather began to turn and like it or not it was going to be time, so get farming ready! The heat units through mid-October registered 2,499 and we had accumulated 2.84 inches of rain from mid-September through harvest for a growing season total of 9.63 inches. The heat and rain curves appeared to align and then Ernie had to admit – it was time. We picked these 1,188 vines just as the harvest window was closing on October 19^th. Yes, that is a little Viognier to top it off.

Could it be the best Syrah vintage the Willamette Valley has ever seen?  It certainly was a top contender for “Vintage of our Lifetime” here at Amalie Robert Estate. At this point the grapes are in, but the tasting notes are yet to be written. We will know for sure in about 2 years when we take it out of the barrel and put a cork in it.

As the following graphic clearly illustrates, we were battling high sugars before aroma and flavor development was complete. Or were we?

We had a nice Dog Nose Spring (cold and wet) that helped us stitch our new Wadenswil vines into the hill. To the casual observer, it must seem that we are growing milk, but if you look at the shipping manifest you will see that is a rootstock trial. Yep, that Ernie is always trying to learn something. While the clone is all Wadenswil on top, there are 4 different rootstocks grafted on the bottom. It will take a little while, but we will see how the fruit turns out. If nothing else, it will certainly help add a little complexity to the final blend.

Clue #1: Notice the rainfall though July is 6.68 inches. We also had about 20 inches of rain from January through March before the growing season even got started.

It usually happens in April or May that Ernie is out there whipping up some dust and tilling in last years’ cover crops to provide nutrients for our vines. Nitrogen is a macronutrient which means the vines need a fair bit of it. The thing is, Nitrogen gets leached out of the soil profile with all of the winter rains. So if you don’t add a little in the spring, the vines will not be very happy and there may not be any fruit for you.

As always there is the easy way and the Ernie way. The easy way is to add some chemical fertilizer to the soil. The hard way is to drill in cover crops in the spring, till them in the fall, and then drill in more cover crops for the winter. The Ernie way also has a very beneficial impact in that it adds humus to the soil.

Clue #2: Humus significantly influences the bulk density of soil and contributes to moisture and nutrient retention.

As the vines responded to the warming temperatures in May and June, we began weaving a web of catch wires to contain their growth. Oh it is easy at first, with just maybe 10 to 12 inches of growth they are easy to position in the first set of wires.

As we enter flowering in June the vineyard smells of honeysuckle. With over 40,000 vines out there, it is pretty intense. And so is the vine’s desire to outgrow the trellis. While we need to measure to be sure, it is an agreed upon fact that those vines can add an inch a day, or even more. The third wire is at 72 inches and they are all put up by hand. Each vine’s shoots are positioned in their 3 inch wide by 4 foot long plane with the sole purpose of collecting solar radiation. That’s what farmers do, we are light harvesters. So, it seems, are these Ivanpah guys. But you have to admit, wine is a lot more fun.

Then before you know it, it is hedging time. After all the wires are up it is time to hedge our bets. What is the rest of the growing season going to be like? All we know for sure is that there will be sun, heat, cold, rain, wind, some rot, and birds. Get the proportions and timing right and that’s a pretty nice bottle of wine you’ve got yourself there. While we can have an impact in the vineyard, we really have no control. So we plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Clue #3: Hedge a short canopy in warm years to reduce the vine’s water usage and slow down the sugar accumulation.

The hedger is one helluva piece of equipment. Like any true piece of farming equipment, it only does one thing, but it does it well. Ernie’s hedger has several pitch adjustments and a height adjustment. Some hedgers are mounted on a tractor at a fixed height. Others are on two feet.

This adjustment comes in quite handy in years like 2010 and 2011 when we needed all of the energy we could harvest from the sun. But in years like 2013 and 2014 we want a shorter canopy. A short canopy will remove more leaves from the vine. This has the immediate effect of reducing photosynthesis and slowing sugar accumulation.

The leaves also transpire a tremendous amount of water through stomata on the leaf’s underside.  This has the effect of cooling the leaf, and as you would imagine the hotter the day, the more moisture is liberated from the soil through the leaf back into the heavens. In 2014, we didn’t see that much rain to replenish the soil from July through mid-September. We didn’t really need, or want those extra leaves in 2014.

Clue #4: The shorter the grass is mown, the less water it will use.

In addition to the nutrients we grow as cover crops, every other row is planted to grass. We have a strain called Tall Fescue and it is as tough a grass as you could want in the tractor rows. But its roots go deep to help it survive a dry summer and there is some competition with the vines.

The vine’s leaves can exert a tremendous vacuum on the roots to pull water from the soil. This is their main competitive advantage against the grass. We tilt the playing field as well by mowing the grass to within an inch of its roots to minimize its water usage. And we do it at the same time as we are hedging! Now that is really something in farming – doing two tasks in a single vineyard pass. Why that saves Ernie 3 days of his life on each of 3 passes and a fair few gallons of diesel to boot!

Axiom #1: There can be no doubt that great wines are the result of a winegrowers’ astute and timely response to the given year’s growing conditions, and a little luck.

After the vines have had their third, and in some cases fourth hedge, it is time to hurry up and wait for harvest. August is the time of year when Ernie gets down and dirty with the tractors – it is oil changing time. There is a whole checklist. Check the tires, change the battery, replace a clutch, this is widely understood to be the gestalt of farming.

It is not more than a little different from his college days of tuning a huge Holley 4 barrel carburetor, setting a dual point distributor and adjusting the valves on a high compression, over-bored small block Chevy roller motor. Back up onto a sidewalk, remove the exhaust caps and it was off to the strip. A 7,500 rpm redline and 4.11 gears will move you along pretty quickly and about 12 seconds later, at 130 miles per hour, you cross the 1,320 foot line – a quarter mile.

Well, today there are no carburetors to tune (a lost art anyway), the tractors don’t have distributors to set and Ernie can cover a quarter mile in about 7.5 minutes. But tires seem to last a lot longer on the farm…

Clue #5: Timing is everything in farming.

The ideal last act of farming for the season is harvest, and if the timing works out we can drill in the fall cover crop first. 2014 was such a year. We had over an inch of rain in mid-September to soften up the soils. Ernie had the crawler and rototiller ready to go and waiting for such an opportunity. By daybreak that morning he was on it! The soil turned up like fresh double chocolate brownies and that aroma of freshly tilled, high humus content soil just makes you giddy – giddy up!

Giddy up! Because you know that the seed drill has to get out there before the next wave of heat steals all of that wonderful soil moisture. And that is what “back to back” means in the vineyard business. Open up the soil, drill your cover crop in and protect the soil moisture from evaporation. The rototiller is the key to this operation. It breaks the capillary action of water so that it cannot transpire to the surface. Ergo, we keep it for the vines. Good timing. We now have about 20 acres worth of Oats and Peas that will provide nutrients (and humus) for our vines in the spring.

Clue #6: Good things come to those who wait, but not to those who wait too late.

Sure enough, it happened in September. Pinot Noir started making its way up from southern Oregon to waiting wineries in the North. A little warmer they are and when it is time, the vines will not be denied.

We kept an eye on the Granddaddy walnut tree and it was unyielding. We were testing sugars, acids, flavor, and color and found that while many vineyards had picked, it was not our time.

Oh you noticed that, eh? Yes, we care a great deal about the color of juice samples. Color is another indicator that the wineberries are ready to release not only color, but all of that elegant aroma and flavor we have been nurturing all season long. Light colored juice means not so much. However, by waiting too late we run the race against too much sugar accumulation.

This gave us pause to reflect on what we had and had not done during the growing season. The fact that we could hang our fruit a little longer than others to achieve aroma and flavor development was a vindication that we had done something right. Or that two (or more) wrong things may in fact make a right thing. Either way we held fast, as if tied up to the mast.

The rains that doomed the press potential of the 2007 vintage arrived, and we were glad to have them. This water was immediately, if not instantaneously, sucked up by anything that had a root in the ground – including our vines. And here is that 2007 vintage graphic for your viewing pleasure.

Then it was time and the controlled chaos known as “The Great Cluster Pluck of 2014” began, as it always does, in “Earnest.” Monday, September 29, 2014 was the day and the yield was about 15 tons. Harvest operations continued through October 19^th when we brought in the buxom berries of block 13. Home at last.

The 2014 vintage will be remembered as the (lucky) 13^th harvest at Amalie Robert Estate. We farmed our vines to the best of our abilities with an eye toward elegance, finesse and a true representation of the vintage on our site. Wines true to the soil, wines true to the vintage. ®

Kindest Regards,

Dena and Ernie

BONUS Material: Check out our Twitter account to read our daily harvest tweets. https://twitter.com/AmalieRobert

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2014 September

Hello and Welcome,

This is the second and final part of the September Climate Update.

Yes it is true; we open a little something special the night before all the hoopla begins at daybreak. It usually has been around a long while and always has a cage that requires 6 twists to the left. Flutes are involved. While we don’t produce any, we do grow all the components - Champagne Deconstructed. Say what you will, but we call it inspiration.

We held out as long as we could and began harvest operations on Monday, September 29, 2014. The Walnut tree gave us a subtle but recognizable signal that the time had come to pluck those ripe wineberries from the vine. And pluck we did that day with a beautiful 15 ton harvest. That’s 1,500 buckets of hand harvested love!

It was a bittersweet moment that quickly gave way to euphoria. Being the farmers we are, let’s dwell on the bittersweet. The euphoria will have to wait. Our goal is to harvest wineberries when they are at their peak of flavor maturity. We employ several techniques to determine when this azimuth has occurred. Some are technical, some are sensory and some are from the weatherman, which is the least reliable of all three.

Once the decision is made to harvest, you cannot look back. You make the plan the night before of which blocks are going to be picked and in what order. The tractor routes are laid out so that we can always have empty bins ready for the cluster pluckers. (Note: we are referring to the ones on foot, not on wing.)

And then about 3:35 AM you hear that little voice in your head saying that, while it is all good, the weather is going to hold and you could wait a few more days. You must resist this Siren’s song! You don’t want premature vinification, but it gets the wheels turning and the cogs are set in motion. Are we going to miss out on great aromas and flavors if we start plucking away in just about 4 hours?

HA! If you have ever tried to time trades in the stock market, you know exactly what that voice sounds like. That is when we lean back on 15 years of experience here, with this piece of dirt, and say “Farm it!” We are taking that fruit when it’s ready and according to plan. And besides, once the grapes are removed from the vine, there is no going back. You own that decision for the rest of your life, therefore it was the right one – by definition.

Now the euphoria can proceed in full regalia! There is nothing quite like seeing 15 tons of perfectly ripe Pinot Noir laid out in tote bins ready to become wine. Each and every action that we took, and weather event that occurred, is reflected in that fruit. It will make the vintage what it is in the forthcoming wine. And that is how we get to “Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means”®

Let’s have a quick look at the numbers and then we need to get back to do punchdown. Yeah, if the shoe fits, it is a long day for you.

We recorded 180.2 degree days for the second half of September providing a total of 445.6 degree days for the month. Rainfall totaled 1.17 inches beginning on September 18^th with the biggest measurement of 1.00 inch on the 24^th. The astute reader will note we waited for a little shot of rain before we took our first wineberries. We round out the growing season to date with 2,331.6 degree days and 7.96 inches of rain.

But wait, there is October yet to go and we are still hanging about 60 tons of fruit! Will there be more rain? Maybe some rot? How about the birds, are they early this year? Yeah, it’s going to be a full on Cluster Pluck…

Our final FLOG will be the 2014 Harvest After Action Report where all will be revealed, well mostly. During harvest, Ernie posted daily updates on Twitter. Click here if you want to read the tweets and follow along: Amalie Robert on Twitter.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2014 Mid-September Premature Vinification

Hello and Welcome,

The first half of September is “in the sack,” so to speak. While we have had a warm growing season, we remain vigilant in waiting for our wines to “come of age” on the vine before we take them for our own. Chaste we remain.

Others just could not hold back and released their crews into the fertile fields. They harvested early, certainly in respect to the last several vintages. And why not? The vines were bearing bare, voluptuous clusters sweet with sugar and alluring to the eye. Their firm and youthful berries yielding just slightly to the touch.

Basking in the sun’s morning glow, but before they reached their full zenith, they were plucked from the vine. Maturation Interruptus! On those warm, early September afternoons the clusters with berries just yearning to burst were sent into fermenters for a cold “soak.” People will find out, they always do - it’s going to come out, it always does. There was premature vinification.

It’s OK, really, and quite understandable. Wine is only made once a year, and that is a long dry spell for anyone to not practice their craft. Skills and abilities, as well as a sense of timing, can atrophy without robust exercise and discipline.

So why wait to harvest? What is to be gained by delaying the gratification of denuding the vine and surrendering yourself to all of that wonderful Pinot Noir? If you watch closely in the vineyard, you will see the birds and the bees partaking of this sublime nectar. Why not the humans? We know, this is an argument as old as time. And sometimes we all do the wrong thing for selfish reasons. We’re humans. That’s what we do. Some, more than others…

But Pinot Noir accepts no excuses and in fact will tell on you. Maybe not today or next week, or even in the barrel, but rest assured the day will come when someone smells an underdeveloped expression of Pinot Noir. The discussion will turn to hang time, and that’s when it will come out. As much fun as it was to get them off early, you may be faced with a comment like this from one of your better customers:

“Maturation interruptus leading to premature vinification resulting in an unfinished expression of The Joy of Pinot Noir.”

That’s the main reason we are holding firm – the sugar development is ahead of the aroma and flavor development. The risk we take in waiting is substantial. We could continue to build sugars resulting in high alcohol wines, the birds could ravage the vineyard and we could get unprecedented rain. Well, that just described the last 3 vintages, so no big deal. Been there, had that done to us.

The rewards, on the other hand, are immeasurable. You know that feeling when it is just right. The world is spinning in greased grooves and everything is humming along. A time for everything and everything right on time. That’s what we are bearing down on.

And as you might well expect, we have the numbers to support our voluptuous clusters.

Let’s start with 105. That’s a pretty good number for growing Pinot Noir in Oregon. We know that it takes about 105 days from the time we flower until we develop those striking Oregon aromas and flavors in the skins of our grapes. And 105 days for us is Julian calendar day 262, aka September 19.

We can also factor in 265.4. This represents the Degree Days for the first half of September. While this does not tell the whole story of the vintage, adding it to the tally from August does. We are sitting at 2,151.4 degree days.

Rain for the month of August was 0.11 inches and rain for the first half of September was 0.05 inches. While August had a better showing in the rain department, it ain’t over until the red haired lady lets go. And that’s where we are placing our bets – she can’t hold out much longer.

The next week is calling for some precipitation. We are looking at it like the Ski Resorts do – you don’t know when you are going to get it, or how much you are going to get, but you will be grateful when it happens.

We were in a similar situation in 2012 and 2013 – both warm vintages. Things got a little out of hand in 2013 when we were surprised with 9’’ of rain, but we handled it just fine. Ernie is thinking just an inch or so will do. Dena is thinking a bit more.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie

Amalie Robert Estate Climate Update: 2014 August

Hello and Welcome,

There is one word to sum up the month of August and that word is “HOT.” In fact, it’s really farming hot. Too farming hot if you ask us. But as Mother Nature keeps her Stiletto heel firmly on the throttle, she has been restrained enough to keep us under 100, well almost.

This is the magic number for the vines. Below 100 degrees they just keep advancing toward harvest. If the temperature rises above 100, they want to shut down photosynthesis and protect themselves from the heat. So the 97 to 98 degree temperatures we see each afternoon are adding degree days faster than we can say “Pinot in Pink” Rosé!

And then there are the night time temperatures. So much for the diurnal cool climate viticulture of 2007, 2010 and 2011 (yeah, we are still riding those ponies…) No, not this year. Evening temperatures in the mid to upper 50’s and even into the 60’s? For farmin’ out loud woman, cut us some slack! We are just glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife…

But it’s all good. The earth remains firm under our feet. And the Syrah is looking particularly nice this year. We would hazard a guess that there won’t be all that much Rosé produced in 2014 if the lady behind the wheel keeps trying to overtake the pace car.

The big news in the vineyard is we have finally put all the vine shoots we need where they belong and hedged off the rest. It took 4 passes this year with the hedger to control the growth, but it is now finished and we can move on to thinning.

The vines are on this Earth for one thing and one thing only – to reproduce. They want to ripen their seeds and have some bird or other animal deposit them in an undisclosed location. To give themselves the best chance at this, they trained humans to tend to their every need. Then one day, a human came upon a decomposing cluster of grapes (it was actually fermenting) and ate it. As our hero awoke, the search was on for more of these clusters. And that is when the trainer became the trained.

The humans began to remove some clusters of grapes from the vine that didn’t look quite right, or taste very good (that was their first clue.) They selected the green bunches when most of the bunches were deep burgundy in color. They emphatically cut the wings from the cluster which everyone knows ripens a week or so late. They even built structures out of posts and wires to get the clusters up off of the ground to make their work easier.

Soon the vines were trapped in trellis structures and trained to grow in a Vertical Shoot Positioned (VSP) way designed by the humans for one purpose – to produce wine so they could reproduce. The vine was forced to submit, but turned a blind eye to this activity.

In the world of wine quality that is influenced in the vineyard, thinning is where you create the potential for the most superior wines. We say potential because once the grapes leave the vineyard where Mother Nature reigns supreme, they go to the winery where there are humans asserting control. And as we see from the previous example, humans can be a devious sort.

At Amalie Robert Estate, we look at thinning as our opportunity to select the best fruit from our 45,000 vines. And since we grow all of our own fruit it is up to us to get it right.  The theory here is we only want ripe and wonderfully expressive clusters of wineberries to end up in our fermentations. There are several schools of thought on how to select those clusters and differing ways of doing the work. That’s the thing about farming, somebody has to actually do the work.

Well, here is how we do it. First we try and figure out how to get a single bottle of wine from each of our 45,000 little winemaker trainees. This usually means about 2.75 pounds of wineberries per vine. In Pinot Noir we like to see that 2.75 pounds spread over about 10 to 12 clusters of wineberries.

The vines have other designs. Sometimes it takes 20 clusters to get there, other times we can get there with just 8. It all depends on what was happening in June when the vines were flowering and trying to set fruit. So we need to take detailed cluster counts and weights from several samples throughout the vineyard. We might even read the expertly prepared June Climate Update to remind us what was happening.

These cluster counts and corresponding weights go into the random number generator that produces a thinning plan to tell us how many clusters we need to remove per vine “on average.” But in farming there is no “average” vine. The average vine is an imaginary construct to give the humans some reference on what to do. For example, we do not see too many vines out there with 20.58 clusters on them. Its 20 or 21 kid, take your pick.

So let’s say the average vine has 20.58 clusters on it and we need just 14 to get us to one bottle of wine per vine. Here is where you say, “That’s easy! Just cut off 7 clusters per vine and you are there.” And then Ernie says, “Right, but which ones?” Note: This is a far better condition than having 14.2 clusters per vine and needing 16.

And here is where we get down to the cluster cutting. Without going into too much detail, the best clusters on a vine are usually grown at the end of the cane. We know this because Dick Erath said so after he did repeated and replicated trials over several years. ‘nuff said.

So we like to leave those clusters at the end of the vine, unless they are compromised in some way, then they have to go. That means we tend to remove the clusters, with the lowest ripening potential, closest to the head of the vine. And then there are the wings.

The wings always have to go, those little green blighters. They are always a week or so behind. They flower late, they change color late and they sweeten up late, if at all. We just can’t be associated with them so we cut them off. They are akin to the perpetual college student…

So at the end of the cane, our most prized fruit is - at the end of the cane. These are the clusters of wineberries that have the highest quality potential as long as Ernie has his farming plan dialed in – and he does. That man burns Bio-Diesel at 2.5 miles per hour like nobody’s business. The rest is up to that speed crazed woman flogging a hot lap vintage to which we are much more than just casual observers.

“All the world's indeed a stage. And we are merely players. Performers and portrayers. Each another's audience. Outside the gilded cage.” - Rush

Here are the numbers. We ask that you not print this page for fear of spontaneous combustion. Yeah, they’re hot…

We have recorded 615.2 degree days for the month of August, providing a total of 1,886 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1, 2014. The heat accumulation for the 2014 growing season thorough August exceeds the total growing season heat accumulation for two of the last four vintages. And if we were to pontificate on what September holds, which we won’t, but if we did, it could be that the 2014 vintage turns in the most blistering performance since the 2003 vintage tallied 2,699 degree days. Nah, never happen…

But rain it did, just a bit, on the 30^th for a little while. Mostly slug and fungus class precipitation, but it prevented another 100 degree day. The last precipitation was during the trundling thunder cloud burst around the middle of month. Other than that it has been dry and dusty. But still, it was a turn, perhaps, for a little coastal influence in the morning to provide some welcome cooling. It could happen or it could rain, or not. But in farming there is no try – you do or you do not.

Some of the more astute readers of this FLOG may well remember September 2013 when we had tropical storm Pabuk dump 9” of rain in the Pacific Northwest in 4 days. Along with the yearly equipment maintenance, this is just a small, but significant part of the inherent joy of farming. Total precipitation for the month of August is 0.11 inches providing a 2014 growing season total of 6.79 inches.

This is what we had to say last August (Pre-Pabuk):

We have recorded 524 degree days for the month of August, providing a total of 1,737 degree days since the beginning of the growing season on April 1, 2013 (Julian calendar day 91.) For analytical comparative purposes only, the 2010 vintage only recorded 1,722 degree days through the end of OctoBERRRR.

So that leaves us with the months of September and maybe October if we can hang it out that long. We have never started harvest here in September, but it could happen this year. We will keep an eye on the tried and true Walnut tree. Nothing gets harvested here until that tree gives us some yellow leaves signaling the harvest window is open.

On the far side of harvest lies the Syrah. Usually a November picking date, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Or maybe we won’t have to wait, we’ll see.

Kindest Regards,

Dena & Ernie