Anne Amie Vineyards, Carlton Oregon

Promises, Promises

After yesterday's rain, they predicted partly sunny for today. They were partly wrong: the part about the sun, which never appeared. While little rain fell, the sun itself did not show its face in our part of Oregon today. The pickers hit the vineyards at dawn as planned, but there never really was a dawn, as a thick fog enveloped the valley, and they seemed to haunt the vineyard more like ghosts than a picking crew. Pictured above, a picker heads back down a row of our Estate Riesling to gather more fruit.  In spite of the weather, our riesling came in in spectacular condition, with just enough botrytis to add complexity and depth. This vintage marks a new style of riesling for us here at Anne Amie as we hope to produce a dryer, more complex wine than in past vintages.

The Coast Range

Most of the summer, the Coast Range protects us from the rain. However, as winter approaches the Pacific storms spill over the mountains. Pictured here from the patio of the winery, squalls pass over the mountains at dawn without resistance.

The Rain Came

The rain came. Even though I knew it was coming, when the noise woke me at 3 a.m., I could not go back to sleep as each drip seemed amplified. We decided to go ahead with our planned picking of 7 tons of pinot noir from our estate vineyard at 6:30 a.m. It was a surreal scene as the clouds and pickers flowed through the hillsides. Pictured here are the Dundee Hills from our Anne Amie Estate Vineyards this morning. Everything was picked by 8:30 a.m. and then the sun began to peak out and a fresh dry wind kicked in to dry off the vineyards.

It seems the sun will stay out through tomorrow and on Saturday we will be picking pinot noir from Deux Vert, Hawks View and Zena Crown vineyards and riesling and müller thurgau from our estate vineyards.

Unfortunately, more rain threatens and we may not be picking any more fruit for almost a week.  We'll keep you informed.

Jason's Grapes

We are facing some bad weather, but never have I faced this type of adversity with the same level of confidence as I do this year. Our Director of Viticulture, Jason Tosch (pictured here celebrating the arrival of his beautiful grapes we harvested a few days ago) has placed us in an enviable position. Our vines and grapes are extremely healthy and have a tremendous chance of getting through this rainy period with little damage.

Thanks to Jason's stewardship, we have arrived at the end of the 2007 with gorgeous grapes and have received our Salmon Safe Certification in the process. If anyone can prove it's possible to grow picture perfect grapes using sustainable agriculture it is Jason.

So while we face the upcoming rains at harvest with the same trepidation all other farmers have faced throughout the millenniums, I am confident we will come through it with the finest fruit that vintage 2007 can provide us.

A New Dawn for Müller Thurgau

The 2007 Müller Thurgau harvest started at dawn today and, indeed, it is a new dawn for our Müller Thurgau, which we offer under our second label, Château Benoit. We name this wine Château Benoit to honor Oregon wine pioneers Fred and Mary Benoit who planted this vineyard in 1979.

This will be a new dawn for our Müller Thurgau as Director of Viticulture Jason Tosch has grown the finest fruit this vineyard has produced and winemaker Thomas Houseman has designed a new approach to the way we craft this wine that will take its quality to a whole new level. We are all already looking forward to sipping this new wine next summer on our patio.

Juice Pushers

The pace of life in Charleston, South Carolina is the first thing one notices upon arrival, the antithesis of our current modern model. People here stroll, wait patiently in lines, call you sir, and enjoy long meals of fantastic culinary courses. Perfect place to sell pinot noir and sell we do. Our distributor in South Carolina is Advintage Distributing and the 2007 Holiday Show was a grand affair. Located at the elegant Charleston Place Hotel, the ballroom was filled to capacity with buyers and wine lovers from all over the state. 

Owner Henri Gabriel (pictured on the right) has put together a fantastic team of wine savvy salespeople and staff and they are beloved by buyers across South Carolina. The 2006 Pinot Gris and the 2004 Winemaker's Selection Pinot Noir were huge hits and our new dedication to sustainable agriculture was most appreciated. We are nearing our third year with Advintage and appreciate the dedication to our brand this fine company offers. Besides, how can you not enjoy a group that refers to themselves as "Juice Pushers". Love that Southern flair!

Tim Brislin

First Fruit!

The harvest of 2007 commenced at dawn today with the picking of block 3 of our Anne Amie Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir. The temperature was barely forty degrees and the fruit arrived at the winery before 9 a.m., cold and in beautiful condition. Sorting was almost unnecessary as there was not any powdery mildew or moldy bunches to be found. It was some of the prettiest pinot noir I've seen and it tasted delicious too with rich sweet black cherry flavors.

When the first bins arrived we took a minute to toast the new vintage with the wonderful 1999 Argyle Blanc de Blancs and then made quick work of getting our first two tons of pinot noir into a fermenter, where it will patiently wait while the natural yeasts get to work.

There are few days more exciting and filled with optimism as the first day of harvest. We don't expect to harvest any more fruit for a few days. The small block we picked ripened well before the rest of the vineyard.

Brix

One of the basic tests we do to determine fruit ripeness is to measure the degrees brix, or the amount of sugar present in the grape juice. For example, a measurement of 25 degrees brix would mean there are 25 grams of sugar in 100 grams of juice. Pictured here, Thomas uses a refractometer to measure the degrees brix of a sample of pinot noir from our Anne Amie Estate Vineyard. Our ideal level of brix for pinot noir would be around 23.5, but we can't pick on brix alone as other factors like acidity and ripeness of the seeds enter into the decision. These factors sometimes necessitate picking at higher or lower brix levels depending on the variety and expected weather conditions. One of our major concerns is that picking at higher brix levels will produce higher levels of alcohol, which can make an elegant wine like pinot noir out of balance and more like syrah than pinot noir. To achieve our goals of balanced, complex wines means that we are now constantly in the vineyards taking samples and analyzing all aspects of ripeness. We have two staff members, Rebecca and Anne, full time in the vineyards taking samples and Thomas and Jason are also out there tasting and sampling everyday. While science plays a huge part in deciding when to pick, taste is the ultimate guide and we continually taste the grapes as we walk up-and-down the rows. There is a very narrow window of perfect ripeness and we don't want to miss it.

King Harvest Has Surely Come

Jason, Thomas and I were out sampling our Anne Amie Estate Pinot Noir Vineyard this morning as there is one section of the vineyard that seems ready to pick. In fact, we will be picking one small block of pinot this coming Monday.

Pictured at left, Jason and Thomas combine the samples we have collected. To get a good look at the ripeness of the entire vineyard, we gathered our samples by each taking a different row. Then we zigzag down the row taking samples from every fifth vine on each side. From each vine we take one grape from the top, bottom and the back and front sides of four different bunches on each vine.

We decided to pick one small section of our estate vineyard, just four rows that should give us about two tons of fruit. This type of picking by small blocks based on their specific ripeness is new for us at Anne Amie as in the past we had always picked entire vineyards at once. This change in philosophy will help dramatically improve the quality of our wines.

The other blocks on our Estate Pinot Noir Vineyard appear to need at least a week or more time to ripen.

Almost there.....

I have been spending quite a bit more time out in our vineyards tasting grapes (and I have a beautiful farmer’s tan to prove it!) trying to get a handle on when, exactly, harvest will be starting this year.  Jason, our vineyard manager, has done a wonderful job tending the vines and the fruit quality looks amazing.  Unlike California, we have been blessed with cool weather this summer.  While the cool weather made Jason’s job a bit more difficult, it has resulted in a longer “hang time” for the fruit this year, and the resulting flavors are more concentrated. 

As for when, exactly, we’ll pick I am still waiting, hedging my bets.  I will let the grapes hang out on the vines as long as I possibly can.  It’s a dance I play every year with mother nature and therefore with Jason as well.  His job for the year is almost done.  Mine is about to begin.  So, at the moment I’m just waiting for the flavors in the grapes to sing.  And, so Jason waits for me.  And, therefore, we all are in a holding pattern.

Thomas