Anne Amie Vineyards, Carlton Oregon

Holiday Discounts on 2006 Cuvée A Amrita

It's time to stock the cellar for holiday parties, gifts for friends and family or just a little something for yourself!

To celebrate the holidays, we're offering our Anne Amie Vineyards 2006 Cuvée A Amrita at 25% discount on purchases of 4 bottles or more.

2006 Cuvée A Amrita - Retail $15 (4 for $45 with discount)

The bright, fresh zesty aromas dance from the glass like sugar plum fairies. Highlights of sweet red grapefruit, green apples and ripe white peaches spin through the lively aromas, flavors and finish. With a light touch of sweetness to balance the crisp acidity Amrita is a natural aperitif and refreshing companion to all Asian cuisines. We create Amrita for holiday parties or anywhere fun and wine join forces!

To place your order visit our website at www.anneamie.com or call 800-248-4835.  Limited supply - orders filled on a first come, first served basis.

Happy Holidays from Anne Amie Vineyards!

Harvest Slideshow

The cool rainy weather that is the Oregon winter has now settled in and one-by-one another fermenter of pinot noir is drained and pressed. The whirlwind of harvest has been replaced by an almost normal pace. Now that we've caught our breath we've had a chance to look back over the harvest and assemble a photo slideshow running from the first to the last bin of 2007 grapes. You can watch and download that slideshow by following this link:

http://craigcamp.phanfare.com/slideshow.aspx?username=craigcamp&album_id=468651

Henry Does Tahoe

We try never to miss an event put on by The Henry Wine Group, our distributor partners in Oregon, California, Virginia, Maryland and D.C., as they are always wonderfully successful events due to their exceptional organization and close relationships with their clients. Combine that with a trip to Lake Tahoe and it's definitely not a trip to miss. Held at the rustically elegant Plumpjack Squaw Valley Inn, their 13th annual Holiday Tasting for their central valley customers was yet another tremendous success.  As the tasting was tucked in between the summer tourists and the ski season Henry's customers and vendors took over Squaw Valley for several days. As long as you weren't interested in skiing, the weather was fantastic, as you can see by my photo of the Lake Tahoe sunset in the photo above. It was particularly exciting for us as so many of the customers not only knew Anne Amie wines, but carried them in their restaurants and stores.

This was our first presentation of our new 2006 Anne Amie Vineyards Cuvée A Pinot Noir and the reception was just as enthusiastic as we expected. This new Cuvée A Pinot Noir is by far the best we've yet produced and will give you a hint of just how exciting the upcoming release of 2006 Winemaker's Selection Pinot Noir will be next year.

Cellar to Cellar

There is no surer sign that the intensity of harvest is winding down than when cellar crews finally get a moment to go visit other cellars. One of the great things about making wine in Oregon is the camaraderie shared by winemakers throughout the Willamette Valley. These post harvest visits are a cause to pull out your best hospitality, taste through the new wines and best of all, to break out the good beer. We were pleased to have one of my favorite winemakers Adam Campbell of Elk Cove Vineyards bring his crew over for a visit today. Adam makes some of the most elegant and complex wines in Oregon so we were very pleased to show him and his harvest crew our new wines and then share some of Thomas' Anne Amie Harvest Spice Ale.

Next week we hope to go out for some visits. The time change has really changed the pace here as darkness falls by 5 p.m. and that, combined with the residual harvest tiredness makes the winery seem particularly quiet. Five pinot noir fermenters were pressed today so we are chipping away and, as the empty fermenters leave the winery, the stacks of newly filled barrels continues to grow.

Everyone we talk to is very pleased with the quality of wines in their cellars and it seems that 2007 despite all the ups-and-downs of the weather will be a very good vintage.

Anne Amie Sunset 11/6/07

Last Grapes

The first one came on September 24th, now some 38 days and 250 tons later we conclude the harvest of 2007. Pictured here is the very last bin, the last of about 400 we've emptied into fermenters. That may sound like a lot, but actually those are small winery numbers.  In the photo on the right, Tracey, Thomas and Todd took a moment to mark the occasion, which passed at 7:15 p.m Halloween night., while others trick and treated, the four of us were whole cluster pressing pinot blanc.

Tracey is our Facilities Manager, but he morphs into part of the harvest crew in fall, Todd is a guest winemaker from Australia and Thomas (left), who is not only our winemaker, but resident pumpkin transformed his waterproof suit, accessorized with a compressed air hose, into a pumpkin to celebrate Halloween.

The four of us followed up this last bin with cheeseburgers and bottles of 2005 Argyle Brut Rose and 2005 Brun Moulin-a-Vent to celebrate.

While harvest 2007 is done, the vintage work is far from over as most of the wines are still in various stages of fermentation. Yet the arrival of the last bins of fruit means that now we will start catching up and things will slowly return to normal.

The days, like today, may have been long, but with team members like Tracey and Todd, who are always positive and full of fun and energy no matter how long the day has been, each day of harvest 2007 will be a fond memory.