Anne Amie Vineyards, Carlton Oregon

Anne Amie Sunset 12/20/07

Mr. Arkansas

Mr. Bill Walker, our broker in 4 Southern states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama) paid Oregon a visit for a little R & R and the chance to enjoy our beautiful wine country. On Thursday, our Winemaker Thomas Houseman led us through his favorite barrels from Anne Amie's 2007 vintage and showcased his favorite vineyard lots thus far. We all had a wonderful lunch at the Dundee Bistro and after lunch Bill and I braved the cold weather for a vineyard tour and discussion of our improved vineyard management practices.  Friday was filled with winery visits as we visited Beaux Freres to start the morning. National Sales Manager Kurt Johnson  graciously entertained us with a vineyard tour  and upclose  look at the winery firetruck (pictured at right). Next two stops were visits with Andrew Rich at the Carlton Winemaker Studio and a drive to Elk Cove's gorgeous property. Bill has built our brand impressively in the South and I look forward to another banner year in 2008. I'm looking forward to some Southern hospitality from Mr. Walker in the spring.  

Passing the Torch

Anne Amie continues to evolve and my role as Hospitality Director will come to an end in at the beginning of the year.  I will shift my focus to marketing and West Coast sales and feel confident to pass the torch to our new Hospitality Director Ksandek Podbielski.  If you’ve been in the winery any this year, you’ve definitely met Ksandek.  He’s enthusiastic and full of energy (and a great cook to boot!) and we are happy to have him on our team. 

As I look to 2008, I am excited to work with our great distributors and their sales teams to promote the wines that we’ve worked so hard to create. If you’ve been following this blog you know that it was an unusual and long harvest for us but we have promise for the future!  Thomas and Jason did a great job with timing and everything we taste in the barrels from this vintage leaves us very hopeful for the pinot noir we’ve processed from 2007 and even more hopeful for what’s to come!

You'll be seeing more of Anne Amie wines in top restaurants in our area and beyond.  Tim Brislin will be taking on the East Coast and together we plan on getting our wines to you outside of your visits to our tasting room.  We hope you’ll continue to enjoy our wines as much as we enjoy making them for you.

So here's to the team: you - our customers, our distributors and all of us here at Anne Amie.  May we all enjoy a happy, healthy 2008 – Salud!

Cheers,

Kim

Anne Amie Sunset 12/7/07

Anne Amie Sunset 12/7/07

Anne Amie Sunset 12/7/07

End of Harvest Party

Needless to say, everyone was ready to celebrate as harvest came to a close. We rented out 3rd Street Pizza in McMinnville, which also doubles as a movie theatre. After many large pizzas, pitches of beer and bottles of vino we chuckled through our movie pick for the evening, the British indie comedy Kinky Boots. A good time was had by all.

Stormy December

December has greeted Oregon with torrential rains and winds. I 5, the interstate that runs from Mexico to Canada up the west coast and connects Portland and Seattle is going to be closed for days due to flooding. One hundred mile-an-hour winds have knocked out power for tens of thousands along the coast. Luckily for us at the winery we never lost power and the road running up to the winery flooded no more than usual during a big storm. All of this means nothing to the vines that are now dormant for the winter. The good part of all the rain was that the ski slopes on the Cascades are now covered deeply with snow.

Tonight as the sun set a few rays broke through the clouds. Hopefully the storm has passed.

Digging it: Last Tank 07

Last Wednesday was momentous.  It marked the final day of pressing, and therefore an unofficial end for the harvest of 2007.  It was also a window to the past.  Five weeks ago we harvested the last of our pinot noir, from the Zena vineyard in the Eola Hills.  The fruit came in impeccably, and I opted for a large proportion of whole cluster fruit in the fermenter and a “native” fermentation.  Five weeks later we have what I consider to be the finest wine we have produced this year.  An incredibly complex wine with bountiful layers of silky tannins matched with wild game notes has emerged from the press: a perfect end to a tough vintage.  While most winemakers I have spoken with about our extended time on skins this year have shaken their heads incredulously, I have found that our patience has led to extraordinarily deep, graceful wines.  Although it is now December and we are just putting the last of our pinot noir to bed, I am happy.  Maybe not as happy as if I was on a beach somewhere in the sun, but never-the-less happy.  However, this post is not an epitaph for my first vintage at Anne Amie as these wines still have a long way to go before they are in the bottle and, despite how pleased I am about the wines we have crafted this year, I have already started formulating plans for 2008.  We'll keep you updated on the progress of these wines and our plans for the future.

Thomas

Pictured above: Todd "digs out" the last tank of 2007 pinot noir into the press.

Anne Amie welcomes baby Ava Brislin

After weeks of waiting, our National Sales Manager Tim Brislin and wife Audrey welcomed beautiful baby Ava May Brislin into the world on Friday, December 1st.   Ava weighed in at a healthy 9 lbs, 10 oz. and was 21 inches long. 

Congratulations Tim & Audrey!