Anne Amie Vineyards, Carlton Oregon

Bud break...AHHHH...Bud Break

What a relief!  So many of us vineyard managers were joking whether we would get bud break at all this year...that joke got old when we entered May and still no bud break.  This year I am calling it the Cinco de Mayo bud break event, one of the latest we have recorded in the Willamette Valley.  Bud break normally occurs around April 15th. 

This week marks the true beginning of the growing season for growers.  The time of year when the vineyard manager brushes the moss off his back, puts on his running boots, fires up the equipment and begins the dirty dance of growing fine wine.  There is so much to look for when the buds start to push.  What I like to see is very clear in the picture above: little pink flower buds waiting for their chance to be the most noble of all white wines, Riesling. 

Let the sun keep on shinin'!

-Jason

Pruning Pinot

The slightly warmer temperatures, longer days and sunny, rain-free days are making the last days of pruning much more pleasant for the vineyard crews. Pictured here: As dawn breaks workers finish pruning our Mineral Springs Estate Vineyard just to the east of the winery.

Salmon Safe

We are very proud to announce that our Anne Amie Estate Vineyards have received the Salmon Safe Certification. When our new Director of Viticulture, Jason Tosch, arrived last January I gave him two missions: Grow the finest wine grapes possible and convert all our agricultural over to sustainable methods. In a testament to his dedication to environmentally responsible farming, Jason attained our Salmon Safe Certification in a mere nine months.

Jason's commitment and energy to sustainable agriculture has been an inspiration to all of us and his "green" spirit is pervading all aspects of our winery inside and out.

Our next goal is to receive our L.I.V.E. certification (Low Input Viticulture and Enology), which is a two year process and we expect to attain that goal in 2008.

Not only has Jason attained our Salmon Safe Certification, but in a vintage where the vineyards of the Willamette Valley are suffering one of the worst outbreaks of powdery mildew ever, thanks to Jason's vigilance our vineyards are almost totally free of this blight.

It is Jason's passion to grow grapes that will produce exceptional wines using only methods in harmony with the environment. His addition to our staff well represents our new dedication to excellence at Anne Amie Vineyards.

New Face In The Vineyards

I just want to introduce myself.....

I am the new vineyard manager for Anne Amie and I can't tell you how excited I am to be coming on board with such a great company.  The beautiful setting is hard to believe...If you've been here you know what I'm talking about...the view.  Wine growing is much an evolution as wine making.  Styles of wine growing build from past experience and knowledge.  Picking up where generations of Oregon wine grower left off is a real honor.  I'm proud to be able to apply my style of vineyard management to Anne Amie's wines.  Here we begin another era in a positive evolution. 

Salud!

Jason Tosch

Jason Tosch: Winegrower

Usually when one visits a winery, the tour focuses on technology; the tanks, barrels and other man-made things, but it’s the grapes, a product of nature, and the vineyards from which they are born that really defines the quality of a wine. You cannot put in what Mother Nature has not. While you can make average wines from great grapes, you can never make great wines from average ones. In the face of this reality, I decided to bring in a true expert in vineyards.  Someone whose passion and obsession to grow the perfect fruit required to make truly profound wines would give us the potential to create the astounding pinot noir we are driven to make. I believe that Anne Amie Vineyards was exceptionally lucky to have Jason Tosch join our team as Vineyard Manager as he shares our mission to achieve nothing but the best.

Growing up in the Oregon countryside near the small town of Banks gave Jason a taste for what has since become Oregon agriculture’s prized product: Oregon wine.  After receiving a degree in Horticulture from Oregon State University in 1994, Jason began his career first as the head grower and eventually vice president of production for a cut-flower greenhouse operation. Prior to joining Anne Amie, Jason spent the last two years as Vineyard Manager at Ponzi Vineyards.  Remembering fondly the harvest crush he worked during his last year at the university and amazed by the progressive development of the Oregon wine industry, he made the decision to step into what has become his current career and passion: growing Oregon’s finest Pinot Noirs.   As a general philosophy Jason states, “As a wine grower recognizing and respecting the complicated relationship between site, soil and vine is paramount.  Encouraging the vines using balanced and sustainable practices in the vineyards creates the stage for what Pinot Noir in Oregon soils is meant to do: perform beautifully.”

To achieve these goals, Jason will be transforming all of our estate vineyards over to the sustainable vineyard practices as laid out by L.I.V.E. (Low Input Viticulture & Enology - http://www.liveinc.org/). While our goal is always to be a good friend to the environment, the L.I.V.E program is also Salmon Safe, it is our paramount goal to produce exceptional wine grapes and sustainable agriculture will help us attain both. If you have questions about our vineyards email jason@anneamie.com.

2006 Harvest Celebration Luncheon Cont.

Many of our growers attended our Harvest Celebration Luncheon. Pictured from left to right are The Whittenbergs  and The Youngs.

Bill and Helen Whittenberg own Rainbow Ridge, located in the west hills above McMinnville approximately 10 miles from the winery. The vineyard was planted in the late 1990's on a southeastern facing slope made up of both Willakenzie and Yamhill soils. The vineyard contains both Pommard and Dijon 115 clones.  It's a high quality site due to the SE slope and high density plantings (at 7.5 x 5').  This vineyard produces great fruit, is easy to farm, and gives us some of our biggest yields at 2.5 to 3 tons per acre.  Rainbow Ridge Single Vineyard wines are very elegant offerings with cherry and red raspberry aromas and on the palate one can find concentrated cherry flavors, fine tannins, and a lingering, warm finish.

George and Angie Young own Yamhill Springs located in the foothills of the coast range, west of the town of Yamhill, approximately 12 miles NW of the winery. The vineyard sits on a shelf with elevations from 450 to 600' and is on Peavine soil.  Due to its proximity to the coast range, it is a cool vineyard site and often the last to ripen allowing for rich, juicy wines. Planted 18 years ago, it is unique as it is planted with 100% Wadensville clone. George and Angie are looking to expand with another 6 acres and are working with our winemaker Scott Huffman in choosing alternate clones. Yamhill Springs Single Vineyard wines are very consistent and charming each vintage.  The wine always seems ready to drink whether young or old. Deep black cherry essence radiates  into the nose, and on the palate one can find rich black fruit and spicy tannins with a long, supple finish.

Tim Brislin

2006 Harvest Celebration Luncheon

Today we celebrated our 2006 harvest and the people that made it possible by inviting our growers to a luncheon at the winery.  Thanks to our General Manager Craig Camp for preparing the dishes and our winemaking team for choosing (and making!) the wines to go with them. 

Affettati
1998 Argyle, Knudsen Vineyards Brut
1998 Argyle, Julia Lee's Blanc de Blancs
2003 Argyle, Brut Rose

Risotto Milanese
2002 Anne Amie Vineyards, Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Roasted Filet of Beef with Porcini Mushroom Sauce
Roasted Tomatoes and Mushrooms
Library wine
2001 Anne Amie Vineyards, Yamhill Springs Vineyards Pinot Noir
2001 Anne Amie Vineyards, Laurel Vineyards Pinot Noir
2002 Anne Amie Vineyards, Pinot Noir Willamette Valley
2003 Anne Amie Vineyards, Hawks View Vineyards Pinot Noir

Rogue Valley Creamery Blue Cheese and Dates
Columbia Empire Farms Hazelnuts
2002 Anne Amie Vineyards, Late Bottled Syrah Port

Hawks View Vineyard

Many of you are familiar with Hawks View Vineyards because of our very highly regarded Vineyard Designate from that vineyard. Now you can get a closer look at what makes Hawks View an outstanding vineyard from their website. Please visit them at:
http://www.hawksviewvineyard.com/index.cfm

Ugly Fruit = Great Wine (sometimes)

This vintage marks what will essentially be the end of our riesling production for a few years as we have to replant this historic vineyard due to its infestation with phylloxera. We started the replanting last year and a second third of the vineyard will be torn out and replanted next spring. That means only one third of our riesling vineyard will be in production next year and those vines are quite weak now and will not produce much fruit. It takes our new plantings three years to produce their first crop and five before they are in full production so there will be quite a gap in our riesling production.

Fortunately this vintage brought us some lovely fruit - even though it's ugly to look at because it is heavily infected with botrytis. While botrytis destroys red wine grapes, with riesling it truly becomes "noble rot" as it is called when it dries and concentrated the flavors of riesling making it lusher and more complex. Pictured here, assistant winemaker Ron Shea weighs in our riesling harvest. Each bin of grapes that arrives at the winery is precisely weighed and recorded.

Crunching Numbers

We have been lucky to have one of our growers, Patti Green co-proprietor of Deux Vert Vineyard, join us in the cellar to lend a hand during this year's harvest. Patti is checking each fermenter every day to monitor the progress of the fermentation and searching for potential problems before they become problems. Here she is drawing a sample to check how much sugar remains to be fermented. The progress of each fermenter is noted each day in a spreadsheet that records every detail.