Anne Amie Vineyards, Carlton Oregon

Wine Literary Awards

Our trip to San Francisco didn't stop with the intimate Oregon tasting.  On Friday night we hit the 18th annual Wine Literary Awards at the California Culinary Institute in San Francisco.  Armed with my lady posse in our fancy party dresses we headed to the "ball".  Ben Narasin who attended our tasting the day before was the lucky gentleman to share a table with the six of us.  Ben is a freelance writer for publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle and Wine Enthusiast.

Over 1000 wines including several from each of our wineries (Adelsheim, Elk Cove, Willamette Valley and Anne Amie Vineyards) were opened for a grand tasting at 6pm.  A dinner prepared by the students at the Culinary Institute was served and we all enjoyed a good laugh when Charles L. Sullivan, wine historian and author of the Companion to California Wine and recipient of this year's literary award was interrupted mid-speech by an extremely intoxicated party crasher.  Mr. Sullivan handled it with grace and only paused a moment before finishing his joke. 

Pictured from left are Leah from Adelsheim Vineyards, Meg from Willamette Valley Vineyards, Shirley from Elk Cove Vineyards, Stephany & Mariko from the Oregon Wine Board and me. I might be biased but I think we clean up pretty well! 

I know I've said before that work travel is tiring but being included in this group of talented smart women and the wineries and wine board that supports us make it all worth it.  Thanks for the memories ladies and stay tuned wine media...we might be coming to a town near you soon!

Cheers,

Kim

A Day of Rest and Burghound

Today was really the calm before the storm. While the weather cleared up, we can feel the threatening storm of three days of intense picking that will start Saturday and run through Monday. On Saturday and Sunday we will process almost 40 tons of fruit each day.

However, today was quiet and gave us a chance to catch up and a few members of the crew even got a day off. As we enjoyed the day we also got some good news about vintages past as Burghound gave us and our neighbors some nice reviews. I, in particular, am pleased with Allen Meadows' comments on our wines as he is clearly the definitive writer on pinot noir in the industry today.  No one knows the entire world of pinot noir better than Allen and anyone who loves pinot noir should be a subscriber to his newsletter, Burghound.

Below are Allen's Comments about our current releases and I find them very accurate.

Anne Amie Vineyards (Carlton)
2005 Pinot Noir – Cuvée A red - 88
2004 Pinot Noir – La Colina Vineyard red - 91
2004 Pinot Noir – Willamette Valley red – 89

These consistently impressive wines were bottled unfined and unfiltered. For more information visit: www.anneamie.com

2005 Pinot Noir – Cuvée A: (bottled under screw cap at 13.5%). A lower register fruit nose of ripe red and blue fruit plush hints of earth and briar lead to round, rich, supple and forward flavors that offer good volume and reasonable complexity plus nice finishing balance. This is designed for early drinking and it’s perfect for what it was designed to be. While there is no reason to wait, it could repay 6 months to a year in the cellar. 88/now+

2004 Pinot Noir – Willamette Valley: (bottled at 14.4%). An extremely pretty nose of red and blue pinot fruit aromas nuanced with hints of plum, spice and briar merges into elegant and silky flavors that carry a deft touch of wood which culminate in a sweet and sappy finish. This is not as concentrated as some ‘04s but it’s very stylish. Lovely and particularly good for a “regional” wine where the only nit is a trace of backend warmth. Worth a look. 89/2008+

2004 Pinot Noir – La Colina Vineyard: (from Willamette Valley fruit bottled at 14.5%). A higher-toned, more complex and more elegant nose that is airy and layered features ripe red berry fruit with hints of violet and briar that can also be found on the pure, sweet and equally stylish flavors that are quite supple with excellent flavor authority and focus. This is really lovely with a touch of youthful asperity on the long finish that a few years in bottle will round out. Recommended. 91/2009+

From 4th Quarter 2007, Issue 28 of Allen Meadow’s Burghound, October 2007 

Boring Pinot Noir

In the 6/30/07 issue of The Wine Spectator Matt Kramer's column is titled "Has Pinot Noir Become Boring?" and like most of his writing, it is well worth reading. Matt points out how the ever growing use of the so called "Dijon Clones" of pinot noir is making all to many bottlings of pinot noir boringly identical. These clones, identifiable by their numbered names like 777, 667 or 115 among others all to often feature pleasant, but simple big ripe fruit flavors that overwhelm nuance, elegance and, most of all, the diversity of flavors that individual sites can give pinot noir. While these clones have their place in blends and the ability to add fruit and color to a wine, few offer the complexity of clones like Pommard, Wädenswil, Martini and others. I find few wines dominated by Dijon clone pinot noir that I find really exciting.

Our own wines and new plantings are dominated by Pommard with a healthy assortment of other clones, including Dijon clones, that in judicious amounts add complexity to our wines and offer our winemaker, Thomas Houseman, a greater range of options from vintage to vintage when assembling our blends. We're also seeking to offer even a greater diversity of character as we will be planting clones like Martini, Calera and Swan on the hillside vineyard in front of the winery next year.

Tanzer's International Wine Cellar Reviews Anne Amie

By Josh Raynolds

2005 Anne Amie Pinot Noir Cuvee "A" Oregon        87      
($20) Light, bright red. Racy strawberry and redcurrant aromas are accented by dusty white pepper and flowers. Lively red fruit flavors are nicely framed by gentle acidity. Finishes with good energy. This is very easy to drink.      

      

2004 Anne Amie Pinot Noir La Colina Dundee Hills       90      
($50) Bright red. Sexy, oak-spice accented raspberry on the nose, lifted by a suave floral element. Lush and creamy in texture, with attractive red berry flavors and a complicating bitter chocolate quality. The raspberry impression lingers on the long, seductive finish.    

In Flight Reading

In the September 2006 issue of United Airline's Hemisphere magazine (the one we all read while waiting to take off), Bill Marsano did a piece on Pinot Noir titled "Pinot Power".  In the article he discussed the beauty and appeal of this varietal. While discussing Oregon's wine country he listed Anne Amie alongside oldtimers like as Ponzi, Adelsheim, Archery Summit and Sokol Blosser as wineries that prove the Willamette Valley is prime Pinot Noir country.  This really is a statement as to how far Anne Amie's reputation has grown in a short time as most of the other named wineries have been playing the Pinot game for a much longer time.

Tim Brislin

PinotFile Reviews Anne Amie

PinotFile is a wine newsletter devoted to only one thing: Pinot Noir. You can find PinotFile and more information on Pinot Noir at PrinceofPinot.com. The current issue of PinotFile features our wines and we reprint their comments below:

2004 Cuvée A Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 14.4% alc. $20. A light, fruity Pinot Noir with a welcoming nose of dark fruits and toasty oak. The perfect back porch sippin' Pinot. Nothing to expend your critical facilities on, but when you're thirsty, who wants to?

2002 Anne Amie Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 14.4% alc., $40. This is a superb wine. The nose is complex with plum, exotic wood, and violets. Very vibrant and succulent fruit and a suave finish with racy acidity. Harmonious and balanced. A prime-time Pinot from the 2002 vintage in Oregon.

2003 Anne Amie Deux Vert Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 14.0% alc. $45. This wine is dark ruby in color and is loaded with sweet black cherry, cranberry, dark red raspberry, and licorice aromas and flavors. It is densely-packed, powerful, and firm, yet the texture is soothing. The finish has substantial tannins which are dry and a touch bitter now. Give this one a few years in the cellar to mellow.

Cick on the link below to read the entire article
Download PinotFileanneamie.pdf (342.3K)

Small Biz Blog of the Day

Our Anne Amie Vineyards Cellar Blog has been selected by PajamaMarket.com as their small business blog of the day. Thanks Brian Brown of Pajama Market! Click on the link below for the article.

The Statesman Journal Reviews Cuvee A

Salem Oregon's Statesman Journal wine columist Robert Mayfield recently made an anoyomous stop at the winery and tasted our new Cuvée A wines. On our Cuvée A Pinot Noir he writes. "The Anne Amie, 2004 Cuvée A Pinot Noir, $20, is a precocious, approachable pinot. Fashioned to drink now, it has all those wonderfully typical pinot noir aromatics, smooth texture and enticing flavors. It's no insult to say this is a great entry-level Oregon pinot noir."

We couldn't agree more and thanks to Mr. Mayfield for his nice comments. Our goal with our Cuvée A Pinot Noir is to make a wine ready to drink upon release that still offers real Pinot Noir complexity and character. We feel we've succeded in accomplishing this goal on our first release.

On our new 2004 Cuvée A Amrita he comments, "The Anne Amie Vineyards, 2005 Cuvee A Amrita, $16, is a light, fruity white wine. A blend of largely muller-thurgau, but with riesling, chardonnay, viognier, pinot blanc and pinot gris tossed in for good measure. Who leads in this dance? From the floral notes, I'd guess muller-thurgau and riesling. All those other grapes give it a bit of heft, but it remains an easygoing, pretty wine."

We think he nailed the character of the Amrita too, as indeed our goal was to make "an easygoing, pretty wine." Amrita has already become our patio wine of choice here at the winery now that the afternoon sun has become warm and toasty in the afternoon.

Download the complete article here (31.3K)

Élevage: More geology from the northern Willamette Valley

Those who have not visited the blog Élevage should. Author Vincent Fritzsche offers a delightfully personal view about wine and northwest wine in particular. His comments on Willamette Valley geology are well worth reading. Click below to visit this wonderfully written blog:

Élevage: More geology from the northern Willamette Valley.

Anne Amie Vineyards in Restaurant Wine

 

Ronn Wiegand comments on the wines of Anne Amie Vineyards in issue #110 of Restaurant Wine

"Anne Amie’s 2003s are among the finest we’ve tasted from Oregon. As a group, they are individualistic, very distinctive wines, and have more in common with Burgundy than the Pinots of California (they are crisper and more tannic than the latter). The Yamhill Springs bottling is full bodied, lightly toasty in flavor, crisp, with some richness (black cherry, red currant, plum), and a medium long finish. Lightly tannic. 200 cases. The Laurel bottling is very fine: fragrant, full bodied, supple, and long and well balanced on the palate, tasting of plum, toast, red currant, and rose petal. 161 cases. La Colina is rich and full bodied; a very ripely flavored wine, with good depth, and a long, mildly tannic finish. It tastes of cranberry, tobacco, blueberry, toast and red plum. 214 cases. Hawks View is also rich; a full bodied, lightly toasty wine that is long on the finish-and tastes of plum, cranberry, menthol, and toast. 308 cases. Deux Vert is quite floral and fruity in aroma/flavor (violet, plum, cherry, toast), full bodied, medium rich, and long on the finish. Exceptional. 200 cases. These wines all are unfined and unfiltered."

• 2003 Yamhill Spring Vineyard Pinot Noir - 4 1/2 Stars
• 2003 Laurel Vineyard Pinot Noir  – 5 Stars
• 2003 La Colina Vineyard Pinot Noir – 5 Stars
• 2003 Hawks View Pinot Noir – 5 Stars
• 2003 Deux Vert Vineyard – 5 Stars