Amalie Robert Estate Vintage Update: 2011 July Flowers Update
Hello and Welcome,
I am happy to report that I scouted the first and only Pinot Noir flowers of the 2011 vintage on Sunday, July 3rd. You know where they were? Yep, they were right there in Block 10 - that wonderful Wadenswil cone grafted onto 5C rootstock. What a block!
July 3rd is day 184 of the Julian Calendar. We add the requisite 105 days to develop nice flavors and aromas, and our harvest window opens on day 289.
Now the little 289 was quite popular in the early Mustangs. Lee Iacocca must have been quite proud, except he wanted the car to be called the Panther. But the little 289 soon gave way to the more powerful Boss 302 Mustang in the early 1970s. Today's modern version for 2012 sports a whopping 444 horsepower and an estimate cost of $43,000. That's just about $100 per pony. Giddy-up!
Back on point, this is the latest we have seen flowering at Amalie Robert Estate, and is pretty close to 1991. The harvest window opens on Saturday, October 16th. Yes, we will have the usual suspects in the aviary, bouts of showers and our ever present adversary Botrytis.
However, we have the advantage. We have seen the mid to late October harvests in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Not that this is old hat to us, but we know what is coming, albeit not when. A quick reality check before this gets too far out of hand, own rooted Pinot Noir vines in the Willamette Valley are typically harvested starting the 3rd week of October. For those pining for the good old days, well they are here again!
So how did we do in 2010? We predicted a harvest window of Tuesday, October 13th. We began harvest on October 17th and finished just as the rains arrived on October 23rd when the harvest window abruptly closed. We hung it out there a little, and got lucky. Luck, it seems, does favor the prepared mind.
This year, even more so than usual, we will be thinking very positive thoughts about late October. What about the Syrah and Viognier? Well, they are built to take a little rain and I don't think they are going to be disappointed.
Ernie