The Spring Teaser!
Hello and Welcome,
We witnessed the very first Wild Purple Crocus emerge from Vintage 2024 on Groundhog Day. Spring is surely on the way! Maybe. But it’s now February, where we often get a little teaser of spring-like weather, usually followed by 6 more weeks of rain. BONUS: We get an extra day of rain this year because it is a leap year!
You may have noticed all the hubbub around February 2nd. This is when that infamously famous, rotund rodent makes an appearance on Gobblers Knob in Pennsylvania. Well, Ernie looked into that a little bit and found out that the state of Pennsylvania is not as innocent as we may have been led to believe.
According to the Penn State extension service, “The woodchuck (Marmota monax), also known as the groundhog or whistle pig, is one of Pennsylvania's most widely distributed mammals.” And they are listed as a game animal - in abundant supply. According to the extension service: “Woodchucks can be legally shot anytime of the year if they are damaging property. There is no bag limit on woodchucks, but hunters must possess a valid Pennsylvania hunting license.” Good to know, before you go. #AGROTOURISM
If Groundhog Day passed you by, not to worry. You have a second bite at the apple coming up in October, when it is National Groundhog (aka Sausage) Month. Check out Bob Evans Farms for all of your sausage needs. They are based in Columbus, Ohio, just a short drive away from Gobblers Knob Hunting Preserve.
In This Communication:
The 29 Days of February
February Wine Catalog - Syrah
Main Topic: Pruning Vintage 2024 in Situ
What Does That Mean and Why Should I Care?
Other Resources
Current Offers
The 29 Days of February
So, what is the best part of February? First of all, it’s not dry January! And Valentine’s Day, don’t forget Valentine’s Day. Ignore February 14th at your peril. And the Superbowl, and Mardi Gras and International Syrah Day, whew!
As we can all plainly see, February is a very busy month. Beginning with the Superbowl really kicking things off on Sunday the 11th. Then we moved right into Fat Tuesday, which is February 13th this year. If you found yourself in the French Quarter of New Orleans, please post the images. But try not to break the internet. Remember last time? Those selfies are forever.
And if you check the right calendar, you may also find that February holds another very special day, International Syrah Day, February 16th. This event is sandwiched between Valentine’s Day on February 14th and Global Drink Wine Day on February 18th. Wine, it seems, really gets around…
February Wine Catalog - Syrah
And with that segue, we introduce our monthly wine catalog! When it gets right down to it, we are a winery. We grow, ferment, blend and bottle wine to sell. The agrarian part of the program, farming or winegrowing, that’s the connection we hold to the land. Not to mention the farm equipment, so we won’t.
Here in the Willamette Valley, yes we grow Pinot Noir, but we also grow our own Syrah. Usually around the first week of November, we deploy the buckets and about a dozen of us bring in the harvest. At less than an acre planted, we have that wrapped up in short order. If everything goes according to plan, the torrential winter rains begin just as we finish the Cluster Pluck. Ernie tries to use all the growing season he can get.
We produce a very specific, cool climate Syrah more kindred with the Northern Rhône in style. Climatically speaking, we are very similar to Côte Rôtie. However, that may be changing. Syrah receives similar treatment in the winery including small lot, whole cluster fermentation with indigenous yeast.
But there is more to the wine than meets the eye. A little interplanted Viognier makes its way into the fermenter. Hard to see that in the glass, but trust us it is in there. And time. We add time in barrel, just about 30 months for the Satisfaction and Top Barrel bottlings. In the case of the WTF, it is closer to 54 months. Hand harvested and bottled unfined and unfiltered with a natural cork. Total production across all blends is about 100 to 150 cases per vintage.
While it’s Ernie’s Syrah program, Dena minds the store. She has put together a catalog of multiple vintages and blends for you to choose from. She has even pried into Ernie’s cellar stash to offer a VERY LIMITED amount of early vintages. Our first harvest of Syrah was 2006, and Ernie always keeps the last 5 cases from each vintage for himself.
You can view our Syrah catalog (and read the tasting notes) here. We have chosen VinoShipper as our e-commerce platform. They are able to provide Direct to Consumer compliance to all states that we can ship to legally. As always, Dena can field any questions at Dena@amalierobert.com. Happy hunting!
Our February culinary inclination for Syrah pairing is braised pork shoulder in white beans over creamy garlic mashed potatoes, polenta or cauliflower. An after dinner cheese pairing of Shropshire or Fourme d’Ambert is lovely. We realize that for those living above the 45th parallel it is still winter, regardless of what that varmint does. Consider a less aromatic blue cheese if you are unable to open the windows, or Manchego is always nice.
Main Topic: Pruning Vintage 2024 in Situ
February is also a busy time in the vineyard. Willamette Valley Vintage 2024 can’t really get started until the last remnants of Vintage 2023 have been pulled from the trellis and run through the flail mower. Not only does this clear the trellis for the new growth, it helps recycle the nutrients from last year’s growth. And that is a good farming practice. The soil is the plant’s stomach, and we intend to feed it.
So, what exactly does pruning look like? First of all, we prune the vines in situ, meaning they are where they are. And in February, they are out in the wind and rain. Morning temperatures hover around freezing, and if we are lucky enough to get a “February Teaser”, afternoon temperatures can reach the 60’s with clear skies and full sun. If not, it is cold, windy, rainy and technically speaking “crappy” weather.
While smaller than the woodchuck, the Oregon “gray digger” ground squirrel (Spermophilus beecheyi) is also getting ready to make its Vintage 2024 debut. We do not consider this rodent a game animal, but our resident hawks do. Every once in a while we can see one of these “gray diggers” catching some air. And that is just part and parcel of the gestalt farming experience.
Step one is making the primary cuts. This is relatively easy, as the plant is stationary. It’s not moving even with a little wind. The skill here is to cut the cane that is wrapped around the fruiting wire WITHOUT cutting the fruiting wire. Our vines are 4 feet apart, and the cane typically covers about 3 and half feet. Sometimes a single cut or two cuts will be necessary. The goal is to allow the brush pull process to remove the canes without having to make any additional cuts.
Step two is to remove the cut canes and shoots (collectively known as brush) from the trellis and place them in the middle of the tractor row. The skill here is to remove the brush from the trellis while leaving the wires attached to the posts. You see, brush and loose wires are a very bad combination for the flail mower. It is not a good farming practice to combine them and makes for a costly repair. We can tell you that with 100% confidence.
Step three is the wrapping sequence and here is where it starts to get interesting. A properly pruned vine will have 2 or maybe 3 canes left in the trellis wires when we being the wrapping sequence. The skill here is to wrap the cane around the wire 1 and a half turns and secure the end with a green twist tie without breaking the cane in the process. Chardonnay canes, for example, are very brittle so we wrap those on the rare days when it is raining and warm. Pinot Noir canes are much more forgiving, but still demand respect.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is to count the fruiting vines, VERIFY that the canes are tied down to the fruiting wire, the brush is in the center of every other row to minimize tractor driving (another good farming practice) and that the trellis wires are in FACT in the trellis. Then and ONLY then can Ernie run the flail mower through the canes to chop them up. The soil microbes then dine on them releasing the nutrients back into the soil.
Then we wait for spring to arrive. Bud break usually occurs in late March to early April. But occasionally, strange and unforeseen things can happen.
What Does That Mean and Why Should I Care?
What this means is that there are real live sentient human beings with agricultural skills actually tending the vines that will produce wine berries. In today’s digital AI, machine learning world, often times we are bombarded with online brand and product marketing. More than ever we first experience brands or products online. And with Artificial Intelligence (or mechanization), sentient human beings are often being outsourced.
While online content has replaced and dramatically expanded the mail order catalog days of Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and CO from the 1800’s, the direct to consumer model has endured. In fact, mail order connected more consumers to products than retail stores. “In 1931, Sears earned more revenue from its stores than it did from its mail order operation for the first time.”
An online catalog brings us into the digital age, but then what? Consider this timeless solution to that age old problem of driving foot traffic to your store front.
”In 1939, a man named Robert Lewis May was working as a catalog copywriter for mail order and retail giant Montgomery Ward. The company approached him with an idea. They were looking for a way to attract more customers to their toy department to keep up with Sears, their main competitor. Executives came up with the idea to have May, who was known for being a clever writer, compose a children’s story that would be distributed in stores around the holidays. May was a creative man at heart who had once aspired to write novels.
“He was tired of writing copy about…how to sell a white button-down shirt,” Rumore said. “This was really up his alley.” The result was a 32-page children’s booklet of rhyming verse that follows Rudolph from outcast, teased for his bright red nose, to hero who helps guide Santa and the eight other reindeer on a dark, foggy Christmas Eve.”
That was a novel approach to driving foot traffic to a store front – from 1939.
What was once old is new again in the Direct to Consumer wine marketplace. However, the age old effort of driving (online) traffic to your (online) storefront remains. In that regard, we would like to share a portal with you. Our writing is a window into who and what lies behind our brand. Winemaking: The Continuation of Terroir by Other Means. ®
We invite you to come along on the journey, with Dena & Ernie.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
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