Winemaking
At 7am today, Tammie and Andy were rinsing tanks and hoses while many of you were fast asleep. For us in the cellar, we are celebrating a different kind of holiday, filtering. OK, it’s not a holiday at all; it’s back-breaking work running up and down stairs, hauling heavy hoses, and cleaning multiple tanks. All this work insures that your glass of Anne Amie wine will be brilliant, clear,and sound. For us in the cellar, these two very long work days mark another milestone for the 2009 vintage. All that stands between the cellar crew (after tomorrow evening) and the 2009 white wines being finished, are four painful days of bottling. We are almost there! We were blessed with a warm, dry harvest. Our 2009 white wines sti ll have the signature brightness of acidity, and low alcohol that one…
There’s a new starlet on the scene and her name is Anne Amie! Click on Jason’s movie star mug in the photo above to view the newest, most talked about blockbuster movie of the season. See your favorite Anne Amie characters in action doing what they do best- making wine! I have put together a little “movie” from my cell phone pictures I snapped this past harvest. If something caught my eye, it was captured on film. Yes, it is rough, and the pictures are a bit fuzzy, but think of it as film noir- Pinot noir that is! Enjoy, Thomas Technorati Tags: Anne Amie Vineyards,Harvest 2009,Willamette Valley,Pinot noir,Herb Quady,Alloro Vineyards,Pinot gris,Riesling,Viognier,Chehalem Mountain,Yamhill-Carlton
I’m sitting in my office staring out the window over a roomful of barrels quietly ticking through malolactic fermentation. Also outside my window I see a row of stainless steel white wine tanks, icy jackets holding the 2009 vintage inside. The winery is quiet. Most of our staff his home preparing for Christmas- wrapping gifts, shopping frantically, but in the cellar we are busy putting together blend, after blend, after blend. We are intently focused- tasting, refining, and tweaking every nuance of each wine; readying ourselves for bottling in February. It is with these thoughts that I reflect back on the 2009 vintage. I reflect on all the people that brought their energy, drive, and dedication to this year’s wines. Early mornings. Late nights. Darkness on the drive in to work and darkness on the way home. Clothing saturated and…
Like robins returning in Spring and geese flying overhead in long, trailing V’s in Autumn, there are signals that nature sends us that the seasons are changing. At the winery it is the appearance of the illusive, white Bravo truck. When it glides up the hill, we know it is bottling time. And, soon after, with our tanks and barrels emptied again and ready for more wine, it is time for another harvest. Our webcam is up and running. Please feel free to click on the photo below and watch us as we put the absolutely amazing 2008 Cuvee A and Willamette Valley Pinot noirs into bottle. And, keep and eye on the cellar webcam, because the Bravo truck will soon depart, and the cellar will be scrubbed stem to stern, followed by the first pick of the 2009 season….
People often ask what inspired me to become a winemaker. And, inevitably, the story, no matter how it starts, always comes back to this tree. You see, every morning when I raised the blinds in my apartment in Astoria, Queens, this was my view of the world. If the tree had no leaves, I knew the wait for the subway would be bracing. On a day like today, where young leaves are popping out on trees all over New York City, I’d probably open the window to let out winter’s stale air and breathe in Spring-exhaust fumes, car alarms and all. If there was a full canopy of green, then I knew summer was upon New York, with all the languor and humidity that comes with warmer weather. And, if the leaves on my tree were turning golden, it was…