We weren’t sure how to title this blog, but considering the positive forecast for the rest of June, we decided on the above rather than: “Rain, Rain Go Away.”  We can’t sufficiently stress how annoyingly wet the spring weather has been this year in the Pac NW (those of you living in the area are probably nodding your head right now).  Our sometimes dismal climate can be a real threat.  Nothing influences crop yield in the vineyard on an annual basis more than inclement weather.  Cold, rain, clouds, and hail during bloom can really minimize the amount of fruit that will set for the year.  Poor weather this time of year also increases the risk of vines contracting fungal diseases.  Neil, who manages our warehouse and maintains all of our equipment, is our dedicated tractor driver and therefore dedicated fungicide sprayer.  This season, he has put out five fungicide sprays for Powdery Mildew.  In spite of Mother Nature’s wicked wrath, we’ve had a fairly productive spring season in the vineyard.  All of the vines have had their suckers and secondary shoots removed and catch wires have been raised to support the rapid Spring growth.  The vines look consistently strong; with all the water they’ve gotten, they seem to be moving along rather quickly as we prepare for Bloom.  Warm sunny weather really aids in the development and rapid pollination of the inflorescence that will turn into grapes.   So, the good news is that it looks like we may be breaking out of our bad weather pattern just in time for the flowering to begin.

Our 2007 Dry Gewurztraminer is a featured pairing with a recipe in Chef Magazine.

Shrimp Shooter Spoons with Avocado Mango Relish

Yield: 36 Servings

1lb uncooked shrimp, medium size, peeled, deveined and cut into 1/2″ pieces

3/4 cup fresh lime juice, divided

10-oz can coconut milk

Salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh cilantro, as needed

Combine shrimp with 1/2 c lime juice. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours but no longer than 24 hours, stir several times. Drain off juice. Combine shrimp with coconut milk and remaining lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate. Per order, place 3-4 chunks of marinated shrimp in each serving spoon along with small amount of coconut lime sauce (discard excess sauce). Top each spoon with 2 1/2 t Avocado Mango relish (recipe follows). Garnish each spoon with cilantro. Wine pairing: Amity Vineyards 2007 Dry Gewurztraminer

Avocado Mango Relish

1 large ripe fresh Hass avocado, 1/8″ dice

1 mango, 1/8″ dice

1/4 t mustard

2 T. fresh lime juice

3 T. granulated sugar

1/4 red onion minced

Combine avocado and mango with mustard, lime juice, sugar and red onion. Refrigerate until service.

Recipe credit: Jeff Rossman, chef/owner Terra Restaurant and Bar, San Diego

Bottling runs at Amity are broken down into two seasons. Spring for whites and organic wines (Eco Pinot and Eco Foch) and Late Summer/Fall for reds. As of this moment, we are in the midst of our Spring bottling run. The first wine bottled this year was our Rose’ of Pinot gris followed by Eco Marechal Foch, Auxerrois, Estate Dry Riesling, and the Wedding Dance Riesling. The good news is that five wines are in bottle already. The bad news is that they are the smallest lots. We have the larger lots of Pinot blanc, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay and Eco Pinot noir still to do.

Bottling days tend to be rather assembly line type-work days. Depending on the amount of wine we need to bottle, we usually get in to the winery between 7 and 8am. We start off by sanitizing our bottler/corker and cleaning the pump and the hoses that move the wine from the tank to the bottler. At the same time, we sterilize the filter that the wine passes through on the way to the bottler/corker. The depth of the filter depends upon the wine we are bottling. For whites it’s a .45-micron sterile filter. For reds, it’s usually in the 5 to 20 micron range. Once all of the equipment is sanitized, assembled and tested, it takes a crew of three people to bottle the wine. One person sparges the empty bottles with Nitrogen and puts them on the bottler’s carousel. Another person takes them off the carousel once they’ve been filled and corked, then wipes down the bottles and puts them into case boxes. The last person puts labels on the case boxes and stacks the cases on a pallet. He or she also supplies the first person with empty glass bottles and keeps the corks from running out. It sounds kinda complicated but it really isn’t. We’ve done it so often we’re like a well-oiled machine, so long as the equipment is running properly.

This year’s bottling crew has consisted of the following Amity employees:

Michael – Who will work harvest with us this year and currently works in the tasting room and winery part-time

Charles – Who is best friends with our Cellar Supervisor Vince, has a tattoo of the State of Washington, and he also has supplied most of the tunes courtesy of his eclectic I-pod

Bob – Who has taken time off from the vineyard to help

Neil – Who helps get us set up, adjusts our ever-so-quirky bottler/corker, and runs the machine from time to time

Darcy – Who prints of labels for the boxes, fills in on the line for Neil and buys us donuts for nutritional purposes

Vince – Who has been on vacation so far but is looking forward to helping now that he is back

It’s Granholm v. Heald, or what we at Amity Vineyards call, “The right to sell you wine out of our front door.” Over the past 30 years, the number of domestic wineries increased by over 500% to more than 6,000, with at least one winery in every state of our glorious union. On average U.S. wineries produce more than 10,000 new wines each vintage and nearly all of them are small, family-owned and operated producers, just like Amity Vineyards. The major problem is that the 50 largest wineries produce more than 87% of America’s wine, muscling small producers out of most retailers and leaving you the consumer with less than 17% of all U.S. wineries to choose from in your local market.

Our feeling at Amity Vineyards is that our consumers should be able to purchase the wines they want in the manner of their choosing, whether it be from retailers, at the winery, by telephone, the internet, or to paraphrase Malcolm X, “By any means necessary.” This idea has the support of The U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Trade Comission, and many state legislators. Like every issue in American politics or business, there are two sides to every story and the other perspective comes from the wholesalers industry. Over the same 30-year period of winery expansion there has been a dramatic contraction in the wholesaler industry (there are now 75% fewer firms). Now, two or three wholesalers can virtually determine what wines are available in their state, and the 10 largest wholesalers control more than half the U.S. market.

So you’re probably asking yourselves, “What does at Amity Vineyards think about this situation?” We recognize the need for winery wholesalers and love the work that they have done on our behalf; in fact, we have great relationships with our distributors across the country. A great many of you outside of Oregon have bought our wines thanks to their tireless efforts. What we at Amity Vineyards are pushing for is the Model Direct Shipping Bill as outlined on the www.freethegrapes.org website. Read it over at your leisure and send us an e-mail to tell us what you think. We are always pleased to hear your thoughts. So, next time you are popping open a bottle of wine (preferably Amity, of course) say a great big thanks to the Governor of Michigan for giving us the best thing from that state since the Model T.

To celebrate, Amity Vineyards is offering all of our certified organic wines: the 2008 Eco Pinot blanc, the 2008 Eco Marechal Foch, and the 2007 Eco Pinot Noir at a very economically sustainable discount!! This Eco Sale will be available throughout the entire month, either online at our website or in our Tasting Room.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this month, we suggest that after you finish planting a tree, come up to our historic Estate to enjoy our epic view and sample all of our featured Oregon Certified Sustainable wines available, including our 2008 Auxerrious and 2008 Estate Dry Riesling, as well as the Organic Eco Wines mentioned above
We know you’re doing your best to help the planet, so we’re doing ours to provide you with ecologically sustainable wines that you can enjoy.

Cheers!
Vince

Over the past two months I (Robert Taylor), aided by our newest employee Vince Vidrine, who will be helping Darcy in the winery as well, have worked on pruning in our 15 acre estate vineyard. As of right now 99.7% of all of the plants have been cut and tied to the fruiting wire in anticipation of the growing season which should start sometime in the next two weeks.

This week I will begin the process of layering new vines to replace some older ones that are no longer with us (dead). What I’m really excited for is breaking out the chainsaw to cut off some older trunks that we have replaced. Gotta be careful though, already gave myself a slight flesh wound with a pair of clippers. The worst part of pruning my finger was that I was on the last row of vines. Oh well. Take care.

Myron Redford, Owner of Amity Vineyards was the recipient of the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Oregon Wine Growers Association at their Wine & Grape Symposium February 22. It is the organization’s highest award, given to members who have made a major contribution to the Oregon wine industry.

Redford was one of the founding members of the Oregon wine industry and has been an active participant since he purchased Amity Vineyards in 1974. He was a member and later chairman of the Viticulture Committee, a member and Chairman of the Marketing Committee and Member of the Northwest Wine Coalitions Export Committee. He was on the Oregon Wine Advisory Board for eight years.

We celebrated the end of the ‘09 harvest by inviting friends of Amity over to the vineyard for the day. It was a gorgeous autumn day, with the sun shining brightly throughout. Everybody had a chance to pick some late harvest Riesling and were each awarded a certificate for a free bottle of the ‘09 vintage when it is ready later on this year. Lunch was served, wine poured, and we were treated to some unexpected lively entertainment. Below is a video shot of some Moor Dancing up at the vineyard:

Check out the Gallery for some photos of the event!