Anne Amie Winery
Anne Amie Winery
When Dr. Robert Pamplin, one of Oregon’s most forward-thinking philanthropists and businessmen, purchased the historic Chateau Benoit Winery in 1999, his vision was to create wines of the highest quality to reflect his passion for excellence. To this end Dr. Pamplin charged winemaker Scott Huffman with the task of developing the world’s best Pinot Noirs. They immediately began updating the winemaking facilities to give them the tools they needed to produce world-class wines. A little more than three years later, Anne Amie(pronounced on-ah-me) was born and in May 2004, the winery name was officially christened Anne Amie Vineyards. Named for Dr. Pamplin’s two daughters, Anne Amie represents his commitment to producing exceptional wines and world-class Pinot Noirs.
Dr. Pamplin understood that all great wines begin in the vineyard, not the winery. Consequently, he focused on upgrading the quality of fruit by commissioning Scott to only source Oregon’s finest grapes and undertake a Vineyard Designate Pinot Noir program for Anne Amie’s introduction. Dr Pamplin and winemaker Scott Huffman created Anne Amie to produce wines with layers of flavors. They wanted Pinot Noir to be reflective of Oregon’s best individual sites and also to express the best blend of those sites. Fruit driven Pinot Noir, with fine tannins and perfect balance are the trademarks of Anne Amie.
The Vineyards To capture the quality and distinction of the Vineyard Designate program, Anne Amie winemaker Scott Huffman found four sites that met his specific requirements. With optimal aspect, exposure, soil type and plant density, Scott knew that there was potential for truly intense fruit from these sites if the yields were kept low. Initially Scott settled on four primary vineyards located in Yamhill County: Doe Ridge, Hawk’s View, Yamhill Springs, and Laurel. Doe Ridge Vineyard was planted in 1991 on Willakenzie soil with both Pommard and Wadenswil clones. Situated just three miles northwest of the winery, Doe Ridge is known for producing wines with intense cherry and black cherry flavors and a distinct forest floor-like earthiness. Scott restricted yields to 1.3 tons per acre at this location – well below the Oregon’s average -- in order to concentrate the character of the Doe Ridge grapes. The result is a more flavorful wine with greater aging capabilities. Hawk’s View Vineyard is an organically farmed 12-year-old vineyard composed of Laurel Series soils, located on the west slope of the Chehalem Ridge. More importantly, the Hawk’s View Vineyard is a working study of organic viticulture. Sustainable practices are important to us and we are committed to researching the best practices for obtaining exceptional fruit naturally. Hawk’s View has earned a reputation for producing wines capable of long-term aging with great fruit, structure, and mouthwatering intensity. Yamhill Springs Vineyard sits at a 550-foot elevation and its unusual Peavine soil is densely planted with nearly 2000 plants per acre. The vineyard has produced remarkably elegant, fruit-driven wines. Sitting at nearly 1000 feet, Laurel Vineyard utilizes a unique high elevation and cool climate trellising system called the Geneva Double Curtain trellis. The trellis system exposes the fruit to direct sunlight, but, because of the vineyard’s high elevation, the grapes may not ripen enough some years to produce a wine worthy of a vineyard designation, even with extremely low yields of fruit. This extreme site will only be designated in outstanding years. However, extreme sites often produce the world’s best wines; the Pinot Noir produced from this site is exotic and fruit-driven with a distinct personality. New Estate Vineyards Dr. Pamplin also commissioned Scott Huffman to oversee the planting of two separate Pinot Noir sites on his property west of Newberg, Oregon. The first site, at a 500-foot elevation, faces southeast. The second site, which rests on a south-facing slope at a higher elevation of 650 feet, boasts breathtaking views of the valley below and Mount Hood to the northeast. The sites are planted densely to yield several different clones of Pinot Noir, including 777, 115 & Pommard. Both vineyard sites are composed of Jory soil and promise to make great contributions to the Anne Amie Vineyard Designate Pinot Noirs in years to come. In addition to the Vineyard Designate Pinot
Noirs, Scott also produces an elegant blend of outstanding sites for
the Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. |
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