Anne Amie Vineyards
Founded in: 1999
Website: anneamie.com
Specialties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Riesling
What unusual item would we find in your compost pile? I am a vermicomposter, so I’d have to say worms! I keep hoping the red wrigglers will break down the dogs’ old rope bone. They are still working on it, 6 months later. I just added tax documents. Does that count as strange?
Who is the person you most admire in the sustainable world and why? I would have to say Alice Waters. There have been people who have done more for the environment as a whole, but few who have tackled a culture as stubborn as ours. The “Slow Food “movement that is shaping how we eat as Americans has mostly her to thank. Getting un-processed food into the mouths of inner-city youth is her brainchild. To see bags of mixed greens on supermarket shelves, organic produce, and choices in produce is amazing. I thank Alice every time I walk down the produce aisle!
Strong Collaboration Between Vineyard Manager and Winemaker Fosters A Holistic Approach to Sustainability
Formerly the Historic Chateau Benoit winery, Anne Amie Vineyards was purchased in 1999 by Dr. Robert Pamplin, one of Oregon’s most forward-thinking philanthropists and businessmen. The winery commands a birds- eye perch over the valley and the foothills of the Coast Range in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
In 2006 and 2007, Pamplin hired Winemaker Thomas Houseman and Vineyard Manager Jason Tosch to help transform the operation from the vineyard up, with a focus on quality and sustainability.
The symbiotic partnership between Houseman and Tosch, who started working together at another premier Oregon winery, is key to raising the bar at Anne Amie Vineyards.
“You can make good wine with great grapes, but you can’t make great wine with good grapes,” Houseman says. “Farming sustainably gets you the wonderful fruit that makes great wines possible.”
In the vineyard, Anne Amie has experimented with using native flowers as cover crops to attract pollinators, who attract other beneficial insects into the vineyard; as well as sheep grazing in the rows. The end goal is not just to tweak a few farming practices, Houseman says, but to look at the biosphere as a whole.
In the winery, Anne Amie is looking for ways to make the existing winery more sustainable, including the installation of solar panels, the additional of an electric, versus, propane tractor and overall reducing inputs and usage of water, light and electricity in the winery. Houseman says Annie Amie is seeking to update the winery to both increase quality and be more sustainable.
“Sustainability should not get in the way of making great wine,” he says.
Being a part of the Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine program helps Anne Amie be more successful – both in selling wine to interested consumers, and by learning new tools and techniques from other vineyard managers and winemakers who are also in the program, Houseman says.
“It’s all about building momentum until sustainability is no longer a selling point,” he continues. “I would love for us to do to wine world what Alice Waters has done for food – help build awareness of how your choices affect the larger picture.” “It’s easy to buy a $3 bottle of wine at Trader Joe’s but what does that bottle mean? What’s the impact of buying that wine and consuming it? Consumers need to examine what our actions do to the planet. It’s not just about buying the cheapest ‘this and that’ but thinking about how that purchase affects the future health of the planet. Wouldn’t it be great if commercial farming eventually became the odd man out?”
Order Oregon Certified Sustainable Wines
2008 Amie Vin Doux Naturel Dessert Wine Late Harvest Müller-Thurgau
2008 Anne Vin Glacé Dessert Wine Late Harvest Müller-Thurgau
2008 Anne Amie Estate Riesling
2008 Cuvée A Muller Thurgau
2009 Anne Amie Amie Vin Doux Naturel Dessert Wine Late Harvest Müller-Thurgau
2009 Anne Amie Anne Vin Glacé Dessert Wine Late Harvest Müller-Thurgau
2009 Anne Amie Cuvée A Amrita
2009 Anne Amie Cuvée A Midnight Saignée Rosé of Pinot Noir
2009 Anne Amie Cuvée A Muller Thurgau
2009 Anne Amie Cuvée A Pinot Noir
2009 Anne Amie Estate Riesling
2009 Anne Amie Pinot Blanc
2009 Anne Amie Pinot Gris
2009 Anne Amie Estate Pinot Noir
2009 Twelve Oaks Estate Pinot Noir
2009 Anne Amie Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
2009 Anne Amie Viognier
2010 Anne Amie Cuvee A Amrita
2010 Anne Amie Cuvée A Midnight Saignée Rosé of Pinot Noir
2010 Anne Amie Cuvee A Muller Thurgau
2010 Anne Amie Estate Riesling
2010 Anne Amie Pinot Gris
2010 Anne Amie Viognier
2010 Anne Amie Winter’s Hill Pinot Gris