Just to be clear, this is not the cougar that the headline refers to:

No! That’s Sheryl as the bottles come off the line at Carlton Winemaker Studio. She’s hanging out there with our 2024 Rosé from Pinot Noir, which went from barrels to bottles last week. It’s a delicious, fruit-forward Rosé with notes of citrus, even grapefruit. Delectable, and hats off to our winemaker, Anthony King.

It’s truly exciting to witness the bottling of our wines. We see the machines fill the bottles and then cork them, then the labels popped on — and we think: Now it’s sharing time! Well, almost. We’ll soon make our 2024 Rosé available to our wine club members, along with our 2023 Pinot Noir and 2023 Chardonnay. And then somewhat later we’ll make all three wines available to the general public for orders on KristofFarms.com.

The Rosé is always on a rapid cycle, about a year ahead of our other wines. You taste it and you understand why: A Rosé is an exuberant adolescent, full of zest and laughter, while the Pinot Noir is a dignified presence with gravitas, and the Chardonnay likewise conveys maturity and sophistication.

As for the cougar in the headline, that’s a more somber story.

We often share photos of our local cougars (also known as mountain lions) taken by our motion-activated wildlife cameras on the farm. We have long had a mature female as a resident sharing our acreage, plus a younger one who passes through periodically. But we haven’t seen either in the last month. It so happens that one cougar was run over recently on Highway 47 near us, and another was shot by a farmer a couple of miles away. So we fear that our big cats are no more — until a young one moves in and claims the territory.

So it seems we should say farewell to our neighbor kitty cat. Here’s how we’ll always remember her:

RIP, Kitty.

We’re looking forward to your cougar cubs coming on camera!

For those of you who are wine club or cider club members, get ready! We’re going to send out spring selections soon. We’ll also have a day you can come out to Kristof Farms and pick up your wine or cider if you prefer. Stay tuned! Likewise, we’ll set a date soon for our spring salon, in which we chat with club members on a Zoom call about the farm, the drinks and whatever questions people raise about all the things going on in the world. There’s still time to join either the wine club or cider club before the shipments go out, but do it soon.

The weather has been gorgeous on the farm in the last few days. This was the scene when we walked the dogs in the vineyard this evening after their dinner:

So the fine weather made us think that we should again have some tastings on the farm. We’ll set some dates and post them in our next newsletter. And in addition, if you have a group of 10 or more friends and want to come out for a private tasting, email us at info@kristoffarms and we’ll try to accommodate. Preference goes to wine club or cider club members. On the one hand, we love to show off this beautiful farm, but we also do have our day jobs!

Another update: While mostly we’re distributing our wines and ciders direct-to-consumer through our website (shipping to nearly every state around the country), we’re also expanding our distribution network. Our wines are now available in Pennsylvania liquor stores, and our ciders are now on tap at a growing number of bars and restaurants in the Portland area. If you have a restaurant in the area and are interested in kegs of our cider, reach out to Karlie Smith at (541) 404-5049. We’re also adding California distribution, so if you have a restaurant or bar in California and would like our wine or cider, email us at info@kristoffarms.com. We’ll be adding other states as well, although our focus will remain direct to consumer.

And in closing, let’s not only mourn our mountain lions but also celebrate our bobcat friend:

Sure, she’s a little smaller but still way bigger than any house cat. One of the things we love about our farm is that it produces wonderfully sophisticated wines at the same time it is home to wild animals that are as magnificent as they are untamed. We’re honored to share with you both our wines and our wild cats.

Best from us on Kristof Farms and if you’re going to join the wine or cider club, please do so before the shipment goes out!