Smashing Success, they say!

We have the first outside, independent review of our wines, before they’re even available. And our grapes are blushing. Michael Alberty, a highly respected, longtime wine writer in Portland for a number of publications, reviewed our wines for The Oregonian and here’s the headline:

Alberty said of our Pinot Noir: "The medium-bodied wine is nice and smooth, with silky tannins and crisp acidity. The wine’s aromas of blackberries, Italian prune plums and sweet hyacinth are a perfect introduction to a flavor that reminds me of a marionberry scone fresh out of the oven.”

“The next time an ice storm hits, I’m curling up by the fire to binge-watch Northern Exposure with this delightful pinot noir."

He says of our Chardonnay: “The 2022 Kristof Vineyard Yamhill-Carlton AVA Chardonnay leads with fresh and mildly spicy aromas of Golden Delicious apples, sweet pea flowers and fresh-cut grass. The wine’s mouth-watering acidity complements flavors similar to a Honeycrisp apple poached with a bit of cinnamon stick, ginger, and butter.”

“I can’t wait to pair this wine with my next batch of Dungeness crabs.” 

As a reminder, our wines are now under lock and key, but we’ll be shipping them next month to our wine club members. Alberty discusses the wine club – for now, it’s the way to get our wines: “In addition to having access to Kristof Vineyard wines, club members can qualify for store-wide discounts and reduced shipping rates. But the best wine club perk is the virtual Conversation Salon.” That’s our Zoom discussion with Kristof family members chatting about wine, farming and the world with club members.

We’ve had a rush of people sign up for the wine club after the article, and we hope you’ll sign up too! You can join the club here or find out more here.

We’re very proud of the wine and delighted that it’ll be shipping to wine club customers very soon.

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It’s pruning time on Kristof Farms: Our vineyard is getting a haircut. The grape vines grow anew each year, so at this time when they’re dormant, a crew goes through and cuts them back more than you would think and then trains them on a trellis wire on each side. Here’s a “before” picture above, with an “after” below:

The vineyard does look a little bare bones right now as a result of the haircut, but the pruning always signals to us that the new growth season is about to begin. Soon the sap will start to flow, buds and leaves will appear and the vines will begin growing madly in every direction.

Other crops we’ve grown on the farm have sometimes been finicky and demanding, requiring special care, while the grape vines are not only fairly hearty (knock on wood) but they also don’t ask for water or much else; they’re the flora equivalent of golden retrievers in their determination to please. They just want to produce some of the finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes in the world.

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We’re thrilled that we’re one of four Pacific Northwest cideries that are finalists for 2024 Good Food Awards. The Good Food Foundation holds the contest annually, with some 1,650 entrants and the winners announced in April. We earned the nod for our Orchard Cider, a traditional dry cider, and we’re proud that each of our ciders has won awards.

Here’s the Kristof Farms Team (Jamie, Sheryl, Adam, Caroline and Nick) recently displaying our ciders at CiderCon: Orchard, Reserve and Noir.

Until now we’ve mostly sold our cider direct-to-consumer through our website. But Jamie King, our new marketing and sales manager, has been placing it in restaurants and bottle shops in the Portland-Vancouver area. If you have a restaurant or bottle shop and would like some, please reach out at info@KristofFarms.com.

You can also see how Jamie is mixing cider and yoga on our Instagram feed, @KristofFarms. She’s an ultra-marathoner, so we expect that any day, runners will be setting out on 100-mile runs with little bottles of cider strapped to their waists.

Thanks for following our project through this newsletter. If you’d like to learn more about our cider or wine or find out how to get some, visit our website, KristofFarms.com. Warm wishes to all of you, thanks for reading the newsletter and check out our Wine Club – or our Cider offerings.