Standing watch over K ra m e r V in eyard s
w inery is a suit of armor affectionately known as
Roh Boh the Knight Judging from the size of the
armor I would say thet, in his prim e, Boh went
about 6 feet and around 105 pounds and couldn t
hove cut a round of warm b rie , let alone skewer
some invading marauder w ith his paper thin sword
Undaunted, this mediarval scarecrow, sporting a
healthy coating of Rustoleum, tends to his duty at
the entrance of one of Oregon s more carefree,
q uirky and hlgfi quality w ineries I hope some of
you took my recommendation from last month and
managed to get yourselves out to Washington County
on A p ril 9th or IOth for the W eird Food Festival at
Kramer
The Cha donna/ Lovers Weekend and W eird Food
Festival was one of many reasons I wanted to visit
and review Kr enter K r am w recentFy received
excellent scores from the W in e S p e c ta to r for
two of their Pmot noirs, and one of those took the
□old Medal ai the even more recent N e w p o rt
W in e and See food F e s tiv a l The snide comment
on the IRS they had on their answer ing machine
was the clincher A winery thet obtains distinction
in the industry but can s till laugh at the world and
itself is the kind of place that I tru ty appreciate
The w inery is a little over three m iles down
Olson road, just south of downtown Gaston, and is
owned by Trudy and Keith Kramer Their I J or so
acres ro ll through a small sheltered area thet looks
out over a see of cultivated trees Kramer Is a big
small w inery that produces about 3 ,5 0 0 caaes a
year They onty make about 1 0 0 -3 8 0 cases of any
particular variety Trudy was. (or years, the
prem ier amateur wine maker in the state end no
doubt numerous silver medal winners were happy
to see her tu rn pro The vineyard has been In place
and slowly increasing in size since ,9 8 4 On
Mother s Day 19 9 0 , Kramer opened Its doors and
began selling to the public
The W eird Food Festival was a concept designed
to enftanc8 their Char dxmay Lovers Weekend
Trudy says that many weird food Items go well with
Chardonnay, so for 4 years now they have t***n
treating people to a small collection of common and
not so common weird foods This Is Just one of the
many festivals that Kramer hosts to h ighlite their
wine In the 7* months the tasting room is open
each year, Kramer invites people to the Birthday
bash feetur mg free cake and ice cream , "Match
Mak* in Heaven“ Memorial Day Weekend, Fathers'
Day Festival, at which they have alt six of their
Pinot noirs from 199, to 92 available for tastlnQ,
th e b ig J u ty 4th Weekend Verboort Sausage
Festival featuring ra b b it, buffeloand venison
sausages fresh from the near by town of verboor t , a
Dessert Contest in August that you get to judge, and
a Jazzy Labor Day weekend that may or may not
hove food depending on the local population of
yellow )ackets at the time
The W eird Food Festival struck me as
p a rtic u la rly interesting because some folks Just
get a little too uptight about which foods should be
eaten w ith which wines The chance to mix and
match b izarre foods w ith a variety of wines was
appealing Some people, probably no one who reads
this paper, would just faint dead away if they sow
someone eating chicken w ith a red wine Relax I
h e a rtily believe in matching food and wine but have
no problem w ith people making any type of
combinations they want Late Harvest Riesling
w ith your steak ’ If that s whet you lik e , more
power to you Just don't in vite me over for dinner
The foods were prepared by the F tying M Ranch
in Yamhill and either cooked or reheated ,n the
small kitchen at the w inery The emu kaboh was
easily the most interesting and tasty of the items
they had f mu are large flightless birds sim ila r to
the ostrich except that they are indigenous to
Australia I have never seen an emu and the only
thing I know about them is that "emu" Is an answer
in every single crossword puzzle in existence,
except f a the one in the back of TV (Xnde Not
being much of a meat eater makes it hard for me to
classify (no, it duesn t taste like or even resemble
chicken), but sweet and sour duck seems to be the
closest resemblance of taste and texture
Also hailing from A ustralia were the bugs they
hod to offer They w a e la v « - lik e insects that
burrow in the sands of the coastline Down Under I
think I would respect old Paul Hogan s manty
portrayals more If he threw a few creepy crawlies
on the bar by rather than shrim p I had been
hoping for stuffed beetles, chocolate covered
grasshoppers, deep frie d preying mantis or
something of thet ilk , however, these bugs w erent
bad They resembled either la rv a or shrim p
depending on how you wanted to prepare your
stomach for them Other snacks were more
traditional In the ir weirfriess Frog legs, calamari
and escargot
True to their word the Kramers had laid out
J2! 1W LLfT LO&L MY )W
every Chardonnay they had in the cellar beck to
1 9 8 9 , their fir s t vintage If you get a chance to
taste several vintages of any wine var lety ( I
recommend Pmot n o ir, Pmot g ris and Chardonnay
as the best for th is) from a single w inery, I
suggest you take the opportunity Wine changes,
hopefully f a the better , as it sits in the bottle
F la v a s become m a e d istin ct, acidic o ja litle s
mellow es the wine becomes m a e meture W ith 4
years of Cha donnay available to taste it was
interesting to see how the older wines compared to
the m a e recent vintages At most tastings there
a e generally only one a two types of each variety
so you don t get a h is ta ical perspective of the
w inery W a kin g back w ads, the sensation of
sampling a sm ootha, m a e distinct wine each time
was quite obvious The trend of their Chadonna/s
aging well In the bottle bodes wet, f a their other
wines thet d) not extend as far back as 1989
Not to be missed is Kramer s 1992 Pinot noir
Reser ve Moat years eah winery w ill prodjce two
a three different selections of a given variety and
label them a c a d in g to their quality The Resave
wines are the wines thet shew» the most promising
charactertstics early in the fermenting process
Kramer has produced an e xtraa d m a ry example of
Plnot noir w ith this reserve It is a little on the
spendy aid? by Dragon standards, $22 a bottle,
however, it is »»ell worth the price if you know
anything about Pinot noir The wine is
tremendously smooth with v irtu a lly no tannic
q u a llty s ta ll 11# flavor s of r asplwr ry and cher r y
on the finish of e ah taste are unmistakable O jite
possibly the best Pmot noir I have tasted this ye a
Interestingly it was rated behind their estate
bottled Pmot, no slouch its e lf. by The W in e
S p e cta to r Tastes m wine d iffer but having tasted
these two beside e a h other it is h a d to believe
thet there wasn't an a r a in Judgement a
typesetting by someone et the magazine
Kramer also does several fr u it wines W ith only
a handful of except ions almost no Oregon w iner ies
produce anything m a e than a token fr u it wine a
two I am not a big fru it wme fan but I can
a pp raiate the necessity of this v a ite y in the
m a ke ! Most places don't want to be seen as a fr u it
wine producer because they fea being categor tzed
prim a l l y as such, and consequently not have their
other wines taken seriously Kramer proves you
can do both as long as you do them both well Their
fr u it v a ie ta ls are only about 5X sugar sothey are
not syrupy sweet The b la k b e rry wine is
excellent and the loganberry wine was eegaty
snapped up by one of my tasting pals because of its
quality and low price f a this style of wine He is
look mg to develop his own niche as something of a
dessat wme connoisseur, fe e lin g , ha, t h a e a e
fewer of those in captivity than there ere N a th
A m a lean Condas, and is always eager to pick up a
bottle at the pr ices Kramer was of f a mg
Kramer's tasting room is e w a rn and we looming
place w ith very friendly people eager to talk to you
about wine As Oregon Wine Country becomes m a e
well known, and being listed in A p ril's edition of
l i f e M agazine as one of A m a teas 5 best new
vacation spots c a ta m ly w ilt not h u rt, w m a ie s
that appeal not only to people s palates but to their
pasonallties w ill be the ones to extend their name
recognition and sales I, is amazing to me that some
w m a ie s reelly have not accepted this f a t and
mcaporated it into the wav that they run their
business Some w m a ies don t have tasting rooms,
either because they a e too small a because they
have developed a m a ke , f a thetr wines to the
pom, where they don't need the extra business
That's (me, bu, o va half of Oregon s w ln a ies do
hove test mg rooms that a e open f a m a e than jus,
a few days a y e a
Tasting rooms a e c ritic a l to the ongoing success
of many of these w m a ie s because the wine is sold
et re ta il rather than wholesale to d is trib u ta s It
also gives v is lta s a chance to taste many wines
without having to pay b e fa e they know what they
a e getting F a a tasting room to be tru ty
successful ,t needs to be staffed by friendly and
knowledgeable people who can ca rry on
conva sat ions about wines as well as o th a topics
w ith people from all walks of life few places m
Oregon have established enough of a reputation f a
their wine that they can o v a look the e ffa t they
put into their testing rooms This a e e s potential
to become a wine region on p a with Napa and
Sonoma exists, but w ln a ies, and the businesses
aound them. need to embrace v is ita s from nea
and a fa to fu lty realize the potential of these
valleys
K ram a vineyads ts ahead of the times in this
re sp a , If you know absolutely nothing about
wines, they a e m a e than happy to walk you
through theirs and give you an idee of what to s t a ,
with if you a e Jus, introducing yourself to Oregon
wine, without making you feel you a e some
uncultured dolt On the o ,h a hand if you
absolutely insist on chatting about e v a y detail of
wines from aound the »»a Id end their relation to
your theories on the mtaoonnatedness of Lee
H avey Oswald, the Curse of the Bambino and
NAFTA, they can ro ll rig h t along w ith you without
letting on that you a e a boa ish snob They also
hove non-wine products such as t-s h irts ,
condiments, postas and books available which
make the tasting room m a e c o la fu l and u sa
fr lendty F a pure e n ta tamment ask them to
demonstrate the wine cork spoon Ta you I t s
Lettamanesque
You a e encouraged to b rin g a lunch to K ram a
and hang ou, m their picnic a e e which o v a looks
th e v m e y a d 1,'s a very fam ily kind of piece so
they even have e n ta tamment f a kids if you
happen to be afflicted w ith them Only two rules
exist ( thet I know of) I )Oon t walk in the
v in e y a d , and 2 ) No tipping Bob the K n itfit o v a
C a n n o n Beach
In C o a u c r ThealCf C o u rty a rd
Ftiwbbahed 1977
Harowi a ended W in e Tour fo r M ay
Things
s t a t getting Into swing at the w m a ie s during tnts
month You can go the traditional way and do arty of
the various counties Memorial Day Weekend
Celebrations and have a greet time howeva . as
usual, l recommend something a little off the
beaten path On Merna lei Day th a e a e e few
w m a ie s thet a e open only thet weekend out of the
whole y e a In Y anhill County Adelsheim Vineyad
( beautiful labels), McKinlay Vineyads and
Tempest vineyads, ell in Newbag. and Pantha
Creek C e lia s in M cM innville open their doas on
this week end F u rt h a South, aound betem.
Evesham Wand Vineyad, Cristom Vineyads, St
Innooent W inery and S,rangeland W inery a e open
«sw ell You w ill be H k e lia to beet the relatively
la g e crowds thet go to the w m a ies this weekend
end end up m m a e mtimete settings w ith e
h e a t i a , m a e tntaestm g set of wme ta sta s
Remem b a , buy one boftle et least w h a e v a you
go. and tell them that the Up p a Left Edge sent you
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W ine T asting
Every Saturday A fternoon
1 5 PM
OtHerem Wine»
I ro m A ro u n d The World
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Open 11 A M ’ > CM
Cloted Tuet
436-1100
1 1 4 N H e m io c b
FO Bo« AU. Ca»n4Mi »<»» k OF
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DON PETRIE'S
ITALIAN FOOD COMPANY
613NW Third 265 FOOD
Nye Beach, Newport
Art Heals
C annon
B r a th
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Featuring No»ihwcn, Cali tor rug
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h t and e iu v f the htwtwy thr
girw n in r i m J M R o( fun
Once again we find ourselves proud of our
little town Kathleen Krushas, our political
consultant , former co-w orker and dew friend,
came to town again this y e a collecting a t f a
the Cascade Aids Association A rts Auction If
you don't see a lot of mainstream media you
might not know that the Cascade Aids Project
has been takmg some shots lately The books
w a e n t too good and some b ills didn't get paid,
but they a e w a k in g things out and look to
come out of it stronger As Kathleen said, "We
have to keep w a k in g , th a e is no one else
Anyway, we were needlessly apprehensive
about folks doing as well as last y e a , when
little ole Cannon Beech a t ists and gal l a ies
donated ten p a cent of the pieces 9old We, and
by that we meat evayone who has been touched
by AIDS, would like to thank the genaous
a ,is ts and g a lla te s who a e helping o th a s in
these d iffic u lt times Your beloved rev was m
the bookstae that Sunday' as the a t a rtv e d . so
much, so beoutiful, so quickly given W e w a e
reminded that it was East a Sunday, and had to
sm i le , as our somewhat pagan fr lends brought
gifts to the s u ffa m g , in the s p irit of the man
whose resurrection our Christian friends w a e
celebrating It is hoped that this , raged/ of
AIDS w ill help to begin to bring people togetha
in compassion, undastanding, and hope, as we
seek a cure
Our latest w a d from Kathleoi is the auction
raised o v a $ 1 4 ,000 and our neighbors in
Cannon Beech again w a e a d isp ro p a tio n e tly
la g e p a , of that total You make us proud
\7>rr/fH Csr hy Xortlm e'it Gallery
2 3 9 N o r th M e m lo rh
P O . B oa 1021
C ann o n Beach
S O S /4 3 A -O 7 4 1
O re g o n 9 7 1 1 0 ________ J O Y C E L IN C O L N , P lr a c t o r
Pacific Nocih^eil Conlemporaiy 4n <1 Craft
Celebrating 5th Year in Cannon Beat h