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 •i 4 m •*»< • «»4 • •**’•7 *»**• «4 • » bw JM «M| eta? «■ Aw « CMo* b—k yin—< I m m * »b—1 L a u r e ls W in e S hop 2 a ) N . Ilrrn tc x k (S O ) ) 4 ) 6 1666 wW *■ '«uwy. *< » i '»<•>•> I awtf w * I « p rn rtv r thr < !*) > 10 6 » \ ) M) I) A) IV a w W ine T asting Every Saturday A fternoon 1 5 PM OtHerem Wine» I ro m A ro u n d The World I J CM Cloted Tuet 436-1100 1 1 4 N H e m io c b FO Bo« AU. Ca»n4Mi »<»» k OF 10 DON PETRIE'S ITALIAN FOOD COMPANY 613NW Third 265 FOOD Nye Beach, Newport Art Heals C annon B r a th rwry 1»U|1 •»! w (k> I )• to * w Featuring No»ihwcn, Cali tor rug A IniptwirU W tno Collector W ifwa From II7 J Through Current Vintage» Featuring Over 1000 Wme» Wme K»i kt, Gla»«r* A Wme Krlatrd Item» 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