Looks and sounds very tasty! For some fun jams/jellies, you should check out what my friends at Republic of Jam are doing (republicofjam.com). Granted, I grew up on Smucker's (they're from my home state after all), it can't be beat my some amazing home made preserves. Here's to being a kid again!

Well said, Joe. Working in hospitality I would hear the same thing over and over: "I'm not sophisticated/smart/important enough to know what this tastes like." It was honestly one of my favorite moments interacting with customers ... a little pep talk, and ensuring them I make up 75% of what I say anyhow, usually got people comfortable enough to try. Wine tasting is not hard. But you do need to practice, and it always helps to have someone to learn from, or to stimulate your imagination and self-confidence. Happy you're helping to enlighten (now there's some modesty for you!) the rest of the world that their tongues are not somehow inadequate.

You bet, Dan. I really like Anne's wines. If she's sold out of the Pinot Blanc, let me know. I have a couple bottles left!

Dan, Thanks for your comment! I completely agree that it was a great experience working with the Kramers and seeking the care that goes into their process. There's tons of opportunity for world-class sparkling in Oregon in my opinion -- it's just risky business and can be costly.

I'm glad the wine has been well received. I'm excited by having such a high quality sparkler in the Willamette Valley at such an affordable cost (24 bucks, folks!)

Glad that cleared up the corking question. That was a new process for me too!

So the frozen plugs contain all the dead yeast cells (lees) and sediment that is left in the bottle after secondary fermentation occurs. The process of riddling is a traditional step taken to slowly tip bottles upright to gather all of this material in the neck of the bottle (see: http://bit.ly/riddling-sparkling). Freezing it then allows the winemaker to easily remove all of this material—in fact disgorging it. Often there is wine loss in this step too, hence the topping. However, Kramer is using a special encapsulated yeast which means they can take out the time usually needed to riddle the wine, and get a much cleaner disgorgement with less wine loss. Kim has an awesome picture of the yeast capsules that I'll find and share!

Harry,

Thanks for your comment! It means a lot to me for you to leave your thoughts here, and I'm excited to have you as a reader and cohort in supporting all the wonderful white wines made in Oregon and more broadly the Pacific Northwest. I've very much enjoyed Chehalem's white line up that I've sampled a couple of times.

Look forward to working with you more in the future!

PS: I should note that this list was referencing a wonderful post written by Victor over at Taste of Oregon, who also recently covered some other excellent Pacific Northwest Grüner. Visit their site here: http://www.thetasteoforegon.com/2011/02/22/gruner...

Awesome recommendations Dan! And you're absolutely right. It's all about balance. I've had people on both side (ie: those who hate dessert wines and those who hate blue cheese) comment that together they're actually pretty damn good. Thanks!

Thanks for the comment Rich and for the comparison ... it's always interesting to see how fruit from the same place can vary from producer to producer. I really enjoyed the Viento Grüner when we were out last time. Have you released the 2010 yet? I think I had tried the '09? Will have to check my notes ... and we're about due for another trip out to the Gorge! Cheers!