1999 Christom Pinot Noir Majorie Vineyard

A few nights ago, we had our friends over for dinner. Our friends also have a vineyard in East Haddam and they loaned us their crusher/destemmer to destem our red harvest. My husband made his stuffed pork chops and we had side dishes of wild rice and green beans almondine.

To pair with the meal, my husband descended to his cellar and brought up this 1999 Cristom Pinot Noir from the Majorie Vineyard. The pairing was perfect and we had a wonderful evening. I think that this is the highest calling of wine: a great pairing with food leading to a very memoriable evening with good friends.

Their label was interesting to me. On the back was a map showing the location of Marjorie vineyard where the grapes for this wine came from. I wanted to learn more about Cristom and went to their website. Cristom Vineyards is located in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It was established in 1992 by the Gerrie family and has been family-owned for over thirty years.
Here is an interesting factoid: the name 'Cristom' was chosen by Paul Gerrie to honor his children Christine and Tom. The crest on the front of the label was created by the artist, Timothy Tyler and reflects the various items and activities cherished by Paul Gerrie. They farm 90 acres of vines using biodynamic and organic principles.
They consider themselves to be stewards of their east-facing volcanic hillside in the Eola-Amity Hills focused on growing benchmark Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Shortly after we had the Cristom, my husband and I chanced upon this film from Oregon Public TV showing how Oregon became famous for their Pinot Noir. The documentary was very interesting and watching it reminded us of the time that we went to the International Pinot Noir Conference in McMinnville in 2006.
Here is a link to the documentary that we watched: It was very interesting to us to see how the early grape growers and winemakers in Oregon banded together to make Oregon Pinot noir and Chardonnay world renown! Which lead me to ask my husband "How many more Cristoms do we have?" He said "none!"