Kristof Farms

Kristof Farms
Kristof Farms Pinot Noir Grapes in Fall 2020
Town/City	Yamhill County, Oregon
Established	1971
Owner	The Kristof Family
Area	Willamette Valley
Produces	Formerly Cherries, Now Cider Apples and Pinot Noir Grapes

Kristof Farms is a historic apple orchard and grape vineyard located in Willamette Valley near the town of Yamhill, Oregon featured heavily in The New York Times best-seller Tightrope. It is the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.^[1][2] The land was first homesteaded in the early 20th century and produced cherries until 2018, at which point the farm was converted to produce cider apples and pinot noir grapes.^[3][1][4][5]

Kristof Farms is featured heavily in Kristof and WuDunn's most recent book Tightrope. The authors attribute their decision to plant high-value crops to research done for the book.^[6][7][8]

In an interview with local magazine Willamette Week, Kristof said, "Yamhill, in many ways, has done spectacularly well with the arrival of the wine and tourism industry. It truly is a spectacularly thriving and resilient place. America is also thriving and strong and resilient, yet there are a lot of Americans who have been left behind. So, by all means, readers should come visit Yamhill and drink good Yamhill pinots while also understanding that there's a story beyond the vineyards."^[8]

History[]

The land on which Kristof Farms sits was, for over 8000 years, inhabited by Native tribes such as the Yamhill (also known as the Yamel), a tribe of the Kalapooian family for which the town is now named. Settlers homesteaded the land in the 1930s and planted the first orchards of apples, walnuts, and prunes. In 1950, they planted pie cherries, and for many decades it was a cherry farm.^[3]

The Kristofs were an Armenian family living in Eastern Europe. During World War II, family members spied on the Nazis for the Allies, were caught and imprisoned, and eventually had their lands seized. Nicholas Kristof's father, Ladis Kristof, fled to Yugoslavia and was then imprisoned by the Communists in a concentration camp. He was released and made his way to France with the hope of reaching America. In 1952, the First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon, sponsored him, and he arrived that fall and found a job in a logging camp in Valsetz, Oregon.^[3]

After learning English, Ladis Kristof became a distinguished political scientist at Portland State University where his wife, Jane Kristof, taught art history. They bought Kristof Farms and raised a son, Nicholas, who grew up on the farm and went to Yamhill schools.^[3] Nicholas married Sheryl WuDunn.

In the early 2010s, Nicholas and Sheryl were writing a book, “Tightrope,” about the struggles of the working class and sought to support a higher value-added agriculture in the area. They decided to replace the cherry orchard with Pinot Noir grapes and cider apples.^[3]

Orchard Cider[]

The Kristof family released their first orchard cider on October 10, 2021 in Portland, Oregon.^[9] Michael Alberty of the Oregonian reviewed the cider prior to its launch:

The first sniff produces scents of fresh-baked bread, loam, chalk, rhubarb pie and apples. It reminded me of one of the earthy extended skin-contact wines so popular in the Willamette Valley these days. At 8.3% ABV, consider sipping this hard cider as slowly as you would a wine. It is definitely meant for drinking and thinking as opposed to quaffing. Its tangy flavors of apple cobbler, fresh ginger and quince provide a sweet-tart sensation that gets close to off-dry territory. I’ve not had many dry hard ciders as complex as this one. My great-grandpa would have loved it.^[10]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Oregon Wine Archive Interview with Kristof Family on Kristof Farms