{"id":2394,"date":"2024-09-16T22:18:23","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T22:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2394"},"modified":"2024-09-16T22:18:23","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T22:18:23","slug":"winemaker-interview-series-daniel-estrin-of-cristom-july-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/?p=2394","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker Interview Series &#8211; Daniel Estrin of Cristom &#8211; July 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Daniel-Estrin-Cristom-Winemaker.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2395\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Daniel-Estrin-Cristom-Winemaker.gif\" alt=\"Daniel Estrin - Winemaker for Cristom\" width=\"260\" height=\"275\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, we interviewed<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/cristomvineyards.com\/our-people\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Daniel Estrin<\/strong><\/a>. <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Daniel is the winemaker for<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/cristomvineyards.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom Vineyards<\/strong><\/a>. <span style=\"color: #000000;\">We covered six new-release 2022 Pinot Noirs and two new-release 2022 Chardonnays during our interview. Check out what we learned about the Cristom winery and Daniel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Before we get to the wines, I thought I would share some tidbits that Daniel shared.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cristomvineyards.com\/stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom Vineyards was established in 1992 by the Gerrie family<\/strong><\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">to grow and craft distinguished wines of place that honor individual sites and traditional techniques.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bringing together biodynamic and organic farming methods, they farm the land with the next 100-years in mind. Their philosophy is to achieve the greatest expression of terroir, while producing their fine wines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The cornerstone of our winemaking is rooted in traditional methods \u2013 site selection, low yields, whole-cluster fermentation, and native yeasts \u2013 to produce balanced, dynamic wines of intensity, structure and length.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In 1992, Paul Gerrie, founder of Cristom, was looking for a winemaker.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He was taken with the wines of Calera, noting them to be the greatest examples of Pinot Noir in the New World, and a reflection of Domaine Dujac wines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, Paul convinced Calera winemaker <strong>Steve Doerner<\/strong> to head north to Oregon and start the story of Cristom Vineyards.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Steve graduated from U.C. Davis. He serendipitously connected with Josh Jensen, proprietor of Calera Wine Company (a California Pinot Noir producer) who was looking for a winemaking prot\u00e9g\u00e9 that was comfortable with a minimalist and natural approach to winemaking.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Steve was hired to help make Calera&#8217;s first Pinot Noir vintage in 1978.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After several years, Steve took over the winemaking duties, and ultimately, spent 14 years honing his craft at Calera.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Steve has been lauded for his minimalist winemaking style over his 40-plus year career, focused on whole clusters and native fermentations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cristom started with the Marjorie Vineyard. It needed lots of work. Then came the Louise, Jesse, and Eileen vineyards. In 2014, Tom Gerrie, Paul\u2019s son planted a new vineyard and named it after his dad.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The estate is now 240 acres. 87 acres are planted. 50+ acres are still available to plant.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In 2019, Steve turned over the winemaking and vineyard management to Daniel Estrin.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, who is Daniel Estrin? Despite growing up in the Salem, Oregon, Daniel had no early exposure to wine until 2000, when his car broke down in LA, and he took a job stocking shelves at The Wine House.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Through Daniel&#8217;s Uncle Mark (founder of Red Car Wines) he developed a passion for the craft.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">After a couple of harvests at Red Car, Matt Dees connected him to with Craggy Range in New Zealand.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Daniel graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2012 with a B.S. in Viticulture and minors in Soil Science and Plant Protection.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From there he accepted a highly coveted internship at Littorai Wines.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">For 6 years, Daniel worked under Proprietor\/Winemaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biodynamics.com\/2018-biodynamic-conference\/presenter\/ted-lemon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Ted Lemon<\/strong><\/a>. Rising through the ranks, Daniel became an Associate Winemaker and helped push forward Littorai\u2019s progressive farming program featuring biodynamics.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In addition to Littorai, Daniel has also worked at Mount Langi Ghiran, planted a vineyard at Domaine de la Cote with Raj Parr, worked with Pinot Noir at Bodega Chacra in Patagonia, Argentina and did some consulting for Burn Cottage in New Zealand. So, he has been a round around.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In July 2019, Daniel returned to his Oregon roots with his wife and two pups to work for Cristom.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Daniel continues to use whole-cluster fermentation. These days the average is about 50%. He is also doing unfined and unfiltered approaches.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Their Mt. Jefferson Cuvee is more than \u00bd of their production. 73% of the fruit is from the Estate. 100% of the fruit is from the Eola-Amity AVA. More than 20% new oak is used on this wine.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Below is a summary of the wine offerings from Cristom that we covered with Daniel. The links below are to our full reviews. If you are interested in ordering and trying these wines, you will find some of these wines via your favorite fine wine shop or on top quality wines lists. You can also find a few online. For example, you can purchase these wines on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cristomvineyards.com\/shop\/#all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom website<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Cristom-Logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2397\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Cristom-Logo.jpg\" alt=\"Cristom Logo\" width=\"300\" height=\"62\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Mt-Jefferson-Cuvee-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Mt. Jefferson Cuv\u00e9e&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $50 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 92.5<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">2. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Jessie-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Jessie Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $80 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 93.5<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">3. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Louise-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Louise Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $80 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 94<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">4. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Marjorie-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Marjorie Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $80 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 94<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">5. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Eileen-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Eileen Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $80 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 94.5<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">6. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Paul-Gerrie-Vineyard-Pinot-Noir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Pinot Noir &#8220;Paul Gerrie Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $80 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 93<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">7. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Eola-Amity-Hills-Chardonnay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Chardonnay &#8220;Eola-Amity Hills&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $50 (<strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">KWGTP 93<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">8. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine_review\/Cristom-2022-Louise-Vineyard-Chardonnay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom 2022 Chardonnay &#8220;Louise Vineyard&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> (Eola-Amity Hills, OR) $60 (<span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>KWGTP 93<\/strong><\/span>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You can find reviews of past and future Cristom wines that we cover on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/wine.php?winery=355\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Cristom KWG winery page<\/strong><\/a> on our website. We hope you enjoy these terrific wines as much as we did. Cheers! \u2013 Ken<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, July 17, 2024, we interviewed Daniel Estrin. Daniel is the winemaker for Cristom Vineyards. We covered six new-release 2022 Pinot Noirs and two new-release 2022 Chardonnays during our interview. Check out what we learned about the Cristom winery and Daniel. Before we get to the wines, I thought I would share some tidbits [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2556,1197,1476,13,2561,2554,2553,2555,1846,11,2560,58,2557,12,1187,2559,2562,2558,126,8,6,1292,1288],"tags":[2567,2584,1160,2579,1479,491,2032,2565,2564,2563,2583,2574,2589,2455,2566,2586,2580,2587,2569,2588,2592,2582,2585,2571,979,524,724,1938,2572,2590,492,2591,2578,330,2568,2575,2581,2576,2573,2577,2570,546,1434],"class_list":["post-2394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biodynamic-farming","category-burn-cottage","category-calera","category-chardonnay","category-craggy-range","category-cristom-vineyards","category-daniel-estrin","category-eola-amity-hills","category-estate-wines","category-kens-wine-guide-tasting-panel","category-littorai","category-oregon","category-organic-farming","category-pinot-noir","category-red-wine","category-steve-doerner","category-ted-lemon","category-whole-cluster-fermentation","category-wine-ratings","category-wine-recommendations","category-wine-reviews","category-winemaker","category-zoom-wine-tasting","tag-biodynamic-farming","tag-bodega-chacra","tag-burn-cottage","tag-cal-poly","tag-calera","tag-chardonnay","tag-craggy-range","tag-cristom","tag-cristom-vineyards","tag-daniel-estrin","tag-domaine-de-la-cote","tag-domaine-dujac","tag-eileen-vineyard","tag-eola-amity-hills","tag-gerrie-family","tag-jessie-vineyard","tag-littorai","tag-louise-vineyard","tag-low-yields","tag-marjorie-vineyard","tag-matt-dees","tag-mount-langi-ghiran","tag-mt-jefferson-cuvee","tag-native-yeasts","tag-new-world","tag-new-zealand","tag-oregon","tag-organic-farming","tag-paul-gerrie","tag-paul-gerrie-vineyard","tag-pinot-noir","tag-raj-parr","tag-red-car-wines","tag-san-luis-obispo","tag-site-selection","tag-steve-doerner","tag-ted-lemon","tag-the-wine-house","tag-tom-gerrie","tag-uncle-mark","tag-whole-cluster-fermentation","tag-willamette-valley","tag-winemaker"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2394"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2399,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2394\/revisions\/2399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenswineguide.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}