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Erik Kramer thought his career would be spent in a classroom.
As a college student at Florida State, he planned to become a high school science teacher and swim coach. But he found out rocks “were pretty cool,” and switched majors to geology. Yet, in 2000, everything changed for Kramer.
“I got into the wine business after a premature mid-life crisis back in the year 2000,” Kramer said. “I went to Florida State, studied geology and worked in the petrochemical field. I realized managing those nasty problems wasn’t my life calling. My wife knew how miserable I was, and let me figure myself out and reinvent myself.”
It was at this time that Kramer took a job in a tasting room. He enjoyed it, and signed on for a harvest in eastern Washington. Something clicked, and Kramer “went all in,” found his calling and moved to New Zealand in 2002 to study grape growing and winemaking.
His first vintage in Oregon’s Willamette Valley was 2004, and he has been the winemaker at WillaKenzie since 2017. The sometimes tempestuous growing conditions of Oregon are a challenge Kramer has embraced.
“I refer to vintages as user friendly or user unfriendly,” Kramer said. “History doesn’t repeat itself completely, each vintage that comes along I learn a little more about how to handle similar sets of circumstances that might present themselves in a hypothetical future.”
Throughout the various challenges, with Kramer joking he didn’t know what a “normal vintage was anymore,” Oregon chardonnay has risen to great heights. It has been a diverse, impressive varietal produced in a wide array of styles. Domestically, it’s the state to go to for chardonnay. The flavor collection is like a murder-mystery novel where every component is gradually unraveled until a full reveal at the finish.
While acidity is the common theme, tropical fruit, citrus fruit, green herbal notes, sea salt, ocean mist and so many other components make up what Kramer made up a new word to define: the edgy wine style.
“There’s a nervousness to the wines,” Kramer said. “I absolutely adore and love the Willamette expression of chardonnay. I’ve been a big flag bearer of the Willamette chardonnay category for a while.
“Burgundy is Burgundy and Oregon is Oregon,” he said. “I like to call it ‘Oregundian,’ because we skirt the edges of fruit. There’s a florality, beautiful mineral streaks, and on the edge, there’s a pea shoot-type character that makes the wines so compelling. These wines have tension, vibrancy and the aging potential.”
The WillaKenzie Willamette Valley Chardonnay 2021 ($45) was barrel fermented in bigger vessels to reduce the wine’s contact with the oak surface area. Kramer likes to “think of WillaKenzie as our own little village” as he focused on the shape of the chardonnay.
He used some skin contact to build mouthfeel, yet the WillaKenzie Estate Cuvee Chardonnay 2021 ($75) was a nervy, edgy chardonnay with sea mist, lemon rind, citrus flavors, honeydew melon and a stunning mouthfeel that has some weight to it despite its acidity.
Chardonnay might be on a hot streak in Oregon, but pinot noir was and still is its most renowned varietal.
In the WillaKenzie “Aliette” Pinot Noir 2021 ($70), Kramer leaned into the bright cherry, forest floor and mushroom flavors from the estate’s oldest plantings of the Pommard clone that date back to 1992. It was medium-bodied and nimble in the way it moved between tart cherry to umami flavors.
“This is our most floral and demure expression of pinot noir,” Kramer said. “It tells a story about a special location on the estate. The vines are a bit more vigorous, the skins are a bit more thin, and it’s a wine that’s lighter on its feet, the tannins are gorgeous and refined.”
The WillaKenzie Estate Cuvee Pinot Noir Yamhill-Carlton 2021 ($65) had a pronounced nose of cherry and sage with intense flavors of cherry and strawberry-rhubarb. The usage of the entire property allowed Kramer to tell a full story of the vintage.
“It’s our most important wine,” Kramer said. “It represents the full identity of the estate. It’s our best, full expression from the estate property. We can lean in or pull back based on the vintage, and each neighborhood on our property has a role to play.”
After thinking he’d be an educator and a coach, then later a scientist, Kramer found that the role he is best suited to play is in the vineyard and cellar. That is reflected in the delicious and compelling WillaKenzie wines.
• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.