Wines of the Times

Columnist Nicholas Kristof produces acclaimed chardonnay and pinot noir grapes in Oregon's Willamette Valley

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NEW YORK TIMES columnist Nicholas Kristof has traveled to more than 160 countries, won two Pulitzer Prizes, and covered global conflicts going back to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

He had a lot to learn, however, when he decided to plant a vineyard on the farm where he grew up.

"We put an impregnable deer fence around the orchard and vineyard, and after we had put the fence up, we realized that we had imprisoned some deer inside our impregnable deer fence," Kristof recalls. "So then we had to invite the neighbors, and we all had a big effort to drive the deer out."

This anecdote is good for a laugh, but Kristof's motivation for growing wine grapes and cider apples at Kristof Farms in Yamhill, Oregon, is as serious as his journalism. It all started around 2018, when he and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn (herself a Pulitzer-winning reporter), were researching and writing a book called