Where's the fire?! If you find yourself driving south on US395, between Lakeview, Oregon and Reno,…read moreyou're in for a long and lonely trip through some of God's finest country. But you had better be on the lookout for interesting places to stop, and this is one of them. John's family has owned this tiny distillery for 70 years. Their idea - seems solid to me - is to make use of the wild plums that are native to, and only grown in, this corner of southeast Oregon / northeast California, and nowhere else in the world. They have an orchard and from it comes the stuff for plum jam, fruit wine, a very interesting plum gin and Stringer's Slivovitz. The last one is a frightening Polish-style vodka. It's an acquired taste, for sure, but what I like about it is that after about three shots you can make one hell of a drinking game just trying to pronounce the name of the stuff... John is a very accommodating host, and I left with a mixed case!

On a lonely road from Reno NV to LaPine OR, we zoomed right by the sign that said winery and…read moredistillery. We decided to turn around, and am so glad we did. Stringer's Wild Plum Winery was the highlight of the drive. John Stringer met us at the door and welcomed us in. He showed us all around the grounds and inside the winery. We had lots of questions about the workings of his winery, and he was happy to share his stories. We bought a bottle of his wild plum wine, and enjoyed every sip. The winery will definately be a planned stop on my next trip. Looking forward to trying some of his jams and liquors.