Sokol Blosser

The heart of the Sokol Blosser is its cofounder and leader Susan Sokol Blosser. From growing grapes, producing wines, going green, to marketing its product, to understand Sokol Blosser is to understand Susan. Her self-chronicled story, eloquently and candidly presented in At Home in the Vineyard, honestly weaves the highs and lows of being an Oregon wine pioneer (She started the winery in 1971.) Imagine keeping your wits and sense of humor in a male-dominated industry, raising children, nurturing and losing love, all while evolving her business to become a major Oregon winery. That’s a legacy we can all aspire to.

As you drive onto the Sokol Blosser property, right off Highway 99W, you’re struck by its well-maintained vineyard, the tasting room in the distance, and rows of solar cells positioned to capture the sun’s best light. The set of solar panels is your first clue that you’re about to enter an eco-friendly zone. Your tasting-room experience and facility tour (if time permits) expose you to a bunch of other environmentally sensitive initiatives Susan has engineered. Check out the LEED-certified underground barrel room with its living roof composed of the same wildflower crops you see growing in Sokol Blosser’s organically certified vineyard. Many vintners in Oregon use organic practices, but just a few can boast that they have achieved LIVE (Low Input Viticulture and Enology), as Sokol Blosser has. Its vineyard tractors rely on biodiesel fuel, and even its paper products — from labels to bags — are unbleached. If you manage to finish a bottle at the winery, be assured, the bottle will be recycled.

At the core of Sokol Blosser’s success story is its fine wines, particularly its pinot noir. Depending upon your taste preference and cash on hand, the tasting fee varies from $5 to $15. It would be a shame, however, to come all this way and not experience Sokol Blosser’s renowned pinot noirs. I can taste the Dundee Hills earthiness in each sip. But a real crowd pleaser is the red blend named for a Roman goddess of wine — Meditrina — a blend of pinot noir, syrah, and zinfandel. Their white blend Evolution happens to be my favorite. With each sip, I mentally pair it with grilled mahi mahi tacos and mango salsa.
Vintage after vintage, the cycle continues at Sokol Blosser. Its approach is sustainable yet evolutionary, and at the core of this success is its leader and visionary, Susan Sokol Blosser.