Sokol Blosser Winery is a vineyard, tasting room and winery facility located northeast of Dayton, Oregon in the Red Hills of Dundee in Yamhill County. It was founded by Bill Blosser and Susan Sokol Blosser in 1971 in what is now known as the Dundee Hills AVA. Sokol Blosser Winery is family owned and operated by second-generation co-presidents, siblings Alex and Alison Sokol Blosser, and is the 6th largest wine producer in Oregon. Sokol Blosser is considered to be “synonymous with sustainability,” and produces Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, proprietary blends Evolution White and Evolution Red, a range of other Evolution wines, and small quantities of single block Pinot Noirs, Rosé of Pinot Noir, White Riesling dessert wine, and sparkling wine.
History
As one of the pioneering wineries of Oregon, Sokol Blosser Winery has played a key role in developing and shaping the now prominent Oregon wine industry. The first Pinot Noir vines were planted on a 5-acre plot on a former prune orchard in 1971, and the first vintage was produced in 1977. In 1978, they built the first tasting room in Oregon, designed by noted Oregon architect John Storrs. The winery opened a new tasting room in 2013, designed by architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture. The Tasting Room received the American Institute of Architects - Northwest and Pacific Region 2013 Design Award and has been written about in numerous architectural publications.
Adjacent vineyard land was purchased in the following years, bringing the estate total to 89 acres. They also lease land in the Eola Hills and in 2021 bought a 65-acre parcel in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA called Kalita Vineyard. In 2006, founder Susan Sokol Blosser wrote At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life, a memoir published by University of California Press about the experience of founding the winery. An expanded and revised edition was published in 2017 as The Vineyard Years: A Memoir with Recipes by West Margin Press.
Second generation transition
When the Blossers started the vineyards and winery, they had no idea if any of their three children (Nik, Alex, Alison) would be interested in taking over. Alex was the first one to show an interest and studied viticulture in college and worked as a vineyard foreman for another producer. Then, after a stint as a wine salesman, he came full-time to the winery in 1998 to help manage the vineyards and lead sales. While working, he got his MBA at Portland State University and certification from the University of California at Davis in winemaking. Meanwhile, Alison completed college, got an MBA and worked for several startups. Then, she too felt the lure of the winery and came to work in sales and marketing in 2004. After a year of slowly taking over operations, Susan completed the transition from her 25-year management of the company to Alex and Alison as co-presidents in 2008. In 2013 Alex took over as winemaker from Russ Rosner, who retired after 15 years as winemaker. Bill and Susan continue active involvement in the winery, serving on the board of directors and helping out during crush and public events. Nik has also been very involved in the board of directors and major decision making over the years.
Nik, Alex and Alison have created a plan to familiarize the third generation (Alexander, Jacob, Avery, Nikolas, Anna, Dario, Luca and Isabelle) with the winery and vineyards, and to enable them to work during the summers and harvest. They have created an internship program for those who graduate from college, if they want further involvement in the winery.
Sustainability
Sokol Blosser Winery has been Certified Organic by the Oregon Department of Agriculture since 2005. In 1996, Sokol Blosser's vineyards were the first to be certified Salmon-Safe, a program launched by the Pacific Rivers Council to publicize products produced without using pesticides and causing runoff that would harm salmon. Sokol Blosser's underground barrel cellar became the first US winery to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification for an industrial building. At the north end of a main Pinot noir vineyard block is a 24 kW photovoltaic solar panel array, which was installed in 2006 and provides approximately 25% of the Winery's energy needs.
