Manucy Triplets Thursday, December 29th 2011 by
Kitri McGuire, Marketing Communications Manager
"Our boys are one week old and doing very well. They are making progress every day and fighting to come home. Oliver Benton is the biggest, not surprising since he was the "recipient" twin and has always made his presence known- loved having his photo taken and was the most aggressive mover. He is breathing on his own, eating all meals from a bottle and was transferred yesterday to the progressive unit. He should be joining Nora at home next week. William James (Will) is a few days behind Oliver in everything, which is exactly how they measured in utero. Will is by far the most laid back and easy going. He was our "innocent bystander". He also looks the most like Nora.
Click Here to ReTweet This! Tasting Room Winter Closure Dates Wednesday, December 7th 2011 by
Kitri McGuire, Marketing Communications Manager
Our Tasting Room will be closed the following days in over the next month in observance of holidays and for staff training. We appreciate your understanding!
Wednesday, December 14 - CLOSED
Sunday, December 25 - CLOSED
Sunday, January 1 - CLOSED
Thursday, January 12 - CLOSED
Click Here to ReTweet This! Recipe: Wild Mushroom Pate Friday, December 2nd 2011 by
Lee Medina, Western Brand Ambassador
WILD MUSHROOM PATE
A great pairing for Evolution Red! Makes enough to fill a 3-cup mold or dish. The simplicity of this recipe belies its great taste. Serve with crisp little croutes, toasts or crackers of your choice and, as the French do, with some little cornichons and grainy mustard on the side. Thanks to John Ash for this recipe. 1 ounce dried wild mushrooms such as porcini Rinse the dried mushrooms quickly and let soak in warm water to cover for 15 minutes. Drain, squeeze dry and chop. Heat the butter in a large sauté pan over moderately high heat. Add the shallots, all mushrooms, garlic, curry and cumin and sauté and stir until mixture is just beginning to brown and all liquid has evaporated. While mushrooms are cooking add the cashews to a food processor and process till finely chopped. Add oil and continue to process to make a paste or butter. Add the mushroom mixture and process till almost smooth. Stir in the herbs and zest and season with salt and pepper to your taste and place in a 3-cup pate mold or other ceramic dish. Can be stored covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Allow to return to room temperature to serve. *A caution here - - only use wild mushrooms that you are certain are edible. If you are not a hunter you can certainly substitute wild or cultivated mushrooms found in the market such as chanterelle, shiitake, cremini, portabella, oyster, etc.Labels: recipe
Click Here to ReTweet This! Sokol Blosser Family Wins Director's Award for Family Business Friday, November 18th 2011 by
Jon Bell
Siblings Share the Work of Leading a Winery
Now run by co-president siblings, Sokol Blosser put Oregon wine and on the map 40 years ago
by Jon Bell for the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University
 In 1971, Susan Sokol Blosser and her then husband, Bill Blosser, started what would become one of Oregon's pioneering and most successful wineries in an old prune orchard in the Willamette Valley.Its beginnings were humble - any year that lost less money than the year before was considered a good one - but in time, the winery few and thrived. Today, Sokol Blosser is home to an 85-acre certified organic vineyard that produces 80,000 cases of wine a year and is among the most recognized names in Oregon wine.
And yet, it wasn't until three decades after the winery started that Sokol Blosser realized that she had helped build something that was going to last.
"When Bill and I started out, we had no idea we'd be starting a family business or a legacy for our family," says Sokol Blosser, 67. "The point at which we realized that we'd really created something was, I would say, almost 30 years after we started."
That recognition came to Sokol Blosser around 2004, approximately 13 years after she'd taken over the winery as president. She'd been trying to convince her daughter, Alison, to join the company. Sokol Blosser's son, Alex, had been working there since 1998, and her oldest son, Nik, was on the board.
"We realized then that we had something to pass on," Sokol Blosser says.
Alison Sokol Blosser, 31, who had been working in marketing and communications for the likes of Nordstrom and Nike, joined the company in 2004 as director of marketing. Soon after, talk of Susan eventually stepping down began in earnest and the family embarked on a three-year transition plan.
Over the intervening years, Susan Sokol Blosser watched to see who would rise to the top between Alison and Alex. In a surprising turn of events, they both did.
"They both wanted to be president," she says, "but choosing one over the other didn't feel right."
Sokol Blosser then received some invaluable advice from family business consultant Pat Frishkoff, founder of the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University. She suggested that Sokol Blosser create co-president positions, a bit of guidance that let Sokol Blosser breathe a sigh of relief.
"In so many ways, the co-presidencies was the obvious choice," she says. "(Alex and Alison) are total opposites. They'd each be a good president, but it would be because of their different skills."
The two siblings, who'd grown up in the Sokol Blosser vineyards, agreed to share the title. In 2008 they became co-presidents of the company and their mother officially stepped away from the role.
"Giving up control ... is absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done," Sokol Blosser says. "It's not easy, but it's in the best interest of the business."
Alison Sokol Blosser remembers the transition well, along with the challenge of defining her mother's continued role in the business. It turned out to be the role of founder, someone who represents the winery at various events and festivals, who does a lot of the writing for and about the business, who offers strategic counsel - and who babysits. Alison has a young son, and Alex, 37, is the father of twin boys.
Alex Sokol Blosser says his sister is sweet - "She brings the sugar," he says - and that she has come to specialize in the sales and marketing aspects of the business. While he used to tend to some of that work, he now heads up production and has started to move away from the vineyard management and into winemaking.
"He has a charisma ... and a sense of humor that is very compelling," Susan Sokol Blosser says.
"One of the keys to the winery's continued success, according to Alison Sokol Blosser, has been a focus on clear communication between everyone involved with the business.
"Underlying that is a really fierce family love and loyalty, which is an advantage that family businesses have," says Susan Sokol Blosser.
Looking ahead - and already well aware that they have something to pass on - the second generation of Sokol Blosser's plan to continue pushing the winery ahead while always staying on one particular track.
"Our goal is to be good stewards," says Alex Sokol Blosser. "Stewardship is different than ownership. Stewardship is not about selling it off. Our goal is the third and fourth generations."
Click Here to ReTweet This! Harvest Report 2011 Friday, November 11th 2011 by
Susan Sokol Blosser, Founder
Here’s how an ideal grape harvest goes. Several weeks before harvest, the winemaker takes the crop estimates from the vineyard and works out a time line with approximate harvest times and fermentation space. Scheduling is done based on estimated crop size from each block or vineyard, estimated time of grape maturity, and amount of fermentation space available, keeping in mind the labor needed for harvest to proceed smoothly. In this ideal scenario, the cool nights and warm days of Oregon’s Indian Summer bring the grapes to optimal maturity and the harvest advances over a matter of weeks. The harvested grapes match the crop estimates so that each vineyard block fits into its allocated fermentation space; the grapes are clean and don’t need much sorting; finding enough pickers is not a problem; and the flavor of the grapes is outstanding--they have matured in flavor at the same time as they reached optimum sugar. Does a harvest like this ever happen? At Sokol Blosser, we have known years that fit this pattern, but the harvest of 2011 was not one of them. The long wet spring, late bloom, and cool summer were not too worrisome. When we first started, we wondered which season would be the most critical and long ago concluded that there was only one that really determined the quality of the vintage--the fall ripening season. What made the harvest of 2011 so difficult was the timing of the rain. We expected to start harvest about October 10, but between October 2 and 15, we had only one day without measurable rain. This not only postponed harvest but threatened to dilute the grapes. We kept hoping for the glorious Indian Summer but it never arrived. October 16 to 28 continually threatened rain but ended up being dry enough for us to get most of our grapes in. Sugar levels weren’t where we wanted them but the grapes had had enough “hang time” and we hoped for maturity of flavor and lower alcohol wines. Most of the blocks came in higher tonnage than estimated so that fermentation space was continually reshuffled, always at the last minute. The theme for the year was continuous improvisation, but the interval of dry weather helped us avert disaster and we look forward to good, flavorful wines from the 2011 vintage.
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We are proud, excited, and happy to announce that our Eastern Brand Ambassador Sara Manucy and her husband Matt welcomed 3 healthy baby boys into the world on December 21, 2011. Here is the update from Sara on her triplets. Congratulations, Manucy family: Sara, Matt, big sister Nora and now Oliver, Will & Luke!
