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."