Sokol Blosser Wine Blog

During a quick walk through the vineyard this morning, I stopped by my dear green friend Jean-Luc Pommard. He looks very healthy and happy in the red Jory soil of Sokol Blosser's Dundee Hills vineyard. Although the heat last weekend (over 100 degrees for a few days!) was a little much, he seems to be thriving. Just look at those healthy little Pinot Noir grapes!

Right now, harvest is scheduled to start on September 21. Around that time, Jean-Luc's tiny green grapes will be lush, full, and very purple. We're looking forward to a great summer full of warm days, fun-filled events, and plenty of Sokol Blosser wine to be shared with friends and family. Cheers!

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hallo, mes amis! Today Susan Sokol Blosser led a few members of Sokol Blosser's diligent and lovely staff out into the vineyard for a lesson on soil health and what it means to work with organic soil.

Susan provided the staff with this information about soil health: "The soil foodweb is a complex, interdependent and mutually beneficial group of organisms ranging in size from bacteria to worms and beetles. They develop soil structure by sticking the little pieces of clay and silt together and breaking up large clods. This makes possible good air and water movement through the soil.

Soil foodweb organisms break down and capture nutrients in the soil and make them available tot he plants. In turn, plants excrete material from their roots, which are additional food for soil organisms.

The soil foodweb suppresses disease-causing organisms and other plant pests by out-competing them for food, sometimes by simply eating them, and by altering the soil conditions so they cannot thrive."

Merci, Susan! I'll be looking forward to another visit from the Sokol Blosser staff out here in the vineyard very soon!

Posted by Jean-Luc Pommard at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I’ve learned something new every day since I started working here. Some days are packed with technical information and others are just trivial tidbits. Today I learned that all 6 of Sokol Blosser’s cats have names. I know that this might seem inconsequential to many of you, but I’ve worked here for almost a year and I never knew. I’m blown away by this, quite frankly.

Now many of you have never seen, and probably didn’t even know, that we had cats here. Well, in keeping with our organic, sustainable practices we hired “the rodent patrol” – 6 feral cats (all spayed and neutered by the Feral Cat Association) which go out and catch the mice and voles that attack the vines.

“What is a feral cat, exactly?” you may be asking yourself. Well, according to my friend Wikipedia: “A feral cat is a cat which has been separated from domestication, whether through abandonment, loss, or running away, and become wild. Adult feral cats that were born feral usually cannot be socialized.” That pretty much describes our cats. Only one of them lets people touch him, or even come close to him. The rest of the cats scatter at the sight of people.

I consider myself to be quite an animal lover – I even joined PETA for a couple of years. However, I’ve never bonded with these cats (and how can I when they run away as soon as they see me coming) and maybe that’s why I’m so excited to know that they all have names. So next time you come in to the tasting room, do some name dropping and ask about: Tigger, Grandma, Babygirl, Filbert, Sniffles, and TJ (aka Pickles).

Posted by Melissa Herring, Assistant Tasting Room Manager at 09:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Clockwise from top left: Fifi Gris stretching her shoots, stirring the compost pile, Pinot Gris buds about to bloom, André the Pinot Dog in the vines, a mama Tree Swallow in one of Sokol Blosser's many nesting boxes.

Hello again, mes amis! It is I, Jean-Luc Pommard - and it has been another great week in the Sokol Blosser vineyards. So much is happening! My Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris friends and I are planning on blooming pretty soon, as you can see by the above picture. The hard-working vineyard crew is busy "stirring" our large compost piles for use in the vineyard. The soil is a mixture of local organic straw, organic cow and horse manure, grape pomace from last year's crush, and organic rock phosphate. After "aging" this mix for a year, we spread it in the vineyard to fertilize the vines and build soil health. It doesn't smell pretty, but it sure is good for me!

So far, so good this season, and everyone at Sokol Blosser is looking forward to another great year and a wonderful 2006 vintage! Until next week, au revoir!

Posted by Jean-Luc Pommard at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, that's right, we are now able to ship wine to Michigan residents! Recently, Michigan Governor Granholm signed a new customer direct wine shipping law. It allows for any winery in the US that obtains a direct shippers permit from the State of Michigan to ship to Michigan consumers with a 6.00% sales tax.

We have just received our shipping permit and we're ready to go! If you are a Michigan resident, please enjoy $10 off of any order of $100 or more from our online store. Simply enter coupon code MICHIGAN at checkout for your discount!

Cheers!

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)