Sokol Blosser Wine Blog

Things are changing fast and furious around the vineyard as we get prepared for Harvest - approximately one month away! In anticipation of the coming flurry of activity, Susan Sokol Blosser has been leading a series of vineyard walks and short lessons for the staff here at Sokol Blosser. Everyone from Paula the Accountant to Melissa the Tasting Room Manager attend to learn from Susan's 35 years in the wine industry. Today's lesson: the Soil Food Web.

"Our soil is the most important asset we have," explained Susan. She described the Red Jory Clay soil as nearly it's own living organism, full of fungi, microbes and other "little beasties" that carry nutrients to the vine roots. That's why Sokol Blosser's estate vineyards are farmed organically - to keep as many helpful organisms in the soil as possible.

During the Spring, we encourage helpful plants such as yarrow, Russian sage, and lavender to grow near the vines. These plants not only add beneficial nutrients back into the soil, they attract helpful insects that will pollinate our grape clusters instead of eat them. For the same reason, we also encourage Queen Anne's lace, which used to be ruthlessly torn out by the wheelbarrowful. "We used to call it a weed," said Susan. "Now we call it biodiversity!"

We limit the number of times a tractor travels through our rows to keep the soil from compacting. This allows the soil to stay loose and also allows air and gas movement, which brings more nutrients to the vines. After Harvest, we'll take our homemade "compost torte" (a mix of grape pumace, organic cow manure, organic straw and rock phosphate) and spread it throughout the vineyard rows to keep the soil healthy year after year.

Thanks, Susan! We'll look forward to learning more at the next Biodiversity University!

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do the clusters of grapes on the right look familiar? If you check our blog often, you might notice that those clusters are the same ones pictured in the July 27th "TLC for Sokol Blosser Vines" blog. What a change these clusters have gone through in the past two weeks!

At veraison, the young green Pinot Noir berries begin to soften and turn a beautiful dull purple. All through Sokol Blosser's estate vineyard, ribbons of purple are beginning to pop up amidst the lush green leaves.

Some vines aren't so lucky, however. Last year several blocks of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris suffered heavy damage from voles and are now beginning to turn brown and die. We pruned away all the fruit from the damaged vines in hopes that the vine's energy would go into keeping itself healthy for next year, but sadly, most of the damaged vines will likely have to be removed.

If you're a Sokol Blosser Cellar Club member, you're in luck! We have a case and a half of 2001 Pinot Noir from our prized Twelve Row Block now available for purchase. This is a rare special find only available on our Members Only Product Page. Log on to www.sokolblosser.com/cellarclub to learn more about our Cellar Club or make your purchase.

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recently, the ¡Salud! van came to visit Sokol Blosser Winery. ¡Salud! is a unique organization that aims to provide access to healthcare services for Oregon’s seasonal vineyard workers and their families. Created 13 years ago by a group of Oregon winery owners and Tuality Healthcare physicians who recognize the difficulty seasonal workers face in meeting their basic health needs, ¡Salud! provides these workers with health screenings, immunizations, health education classes, clinic referrals and many other healthcare services.

Knowing the healthcare and dental needs that our vineyard workers and their families require, Sokol Blosser Winery donates generously to ¡Salud! every year. For more information, visit the ¡Salud! website.

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boy, our Cellar Club Members sure know how to party!!! A good time was had by all at our latest Cellar Club party, celebrating Sokol Blosser's 35th Anniversary and the release of Susan Sokol Blosser's new book, At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life. As you can see above, Susan had a great time as well - but we definitely kept her busy signing books, reading excerpts, and nibbling the delicious food.

Local and sustainable dishes from Bon Appetit were made and served by three local chefs: J.R. Reynolds of the University of Portland, Paul Lieggi of Willamette University, and Dave Sherrill of George Fox University all created food masterpieces - and the homemade ice cream made from fresh local produce was a big hit. As always, there was plenty of Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris to go around!

Thanks to everyone who made this event a huge success - cheers!

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After checking the vineyard nest boxes the other day, we found one active second clutch of bluebirds and two Violet Green Swallow clutches. The bluebird nestlings in one box didn't survive the hot weather and another pair left a nest unfinished in a box near the tasting room. The rest of the boxes are empty.

We've had a smaller number of second clutches than usual, and we're sure that the hot weather was a factor.

Marilyn van Dyk, our friend from the Prescott Bluebird Recovery Program, told us that in mountain bluebird nests it's estimated temperatures in nest boxes are about 17 degrees hotter than the temperature outside and that bluebirds, and probably other songbirds as well, can't survive temperatures beyond 107 degrees.

So far, it seems as if all of our bluebird and swallow fledglings from the first clutches are doing well and are happy catching bugs in Sokol Blosser's estate vineyard.

Posted by Kitri Culbertson, Marketing Coordinator at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)