Sokol Blosser Wine Blog

Holy Toledo, Batman! Since starting harvest on Sunday, Sept 24, we have brought in about 65% of what we will bring in this year. Our winemaking team has been working 16 hr-days trying to keep up with the flow of fruit.

The weather has been warm - a bit warmer than we'd like, causing the sugar levels to be slightly higher than our ideal. There is good flavor maturation though, signaling that this is the optimal time to be bringing in all our fruit. The crop is also a good size and is coming in according to our estimates.

The weather forecast and picking schedule are for more of the same - sunshine (80 degrees) and long working days. Today we will bring in the last of our estate Pinot Noir, and the rest of our whites (White Riesling for our dessert wine and Muller Thurgau for Evolution) will be picked on Saturday and early next week. The harvest of 2006 will certainly go down in our record books as being one of - if not the - fastest harvest ever.

Posted by Alison Sokol Blosser at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The harvest of 2006 kicked off Sunday morning. Under clear blue skies with temperatures hovering around 85 with a light East wind, we brought in 25 ton of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris from our Big Tree, Goosepen and Fir Island blocks. For those of us on the sorting line, we had it pretty easy as the fruit was consistently ripe with good flavor maturation. There was minimal raisin-ing. The weather forecast for the rest of the week is for more of the same - clear skies and 80 degrees. Perfect weather for picking grapes. The East winds are supposed to die off, and we'll keep our fingers crossed that they don't pick up again. We're planning for a busy week and will most likely bring in all of our estate Pinot Noir before the weekend.

Posted by Alison Sokol Blosser at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The start date for harvest has been a moving target for the last few days now as we wait for the rain to stop and the sun to reappear. Since last Friday, when the rain began, it has been steadily raining and we've received 1.10" of rain at Sokol Blosser. Today looks promising, with only a 30% change of rain. This weekend it should be dry and in the 70's - perfect for ripening our Pinot clusters. If all goes well, we will start with our Big Tree Block of Pinot Noir on Saturday or Sunday.

Posted by Alison Sokol Blosser at 08:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, for those of you that live in the Portland Metro area (you know who you are!), get off the couch, stop watching Food TV, gas up your ride and head on down to Cannon Beach and check out EVOO. EVOO is a cooking school run by co-owners Chef Bob & Chef Lenore where you can get hands on training cooking small plates, pairing local and regional wines and finding some of the coolest and latest kitchen gadgets that would make anyone jealous on Wisteria Lane.

So I bet you are wondering why I am blabbing so much about EVOO. Well, I just recently (Sept 16) worked with Chefs Bob and Lenore on pairing Sokol Blosser Wines with Moroccan cuisine. Now, I have done the normal routine of food and wine pairing dinners for many years but never have I had the challenge of pairing our wines with Moroccan cuisine. Not only did we as a team pull this off but it was a home run out of the ball park over center field!

The crowd loved the food, the wine and us. This is what wine dinners and cooking classes should be all about: a nice, relaxing atmosphere that both Chef Bob and Chef Lenore bring on without the pretension that seems to follow these type of events. All of our guests came up to us individually and thanked us for making the event so much fun
and educational, too.

The next time you decide to get away to the Oregon Coast, venture west on Highway 26 to Cannon Beach and sign up for a cooking class with Chefs Bob and Lenore at EVOO. If your other half is not into it, leave them behind and grab your friends instead.

Lee Medina
Regional Sales, SBW

P.S. I bet you are wondering why I have not said a thing about what was on the menu and what it tasted like. Well, it's like I said in the first paragraph: this cannot be described in a short blog because it wouldn't do it justice. Live dangerously and give it a try - you may have a good time. I know I've had several great experiences at EVOO and I continue to look forward to more. By the way, EVOO supports local sustainable and organic farmers from Oregon. Cheers!

Posted by Lee Medina, Regional Brand Ambassador at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Above: Booksigning Dinner at Dream Dance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Pictured: Chef Jason, Susan Sokol Blosser, and Christian Damiano, Dream Dance Manager.

The first leg on my tour to promote by new book, At Home in the Vineyard, was to my home town, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee was pretty stodgy when I left in 1962 to go off to college (and never returned, except a few summers), but it's hip. It was a wonderful trip--seeing my brother who lives there, seeing old high school classmates, signing books at Schwartz's great bookstores, and, to top it off, two fabulous dinners at Milwaukee's finest restaurants, Dream Dance and Bacchus. I can't say enough about the professionalism, the fabulous food that complemented my wines so well, and the whole ambiance created by both to create two remarkable evenings. It's the best of all worlds to eat well, meet nice people, and do business.

Posted by Susan Sokol Blosser at 03:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our Cellar Crew is hard at work preparing the winery for the upcoming Harvest, which should begin in the next couple of days. The grapes are sweet with complex flavors, and it's hard to walk by a row without snatching a few to snack on.

Last week we steam sterlized all of our fermentation tanks, this week we've been prepping our gravity flow system - we are ready to go when the grapes tell us they're ready!

Posted by Kitri McGuire, Marketing Communications Manager at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Look at those grapes! Everyone here at Sokol Blosser are counting the days until Harvest. According to Doug Vuylsteke, Assistant Winemaker, there is a delicate balance as to when we choose to harvest our estate Pinot Noir.

"The sugars in the grapes are measuring all over the board throughout the vineyard," he said. "In some places, where there is less sun exposure, we are measuring the grapes at 21 brix. In other places that see more sun, it's almost to 22." We have to be careful to let the grapes hang long enough to develop the distinct flavor characteristics our wines are known for, without letting the sugar content grow too high.

We're checking the grapes daily, waiting for the perfect time to bring in our 2006 Harvest. Everyone is anticipating a great vintage!

Posted by Kitri McGuire, Marketing Communications Manager at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)