FEBRUARY 2008: AROUND THE STATE
Wine pioneer savors her time
EARLY THIS YEAR, Susan Sokol Blosser announced she was turning
over control of Sokol Blosser Winery, the Willamette Valley
establishment she founded and has helmed since 1991, to her
children. Alex, 34, and Alison Sokol Blosser, 28, will serve as
co-presidents, and Nik Blosser, 37, will remain chairman of the
board. But don’t expect the 63-year-old Sokol Blosser, a
pioneer of the Oregon wine industry and leader in green
business practices, to be idle in her retirement. She will
continue to act as ambassador for the winery and plans to
devote time to environmental and writing projects. She offered
Oregon Business some
thoughts about the industry and her career.
What’s the state of the
Oregon wine industry?
I think this is a very good time to be in the wine industry.
It’s an extremely crowded market — there are new
wineries coming on all the time — but on the other hand,
wine consumption is increasing, and the appreciation of fine
wine is increasing, as well.
I think Oregonians are very proud that in the space of one
generation the wine industry has gone from zero to
internationally recognized. I see that continuing.
There certainly will be hard times ahead. That’s not to
say it’s a perfectly rosy future. But I think that it is
an industry that has found its niche in Oregon and will just
continue to get better.
Your greatest achievement in
the business?
I’m proud of being part of the pioneering group that set
the standard for collaboration. One of the things that is
distinctive about the Oregon wine industry is that we work
together. We realize that we will accomplish more by working
together than we will being at each other’s throats,
vis-a-vis the national market, for example, or the world
market. That’s one of the reasons that the Oregon wine
industry has come as far as it has in one generation. And when
I look at the early pioneers who did that, we were just one of
them. There are a number of people who really work together to
make this industry what it is.
What advice do you have for
Oregon’s wine industry?
I would say keep working together. What happens is
that’s sort of the position of the underdog, and once you
get out of that position and the industry matures, you start
going after each other. I hope that doesn’t happen. We
always have to be collaborative rather than competitive.
Ultimately, we’re all competitive, but collaboration
comes
first.
JAMIE HARTFORD
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