The Vineyard Years – Susan Sokol Blosser

The Vineyard Years by Susan Sokol Blosser

This book chronicles the personal journey of Susan Sokol Blosser, a pioneering female winery owner. In the early 1970s, she decided on a whim to grow wine grapes in Oregon’s then little-known Willamette Valley. She takes readers through the trials and tribulations of starting her family-owned winery, Sokol Blosser, all the way to passing leadership from the first generation to the next. Woven throughout this candid story are themes of feminism, love, and loss, along with delicious recipes that mark key moments in Susan’s life.

Reviews:

"The founder of Sokol Blosser Winery, one of Willamette’s first wineries, Susan Sokol Blosser was instrumental in helping her region attain world-class status for its Pinot Noir. This memoir proves that her writing and intelligence are on par with her winemaking prowess."
--Foreword Reviews, Exceptional Gift Books (Holiday 2017)

"Readers will be intrigued by Susan Sokol Blosser’s new comprehensive memoir about starting and running one of the first vineyards and wineries in the Willamette Valley. . . Sokol Blosser writes in a clear, highly readable manner as she deals with subjects ranging from financial struggles to organic farming, to Oregon’s land-use laws, all from her unique perspective. . . . It’s a deeply personal memoir, too. . . .The chapters about watching the second generation blossom are among the most interesting in the book."
--Oregon Wine Press

"Susan Sokol Blosser delivers an expressive, balanced memoir about what it was like for a young woman from the Midwest to help start a state wine industry that’s grown from pointing out Oregon on a map to recording a half-billion dollars in sales in 2016. She also writes frankly about the challenges of passing Sokol Blosser to her three children."
--Amy Wang, The Oregonian/Oregon Live