Good Grape Wine Company

April 2 2007

Wine You Can Buy Online:  Sokol Blosser

As far as winery names go, I don’t think you can get much better than Sokol Blosser.  It’s the kind of name that immediately sticks in your head, like a commercial jingle, only better. And their wines are pretty good, too. 

The Oregon winery, named after the last name of founders Bill Blosser and Susan Sokol, has been around since their first vintage in 1977—elder statesman if they were in Napa and definitely graybeards for Oregon wine country. The winery is something of an under the radar shining star who have managed to grow large with national distribution while retaining the homey charm that makes you want to put money in their coffers; old friends who have made good.

As one of the pioneers of the Oregon wine industry, Susan Sokol Blosser wrote a memoir and narrative of the Oregon wine industry and her role in the development of both her winery and the industry.  Published last August, it’s a breezy romp through 30 years of wine history and definitely recommended for light airplane reading. 

And, if that’s not enough to get you interested then their blog will--as a winery that started blogging in December of 2004, they were positively antediluvian in foresight in getting ahead of the winery blog curve.  And, they keep it current, fresh and lively—clearly one of the best winery blogs, period.  If you want to see foresight in action, see this post and pointer to an article on Appellation America that Susan pointed to on February 28th –a week before Eric Asimov weighed in (here and here) on his blog making for a blog-comment-spectacle akin to a good debate on CSPAN. 

That said, I like to occasionally do a check-in on wineries that sell online and Sokol Blosser is one winery happy to get you some vino wherever you may live.

Ironically enough (insert throat clearing), I bought a bottle of their second label red, Meditrina and their second label white, Evolution, at two different stores in Indianapolis and I didn’t buy them online.  Ahem, we’ll look around that for now.

I had occasion to drink both of their second labels on Saturday night.  I brought the wines over to a friend’s house and a gathering of friends—all beer drinkers.  It’s good for me because I at least know I’ll get my fill of wine uninterrupted.  It’s kind of a dirty trick, too.  “Hey, look I brought some wine.  Oh, gosh, you don’t have any wine?  Do you mind if I just open these?” Works every time. 

Both the Meditrina and Evolution are crowd-pleasers with a capital C, capital P.  They share a web site, too with mirroring domains:  www.meditrinawine.com and www.evolutionwine.com The Meditrinia, according to the Sokol Blosser site:

(Meditrinia) is a core of rich, lush berry from the Syrah. The Zinfandel provides spice, tannin and structure. And the Pinot Noir brings flowers, earth and elegance. It all adds up to a luscious, juicy, easy-drinking mouthful of red wine that’s both bright and vibrant yet round and soft. Every sip of the wine, Meditrina, honors the goddess of the same name. Mmmmm.

This is a surprisingly enjoyable wine, not profound or revelatory, but an imminently drinkable quaff. Though, priced at $16 online and $15 in my local market, I’d like to see this priced about $4 bucks cheaper and I’d like for them to get new labels as the non gloss finish got wrecked in transportation making every label on display marred with signs of distress from jiggle in the box.  Not a big deal, but a mistake you wouldn’t expect from a brand in distribution.

The Evolution, so damn drinkable you want to put a straw in it, also sells on the web site for $16.  I picked it up at Costco for $12.99.  Of the two, I prefer the white.  The web site says:

Every new bottling has its own subtle and fresh personality. The 9 grapes tie together perfectly, creating a smooth, layered white wine that can hold its own or stand up to just about any food pairing you dare to serve it with. It is extraordinarily food-friendly, from light salads to the hottest fusion-style cuisine. Regarding the question we’re most often asked: ‘Were you trying to do this or did your leftovers happen to work well together?’ We’ll let the success of Evolution speak for itself.

This wine has two different things going for it—it’s aged in stainless and it’s incredibly savory.  And, yes, there are nine different varieties are in the mix here:  Muller-Thurgau, White Riesling, Semillon, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Muscat Canelli, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Sylvaner

To my palate, you get the chardonnay and Muscat coming through with an undercurrent of the Riesling.  It’s a sweeter wine, so bone dry, herbaceous Sav. Blanc fans would turn up their nose.

Overall, it was a good experiment to drink both second labels at the same time.  I recommend Sokol Blosser. Based on their long, industrious history in Oregon, their homey spirit, their pioneering leadership foray in wine blogging, and their damn drinkable wines, you would do well to buy some wine and stick it away for your next party and a need for a crowd pleasing wine--and all the better if you buy it online.

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