Summer Reading

At Home in the Vineyard: Cultivating a Winery, an Industry, and a Life

by Susan Sokol Blosser

University of California Press, 256 pp., $24.95 (to be released in August)

We lived in Oregon in the early 1980s. At that time, other than a few zealots (who later turned out to be right), most people never thought the state would turn out to be one of the great wine-making areas of the world. The best wines available in the state were from Eyrie, Knudsen-Erath Vineyards Winery (now known as Erath), Ponzi, Adelsheim Vineyard, and Sokol Blosser Winery. ÊWhile David Lett of Eyrie might have a slightly better hold on the founding-person title in the state, Susan Sokol Blosser comes in a very close second.

Her book, At Home in the Vineyard, offers a compelling read for three audiences. Anyone who has ever dreamed of starting a winery will get a ground-up master's course in what it takes, where the pitfalls lie, and the principal prices you have to pay. Second, people interested in the development of the Oregon wine industry, especially the growth of the Pinot Noir business and Sokol Blosser's cash cow, Evolution, will find all the necessary details. The most important story, and the one that will make you smile, laugh, and maybe even cry a little, is her personal story. Sokol Blosser writes with the openness of a patient on a trusted psychiatrist's couch, unafraid to touch any part of her life. Over and over, I kept getting the impression that when she was writing the book, she felt like it might be her only chance to tell the world what's been on her mind, and she was not going to waste the opportunity on reticence. From the excitement of starting her winery and having children to the tragedy of divorce after 33 years of marriage and the ensuing, forced dissolution of the community property, i.e., the winery, it's her personal story that transcends the world of wine.