Bill Blosser

Have you ever stopped to savor a glass of Oregon’s rich Pinot Noir? Rife with powerful berry notes, bright bursts of acidity and a soft tannin profile, Oregon’s Pinot Noirs are revered worldwide as some of the best wines outside Burgundy. This unique varietal can even trace its lineage back to one man: Bill Blosser.

An urban planner and community advocate with a heart of gold, Bill was an instrumental part of shaping Oregon’s robust wine country. He was one of the first pioneers to earmark the land for agricultural use in the 70’s, helping preserve thousands of acres of land for winemaking. An active participant in the founding of the Oregon Winegrowers Association, Bill would go on to pave the way for what would eventually become a $3.35 billion dollar industry, serving on the Oregon Wine Board, the Yamhill County Wineries Association and the International Pinot Noir Festival. His love of the land and desire to preserve it lead to the creation of Sokol Blosser, an Oregon based winery known for its green sustainability practices. Bill’s our favorite sustainability champion, a true friend of the earth who isn’t afraid to set out where no man’s been before.

We can’t help but admire Bill’s unrivaled care and devotion to everything he touches. He’s been working hard to help preserve agricultural land since the 70’s, making him one of the original godfathers of wine in the Willamette Valley. Thousands of wines have been produced thanks to his efforts including Sokol’s infamous “Evolution” line, a blend made from nine white varietals.

“I didn’t start to be a pioneer. We were just thinking, ‘this is something we love to do, this is something we need to try.’”

-Bill

6 Questions with Bill Blosser

What brought you to Oregon?

I grew up in the Bay Area, in CA. My mother was from Seattle and all my cousins and father’s sister were here in Portland. We spent a lot of vacations here and Oregon has always been my second home.

What led you to become an Urban Planner?

I thought it was marvelous. It was the cutting edge of anything that had been done in the United States. No one else was trying it. When I was in planning school we were talking about it, but it had never been done. I was in hog heaven from a planner’s point-of-view. 

You’ve faced a lot of challenges in your conservational efforts. What are some of the biggest obstacles you’ve had to overcome?

I knew the industry was never gonna make it if we didn’t work together. We were driven by the need to be cooperative and support each other, to share information. Because as a new industry starting out that needed a lot of help it wasn’t going to work if each person tried to do it by themselves.

How has your experience in Oregon shaped the wine industry?

I thank my lucky stars every day because the people in Oregon were so supportive [when we started out], because if we didn’t have the markets here we wouldn’t have survived. But Oregon really rallied around us, they kept us going. It resulted in the preservation of tens of thousands of acres that were ideal for vineyards.

Sokol is known for their Pinot Noirs. What’s your secret to a great Pinot?

We couldn’t just take what they had done in CA or Europe and directly apply it, because there are so many differences, so we had to experiment and learn. We adapted a variety of techniques from Germany, France, from California, and tried a number of different things. 

It’s always happy hour somewhere, right?

At Sokol Blosser we instituted a rule fairly early on that we don’t get to taste the wines until the business part of the meeting is done. So we could efficiently get the business part done and then we could enjoy just chatting, talking and having a glass of wine.