Yamhill County’s vineyards and wineries are today the most prestigious and sought after in Oregon. It hasn’t been easy. Viewed by many as an “overnight success,” Yamhill County’s wine industry began over 50 years ago with a handful of young idealists. One of those early pioneers, Susan Sokol Blosser, will give us the inside scoop on what it was like to develop an industry that now has international prominence and pumps billions of dollars into the Oregon economy.

Susan Sokol Blosser, wine industry pioneer, community leader, environmental champion, woman’s advocate, and author, is a contemporary Oregon icon. When women were rarely decision makers in business or agriculture, Susan distinguished herself in both. Over the course of three decades, she has managed every aspect of Sokol Blosser’s vineyard and winery operation, embracing the triple bottom line of People/Planet/Profit. As president, she led Sokol Blosser Winery to become one of the most prominent and innovative Oregon wineries, with national and international distribution. She holds a Lifetime Achievement award from the Oregon Wine Board, was the first non-California woman inducted into the national Women for WineSense Hall of Fame, and the second American woman to be given the prestigious Diploma of Honor by the Paris-based International Fédération Internationale des Confréries Bachiques.