What Comes Next?

By Aakanksha Agarwal When Oregon’s pioneering wine families planted vineyards in the 1960s and ‘70s, succession wasn’t the pressing question. Survival was. Dick and Nancy Ponzi were busy proving the Willamette Valley could produce world-class Pinot Noir. Bill and Susan Sokol Blosser were instrumental in establishing a new industry. Around them, a handful of families were planting vineyards and building wineries, often with children playing among fermenters or helping during harvest. Half a century later, a new challenge has emerged: what happens after the founders step back. Increasingly, Oregon wine’s younger generation is redefining succession on its own terms – not simply by becoming winemakers, but by expanding the possibilities of a life in wine. Alexander Blosser, the oldest member of Sokol Blosser Winery’s third generation, is shaping the family’s future through governance, applying his experience with Oregon politics to the boardroom. M

by Hilary Berg · source ↗