Sokol Blosser Winery — Attraction in Newberg

I was visiting from England. I have visited many wineries throughout the world and have collected wines for my personal cellar for over 40 years. Having just visited Sokol Blosser Winery, this was not a good wine tasting experience -- this was a sales room with a very poor quality tasting experience. Was it because we were 3 women of a "certain age"? Paying $45. per person for such shoddy treatment was a bit of an insult.

What happened? We arrived to a gorgeous setting overlooking the vineyards. The tasting room was attractive. Nice that there were very few people visting at noon on Mon. Our reserved arrival was expected and we were greeted with a small sip of a very mediocre chardonnay. Despite an empty tasting room we were seated at a back table without a view. I'm a pinot noir fan so opted for the pinot tasting,; plus we ordered the charcuterie board. The board was fine, but nothing special.

The tasting was not a proper tasting from my experience. A young woman with little knowledge of wine poured us a miniscule serving of each of 4 wines (into the same glass no rinsing) and rushed onto pouring the next wine. As soon as we finished with the 4 wines she asked if we had reached any conclusions. I began to give her my evaluations of each of the wines. That's not what she meant -- she meant "were we going to buy anything". Never was there engagement in conversation of the pros and cons/informed commentary of each of the wines -- the sort of wine experience I regard as essential if I am going to invest in purchasing from a new winery.

The final insult was when the young woman said she had other people coming and that our "time was up" -- at this point we were the only 3 people in the tasting room with no others on the horizon. A totally unsatisfactory experience from my European perspective and rather a "rip off". Despite that I did buy two bottles of my preferred pinot noir from the limited tasting opportunity, just so I could have a proper taste of that wine later. What a pity that our server's only interest was in quick sales -- not a professional and satisfactory wine experience. I won't be adding Sokol Blosser wine to my cellar and would not recommend the wine tasting experience if you are interested in wine, other than the...

Update: I emailed Sokol Blosser twice following their response, and no one ever responded.

This 2 star review is for the staff and service at this vineyard. The wine was delicious, and the grounds are beautiful. Unfortunately this was the worst service I have ever received at a vineyard, and I have been wine tasting all around the world.

We booked a reservation for a large group well in advance. The woman at the reception area was very rude. She said that the whole group had to choose either only red or white wines. This meant that some of us could not participate. The man pouring the tasting wines kept leaving to talk to his coworkers at the bar. Several times, we had to wave for him to come back and pour the next wine. He then said he was going to lunch, and his friend took over and did the same thing. When you book a reservation for a birthday private tasting for 10 people, can they not dedicate one staff member to do the whole guided tasting? Then the first guy came back after his lunch and continued ignoring us.

You cannot buy a bottle of wine to drink here, so a few of us purchased glasses. The glasses were thin and flimsy. My friend's glass literally came apart in her hand and they didn't offer her another glass of wine to replace it. Keep in mind that our tab was hundreds of dollars.

We ordered a cheese board, and our tasting guide said that cheese really isn't his thing. He could not explain anything about any of the cheeses. Seriously? In the heart of foodie country, you aren't familiar with your own menu??

We asked about membership since only members can drink bottles of wine on the property. A VERY long sales pitch ensued. We decided to buy a membership at the next vineyard instead, with much less pressure. Stear clear...

I'm not sure there's been a single wine from Sokol Blosser that we haven't liked. All of their Block Pinots are fantastic and every year they have a slightly differently nuanced, but always delicious Rosé.

Their dessert riesling, on the recommendation of a friend, was what originally brought us to the vineyard, but over the years everything else was what brought us back over and over.

We've since joined their wine club and most of the major events in our life include sharing a bottle of their wine.

The staff at the tasting rooms are always friendly and patient, never pretentious, but always happy to share the unique facets of the wine making, vintage, and origin of each wine during the tastings. Their food offerings are interesting and varied, and of late their social distancing protocols are fantastic.

There's no other wine we like more, and the price of their bottles are very reasonable if you're a club member. Even without a discount, I'd consider their wines average in price for what you're getting. (Which is anything but average.)

One last note, I'm not a fan of Chardonnay, I usually find them way too oaky but Sokol's take on them is always a pleasant surprise. We don't always take a bottle home, but I always enjoy getting a taste of what they've concocted.

In short, it'sa lovely place to visit, definitely make time if you're headed to Dundee. And if you happen to be headed there with an electric car, they even have a pair of ~8kw chargers on site next to a large bank of...