Sure, Oregon wines are fashionable now, but back in the 1970s, no one was planting grapes in the Willamette Valley. The area was filled with peach trees, walnuts and blackberries, as many of the vineyard block names at Sokol Blosser can attest. But, in the early part of that decade, three brave families ventured into the region with the deep conviction that this was a very special place in which to make great wine.
These self-dubbed “Oregon Originals” – the Ponzi, Campbell and Sokol Blosser families – arrived relatively concurrently in a variety of vehicles ready to hit the ground running, with their kids: Luisa, Anna Maria, Adam (and his siblings), Alex and Allison in tow.
As pioneers clearing the land and putting their faith in Pinot Noir, the three families would get together on a regular basis, sharing ideas and finding community with one another. Similarly, the children grew up as friends and remain so to this day.
Back then, it was not chichi for your family to own a vineyard and the kids were often ridiculed by their peers and their parents called drunkards. Today, these “kids” are all grown up and have taken over the leadership of their family’s wineries, representing the second generation of Oregon wine producers. Their wineries remain committed to Pinot Noir and are still family owned.
Similarly, they are all equally committed to being stewards of the land and the community and feel that it is important to work together. With this overarching philosophy, the three wineries, led by winemakers Luisa Ponzi (Ponzi VIneyards), Adam Campbell (Elk Cove) and Alex Sokol Blosser (Sokol Blosser), recently came together to collaborate on a special cuvée. Each winery contributed fruit from a single block of Pinot Noir, with each winemaker ultimately making three separate wines from the three different parcels of fruit. These nine wines then served as the components for the final blend.
Members of the press and trade were invited to a special seminar to taste through these components in a true demonstration of “land versus hand.” Interestingly, the overwhelming consensus among the winemakers was that the best wines were those that had been produced using one’s own fruit, underscoring the importance of really understanding the grapes to create great wine. Not surprisingly, the finished wine, 2017 2GV Pinot Noir Cuvée, focused heavily on these three components.
As a limited production wine (350 cases), 2GV was crafted primarily as a charitable effort, but is available online for purchase by the bottle, from the Ponzi Vineyards website.
NB: Purchase does not entail being a member of Ponzi’s wine club, and as I understand it, provided an adult is on hand to sign for and accept receipt, Ponzi can ship direct to consumers anywhere within the U.S.
