Читать книгу The Vineyard Years - Susan Sokol Blosser - Страница 6

Foreword

My mother could have had an easy and grand life, following in her mother’s footsteps, with a French poodle by her side and a Mercedes in the garage. Instead, she chose to marry a boy from the West—my father—and become a farmer in Oregon. This is the story of that life.

My mother’s life did not follow a conventional path. Admittedly, I am biased, yet I think you’ll find her story a fascinating one, touching on themes many women—myself included—have struggled with for decades. Her frank retelling of the joys and heartaches of a life lived among the vines echoes that of the vines themselves—growing from a young cutting to a fruit-bearing plant, giving generously of one’s life force like the grapes at harvesttime, pulling back during cold, hard times, like the grapes in dormancy, only to resurge again, full of life, in the new season.

My mother grew up surrounded by opportunity. From a well-to-do family in the Midwest, my mother attended private schools and went to Stanford University. She went on to earn a master’s degree, not a common occurrence for women of her generation. While she was privileged by most definitions, my mother never took anything for granted. In fact, I’ll never forget the story my mother told me when she and my father got married. My grandfather, her father, offered to give the young married couple his Mercedes convertible. They politely declined the offer, preferring to piece together the money to buy a VW camper instead.

She grew up in a time and place where, by society’s definition, she needed only to marry well and her life would have been relatively stressfree. Instead, my mother and father sank everything they had into creating a business dependent on convincing people to drink wine from an undiscovered region made by people with no winemaking pedigree.

In 1991, when my mother took over running the winery in addition to her vineyard duties, she had no financial acumen, no sales or marketing training, nor any prior management experience. Undeterred, she was determined to convince people that Oregon could produce world-class wines. Selling each vintage was a struggle, yet my mother never gave up. Her endless stamina to work years of seven-day weeks eventually paid off. Sure, there were small victories along the way that kept her inspired to keep going, but those victories were spread out amongst enormous challenges. She’s told me she relished them. Today, in little more than a generation, Oregon has a multibillion-dollar, world-renowned wine industry. And my mother played a huge part in creating that industry and helping it flourish.

Like the grapevines that grow, then die back as part of their life cycle, my mother’s life did not always go in an upward direction. Sometimes it was all she could do to just keep moving forward. For example, my mother ran for elective office three times. Each race was harder than the previous with all the normal election-induced drudgery and personal attacks. Our family and business were often pulled into the uglier parts of it. Yet she kept her head high, even when she lost each time. This alone speaks volumes about the woman my mother is. Never letting defeat thwart the causes for which she fought, she continued to serve on the local school board and then started her own nonprofit organization to provide much-needed community support.

My mother approached her retirement from the winery with grace, wit, strength, and an unending love for our family. It was not an easy road for her, and you’ll learn just how hard that struggle was in these pages, in her own words. I will just say that I only hope I can transition out of the business as graciously and gracefully as she did when it’s my turn.

When I read the manuscript for The Vineyard Years, I suddenly realized that there are a lot of parallels between my life and my mother’s. We both married young, divorced our first husbands, and remarried. We both had three kids: two boys and a girl, and our first babies were four weeks early. We both ran (or run) a winery, an uncommon role for women in our industry. We are both introverts, an obstacle when operating a business often in the public eye whose sales success is dependent on being outgoing and engaging. We’re both impatient, ready to dive in, wanting to see results.

And we both love to eat. Not in the closet-eating kind of way, but in the belief that from time to time, a culinary experience can be a spiritual affair. We both relish that occasional meal that makes the stars shine brighter in our eyes and delights our taste buds and stomachs. We’ve been lucky to share a few such occasions together. You’ll soon understand how important food is to our family from the recipes my mother includes in the book, each reflecting different times of her life and evoking unique memories.

In reading her story, I couldn’t help but reflect on my mother’s life and, honestly, I just don’t know how she did it. She raised three kids (who, for all intents and purposes, aren’t terribly screwed up), started and helped grow not just a business but a multibillion-dollar industry, transitioned said business to the next generation, and then began a new phase of her life characterized by continued self-discovery and giving back to the local community. She has an impressive resume and an even more impressive heart.

My mother and I have clashed at times, but with the wisdom that comes with age, I can now see much more clearly who my mother is; she is the woman the little girl inside of me aspires to be. My mother learned early on to turn failure into opportunity. She always tells me it’s okay to make mistakes. Actually, she encourages me to make them. But the key, she says, is to make interesting mistakes. The more interesting the mistake, the better the opportunity to learn. I hope you enjoy reading about both the amazing successes and the interesting mistakes of her life.

ALISON SOKOL BLOSSER

Copresident/CEO, Sokol Blosser Winery

December 2016