ROCO Winery is named after Rollin and Corby Soles for a very good reason. It represents the combined energy of a tireless married couple who dreamed for decades of starting their own wine label in the Chehalem Mountain Range of Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley.
Hailing from Texas, Rollin has been crafting fine wines which have earned high acclaim for more than 20 years. He helped found Argyle Winery in 1986, and is the only Oregon winemaker whose wines have been ranked in Wine Spectator’s ?Top 100 Wines of the World 13 times. Meanwhile, Corby, a Chicago native, co-owned Panther Creek Cellars in its start-up years. She also served as a founding board member of the International Pinot Noir Celebration, and spearheaded other regional wine industry initiatives.
In 2001, with the children safely through high school, Rollin and Corby moved to their acreage on a southern slope of the Chehalem Mountain Range. They named their vineyard Wits’ End and planted it to Pinot Noir. Two years later, Wits’ End Vineyard yielded the luscious grapes for Rollin and Corby’s first bottling: the 2003 ROCO Private Stash Pinot Noir. Later served at the White House, this wine set the bar for all the exceptional ROCO vintages to follow. Since the very first vintage coming out of Newberg, Oregon, year in and year out ROCO’s world-class wines have received 90-plus points from Wine Spectator and The Wine Advocate. In fact, the 2010 Private Stash earned an impressive 95 points from Wine Spectator in December 2012.
Wine tourists eager to sample these highly acclaimed wines are delighted to discover the friendly, unassuming attitude that pervades in ROCO’s new farm country tasting room. Rollin resigned his full-time position at Argyle in early 2013 to have a little more time to greet guests, make his incredible wines, and work side-by-side with Corby on the very bright future of ROCO Winery.
WHAT TO BUY
’11 Private Stash Pinot Noir
Black cherry, black plum, spicy minerality
’11 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
Deep red fruit, plum and cherry preserve
’11 Marsh Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir
Cherry, strawberry, sassafras, ripe red fruit
CONTACT
503-538-7625
info@rocowinery.com
rocowinery.com
TASTING
Tasting Room Open Thu–Mon 11–5
13260 NE Red Hills Rd.
Newberg, OR 97132
SPECIAL NOTES
Private tastings and tours by appointment, sustainable farming practices, winemaker and owner on site, LIVE certified
Touring & Tasting is a media company that produces a wine and travel magazine and is also partner in the Hitched Wine Club.
Steve Cooper is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Hitched. You can follow him on Twitter at @hitchedmedia.
