There's nothing mythic about wine for women

It's a down-to-earth movement for good-tasting wines.
By FRED TASKER
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
You knew Bacchus was the Roman god of wine. But did you know there was a Roman goddess of wine? Her name was Meditrina, and she was the deity in charge of wine, longevity and health.
Every Oct. 11 came the festival called Meditrinalia -- when the season's harvest was in and its first wines made, devotees would mix new wine with old, drink a copious share and pour a little onto the earth for the gods and goddesses.
Or so mythologists say.
Naming names
And that's good enough for Susan Sokol Blosser, owner of Sokol Blosser Winery in Oregon's Dundee Hills. She has given the name "Meditrina" to her warm and generous blend of pinot noir, syrah and zinfandel. It has no hard, tannic edges, and she says it's aimed especially at women.
"Most wines are aimed at men," she says, because they eat more red meat, and want more powerful, tannic wines than women.
"Men are more interested in ratings, and proud to have a classy bottle in their cellars. Women are more interested in what kind of food it goes with."
Blosser praises the new spate of wine books aimed specifically at women, even those that might risk feminist ire by describing a versatile, all-around wine as "like a little black dress."
"Women, even professional women, don't know about wine," she says. "This can give them the skills."
Blosser herself seems to be seeking the title of, if not goddess, at least protector of the earth. She's given up chemical fertilizers and pesticides and earned a "USDA Organic" designation for her winery. She's taken it a step further by meeting the standards of LIVE -- the Low-Input Viticulture and Enoloby group. Her underground cellars meet the standards of LEED -- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. And her vineyards are designated "Salmon Safe."
"It's my sense of justice," she says. "We're depleting these natural resources so fast nature can't keep up."
Blosser says she tries to make "fun" wines and "serious" wines. The Meditrina is her fun red. Her fun white is Evolution, an intensely aromatic blend of pinot gris, muller thurgau, white riesling, semillon, muscat canelli, gewurztraminer, pinot blanc, chardonnay and sylvaner.