ROCO Winery

The story starts in Texas, detours through Switzerland, Australia, and California, and lands in the Willamette Valley. Rollin Soles was educated as a microbiologist, and it shows — in a wine world full of nostalgic ideas, he wants to know what’s actually happening in the vineyard, the cellar, and the glass.

He co-founded Argyle in 1987 with Australian icon Brian Croser and made Oregon’s first serious sparkling wine there. That same year he bought a hillside property down a gravel road in the Chehalem Mountains, drawn by its elevation, soils, natural springs, and aspect. It sat mostly wild for nearly fifteen years while he made wine at Argyle and Corby Stonebraker-Soles held executive roles across the Oregon industry.

In 2001 they planted Wits’ End Vineyard. Two years later came the first Private Stash Pinot Noir, which was eventually served at the White House. They built their own winery in 2009, added a tasting room in 2012, and in 2013 Rollin stepped down from Argyle to run ROCO full time. The name is simply ROllin and COrby.

In 2024, their 2013 RMS Brut 10-Year Delay Disgorgement was named Wine Enthusiast’s number one wine of the year — the first Oregon winery ever to take that spot. The portfolio has produced hundreds of 90-plus scores and repeated appearances in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the World.

ROCO was acquired in 2021 by HERITA USA, the American arm of Italy’s Marzotto family. In 2025 the family bought Marsh Vineyards in Yamhill-Carlton, and CASA ROCO opened on that hilltop in June 2026 — nearly 10,000 square feet with a central pizza oven, seating for 80 indoors and 40 out, and multiple private event spaces. They’ve also acquired the former Domaine Lumineux vineyard in the Dundee Hills, a high-elevation site suited to sparkling fruit.