Mosbywines.com (Twitter: @MosbyWines) Facebook Instagram Mosby Winery & Vineyard Contact: Alan Goldfarb 9496 Santa Rosa Rd. [email protected] Buellton, CA 93427 415.806.4243 Santa Ynez Valley AVA 800.706.6729 OUR STORY Santa Barbara County. Mosby Winery & Vineyard. Pinot Noir, right? That’s how one’s thought processes might work, but one would be incorrect to put Mosby and Pinot Noir together in the same sentence. For it is with Italian varietals that Bill Mosby has cast his lot, not with the Burgundian grape for which Santa Barbara County has become famous. There are complex reasons why Bill Mosby – a complex man – concluded that Pinot Noir wouldn’t do well on his parcel, just west of Buellton, and that Italian varietals such as Cortese and Dolcetto, Sagrantino, and maybe even Nebbiolo would thrive in De la Questa Canyon. Just listen to what Jeri Mosby, Bill’s wife of 59 years, succinctly says about her husband’s short- lived Pinot Noir quest: “He was not able to grow Pinot Noir on that ground. He wanted to do a certain thing with Pinot, and he couldn’t get there.” Which Bill Mosby affirms: “I wanted to make Burgundian Pinot Noir. I tried for five years, using different clones, and it didn’t work. “Pinot from Burgundy has a little barnyard character, it’s silky, soft, ethereal. It’s seductive. Mine didn’t have that. I wasn’t getting the right extraction. I gave up. It just didn’t produce here. It was the wrong grape to grow. “Pinot Noir wouldn’t grow here. Chardonnay, everyone was growing it here. I got gold medals but that didn’t interest me; nor did Sauvignon Blanc. Then I started looking at Italian varietals.” So, he concluded, “I know I’m not in Pinot Noir country. I’m two miles from the Santa Rita Hills. So, I’ve proven that Italian varietals will grow here; I’ve been a kind of a loner anyway.” The Mosbys, in 1959 settled in Lompoc, eventually winding up just south of Buellton, in the Santa Ynez Valley, where they bought the Rancho de la Vega property in 1976, on which they built a winery in ’78. The first commercial wine – under the Vega label was made from the 1978 vintage. The name was changed to Mosby Winery & Vineyard in 1986. The first vineyard, planted in 1963 and owned by the Mosbys, is the 246 vineyard west of Buellton. The Vigna della Casa Vecchia Vineyard was planted in 1976, and the Sori 101 vineyard was planted in 2002, (40 acres total planted) under the ownership of Mosby Winery & Vineyard. Driving past the rock-walled entrance adorned with the Mosby family crest, visitors to the winery get the sense that they are going back 100 years in time. Giant sycamore and ancient oak trees shade several picnic tables, and a palm tree stands across from a 25-foot tall cactus in this rustic, authentic setting. Just ahead is an old California adobe built in 1853 as a ranch house that is home to the Mosby family. Mosby produces about 20 different wines predominantly from its 40-acre estate, which also includes three single-vineyard wines, and a quartet of imports from the Piemonte and Marche regions of Italy’s north and central. In all, about 5,000 cases are produced annually. BILL MOSBY Owner/Winemaker/Vineyard Manager Bill Mosby began his professional life as a dentist in Fort Lewis, WA. That summer, he says “For three days the sun came out; I said to my wife Jeri, ‘Let’s get out of here.’ We moved to Pomona where I practiced for a few months.” Then it was on to Lompoc, and eventually to Buellton. It was there – while still practicing dentistry -- that wine got into Bill Mosby’s system. “There were Portuguese and Italian construction workers (who were also full- time farmers) next door putting up a medical building. They all were making wine at home; and we made wine for years together. I knew it could be made better” One might ask then, at this point, Why Italian varietals? “I got to love them,” Mosby answers simply while relating a story about the first time he traveled to Italy. “Maybe it had to do with where I was, in Appiano in Trentino-Alto Adige and the young winemakers were enthused with what they were doing; and I was accepted over there. “I was looking at the Dolomites and it was like a fairy tale to me. I had an Andrea Bocelli tape on – very loud – then I tasted the wines with Luigi Togn of Gaierhof winery when I told him, ‘I’ve got to have some of these cuttings (Teroldego).’ We drank six bottles – in a bowling alley. I didn’t get those cuttings, but that Spring, here in Buellton at a farmer’s market, I ran into Jim Clendenen, who told me he had four vines in his back yard and I could have some cuttings; It was on another trip in Diano d’Alba in Piemonte when “we walked through snow, dogs were barking, lights were going on that I got some Dolcetto cuttings “No, I didn’t steal them, I was helping them prune.“ Another obvious question then should be asked: Why did Bill Mosby – perhaps audaciously -- think he could grow these disparate Italian varieties, on his property, in California? And Why did they take to your terroir? “You’d have to ask the grape,” Mosby answers without the slightest bit of rancor or irony. “Dolcetto really likes it here, and with these red varieties you’ve got to have the right spot. I’m still out to lunch on the Nebbiolo (see Varietal Section below). “But I guess it’s just dumb luck. If you try hard enough, even a blind squirrel ...“ Your luck has held, even after all these years? What is it about your terroir? “It’s proven out. My vineyards are on alluvial plain – clay, shale with deposits of rocks, large gravel layers, layer-upon-layer upon-layer. And the climate: We don’t get the high temperatures they get in Paso or in the Mother Lode. A few days it gets into the triple digits, otherwise the mid-70s, 80s. The chilling winds come from Gaviota, 8 miles to the South and Surf Beach in Lompoc 25 miles to the West. Why haven’t others done the same (grown Italian varieties)? Bill Mosby says directly that the closest vineyard from his property is a mile away, and north-to- south, “there is none”. Finally, Bill Mosby doesn’t keep meticulous cellar notes (In spite of that, thorough tech notes are included here). That’s because, as his wife Jeri Mosby amusingly states, “As a dentist he recorded everything. But as a farmer and because he’s ‘retired’, he’s very creative. He uses his creative side now, so that he doesn’t have to record everything.” THE ITALIAN VARIETALS of MOSBY WINERY Cortese (core TAYSEH) Bill Mosby was the first winemaker in Santa Barbara County to release Cortese, and is one of only a handful of producers in California. Cortese grapes are made into the wine known as Gavi in the southeastern Piemonte region of northern Italy. The Cortese is grown on the estate’s 246 Vineyard, west of Buellton. Dolcetto (dole CHET oh) The Italian word dolcetto means "little sweet one", but it is not certain that the name originally carried any reference to the grape’s sugar levels; it is possible that it derives from the name of the hills where the vine is grown. On a trip in Diano d’Alba in Piemonte when “we walked through snow, dogs were barking, lights were going on that he got some Dolcetto cuttings “No, I didn’t steal them, I borrowed them,” explains Bill Mosby. The Dolcetto is grown on the Vigna della Casa Vecchia Vineyard on Mosby’s estate. Lagrein (La Seduzione) (lah GRAH'EEN) The Lagrein grape is named after the Lagarina Valley of Trentino, although it is now primarily grown at Gries on the outskirts of Bolzano. An extremely rare grape in the United States, we know of only a handful of vineyards in California. Bill was able to procure these grapes from the French Camp Vineyard in Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County. Pinot Grigio (Pee no GREE joh) Pinot Grigio originates from the Fruili-Venezia Guilia of Italy. Said to be a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape, the Pinot Grigio seems unsure whether it is a red or white wine grape; hence, grigio, meaning gray, although the Mosby Pinot Grigio is a deep straw color. It also has body, is savory and very dry. Bill Mosby was the first winemaker in Santa Barbara County to release the varietal. The Mosby Pinot Grigio is grown on the 246 Vineyard. Sagrantino (sah grahn TEE noh) The Mosby Sagrantino was the first domestically produced Sagrantino available for sale in California. Sagrantino grows around the hilltop town of Montefalco in Umbria. Bill imported the cuttings and tended them in his estate vineyard for four years before his first Sagrantino harvest in 2006. The variety is grown on the Vigna della Casa Vecchia Vineyard. Primitivo (Primativo©) Primitivo is grown in Apulia (Puglia, Italy) but originating in Croatia; and is genetically equivalent to Zinfandel. The grapes for the Mosby Primativo© are grown on the central coast in the French Camp vineyard, 20 miles inland from the Pacific. This location has the ideal heat factor needed to grow good Primitivo.