COBB WINES: COASTLANDS VINEYARD AND BEYOND

Embracing his parents' dream, winemaker Ross Cobb has elevated their project in West Sonoma Coast

- BY JAMES MOLESWORTH

In 1988, David and Diane Cobb bought some land atop a ridge-line west of the town of Occidental. With its sweeping view of pine- and oak-covered hills and the Pacific Ocean just a few miles away, the site offered the perfect spot to fulfill their dream retirement plan: Plant a Pinot Noir vineyard, do the work themselves and sell the grapes.

They named the site Coastlands and planted their first vines in 1989. Their strategy was to plant 18 different Pinot clones as a test, then propagate the rest of the vineyard with the best-performing selections. They also planted the vines on their own roots, risking phylloxera, yet luckily both parts of the plan worked out. By 1998, the site was not only healthy but had gained enough of a reputation that Williams Selyem was regularly buying the grapes.

There was just one problem. “My parents’ retirement plan was based on getting 3 to 4 tons an acre off the vineyard,” says Ross Cobb, David and Diane’s son. “It’s not so sustainable when all you’re getting is .5 to 2 tons.”

Vineyards along the far west Sonoma Coast are proving to be special, with the area around Freestone and Occidental a new epicenter for California’s still-developing Pinot category. The light feels pure, while breeze and fog influences provide cover from heat to allow for slow, steady ripening. Even the view seems to inspire the vines. But it all comes at a cost: low yields.

Cobb, now 54, was attending school while his parents were shoe-stringing the vineyard along. His education focused on soil science. “The idea was to go to school to learn enough to come back and help the family vineyard,” he says. “At the time we were just a vineyard business. The motivation to turn it into a wine business was purely financial, to be honest, because my ultimate motivation was to keep the family vineyard in the family.”