2008 Pinot Noir Jack Hill Vineyard

Ross Cobb told me that he has been focusing as much of his time as possible on the vineyards he owns and with which he works because "vineyard management is everything." He said that "paying full attention to everybody who is involved with the vines" is the most critical part of the winemaking equation and that he likes to be "physically in the vineyards as much as and whenever possible. It's not enough to send e-mails, make phone calls or send texts; you have to get out there and in there, which is obviously far easier to do if you're working with vineyards in the same region." He also said that he's content to to work with the relative handful of sites he has now because "if you expand t much it isn't logistically possible to keep a close eye on things." Cobb is now the winemaker for Hirsch Vineyards, which is a neighbor of his Coastlands Vineyard, which he said helps to keep his feet even deeper in the local dirt.