Meet Ross Cobb | Winemaker, owner and CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ross Cobb and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ross, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My mother and father planted a coastal pinot vineyard in the western Sonoma Coast of northern California in 1989 and named this vineyard Coastlands Vineyard. As a retirement project, my parents were relying on this pinot vineyard to produce enough crop to sustain their retirement needs. As the vineyard began producing world class quality grapes the winery purchasing the grapes, Williams-Selyem Winery began receiving very high scores from top wine critics. After working in the wine industry as an enologist and viticulturist at Ferrari-Carano Winery and Bonny Doon Winery, I was offered a job at Williams-Selyem working with my family vineyard, Coastlands Vineyard along with many famous vineyards in their profile. I quickly realized that I should start my own winery label, which would provide higher margins for my family than only selling the grapes. I introduced a business plan to my parents after my skills in the wine industry were developing. Now my family business has grown from 5 barrels in 2001 to 200 barrels in 2022.

What should our readers know about your business?
Being a winemaker and owner of my family business is a challenge every day. I spend most of my day working on planning and budgeting, and the fun part, making wine. I grow all of my own grapes on 10 different vineyard sites. My working day can fluctuate from walking the vineyards and working with the vineyard crew, to traveling to New York City representing my brand, to forklifting stacks of barrels around the winery in preparation of blending and bottling of my wine. I have traveled to 20 countries over my career and met and tasted wines with over 150 winemakers in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria learning from every conversation. I love to share my skills with interns who choose to work with me during the busy harvest season.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would recommend flying into Santa Rosa or San Francisco and head north to Sonoma County where some of the best wines are made. From the Pacific coast at Bodega Bay to Occidental hamlet 4 miles inland and continuing to the small town of Sebastapol you can eat some of the best food in North America. We have some of the best Mexican restaurants in California. Our rich culture of immigrants has blessed us with some of the best restaurants. I suggest renting a car and following Highway 1 from San Francisco to Jenner. A very curvy road is reminiscent to the “Road to Hanna” in Maui, so it is not for the faint of heart. The highway 101 will take you on a slightly more straight path through the city of Petaluma with excellent food and music, and Sebastapol and Healdsburg t0 the north.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
West Sonoma Coast Vintners Sonoma County grape growers

Website: cobbwines.com

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Linkedin: rosskcobb

Twitter: rosskcobb

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