Uncorked: Paul Hobbs a global legend among winemakers

Paul Hobbs wanted to be a surgeon.

But after Hobbs graduated with a chemistry degree from Notre Dame, instead of following his great-grandfather’s footsteps and going to medical school, he pivoted.

Because he grew up one of 11 children on an apple orchard in upstate New York, Hobbs knew farming well. On his father’s advice, Hobbs enrolled at the University of California, Davis, where he graduated with a master’s degree in viticulture and enology. The decision forever changed both Hobbs’ life and a burgeoning California wine industry where the legendary, globetrotting winemaker is still pushing boundaries.

There are seven wineries around the world where Hobbs is owner and vintner: Paul Hobbs Winery and Crossbarn, both in California; and Hillick & Hobbs in the Finger Lakes, N.Y.; with international partnerships at Viña Cobos in Argentina; Crocus in Cahors, France; Yacoubian-Hobbs in Armenia; and Alvaredos-Hobbs in Galicia, Spain.

“Sometimes, you wonder how to juggle logistics,” said Hobbs, who has worked 79 harvests around the world. “We were the first ones out there working on serious projects in the northern and southern hemispheres.”

Technology made the communication piece easier between continents and hemispheres. Hobbs recalled a time when there was a single phone at the Argentina winery. There were no cellphones or Zoom calls, yet he built synergy into the business.

“When people come to work for me, they have to fall into our team’s playbook,” Hobbs said. “It’s a challenge even for the most talented. We have seven different wineries. Everyone has to be on point to do it the same way. We have to speak the same language. But cultures take time to develop. After 30 years, we have a culture.”

When asked about the changes he’s seen in the wine business, Hobbs chuckled and said, “That’s a book.” His first visit to Napa Valley was in 1975.

“The only new shiny thing at the time was the Robert Mondavi winery,” Hobbs said. “It was the first new, significant winery built post-Prohibition. They were a shining star. If it was not there, I probably would have gone back to being a medical doctor.”

Yet, Robert Mondavi was there, and Hobbs applied his same curiosity for the medical field to the wine industry. In the vineyard and cellar, Hobbs pushed the envelope, and was surprised at the similarities that wine and biochemistry share.

In the wine bung project, Hobbs found something better than oak bungs, which split staves, caused seepage and exposed the wine to mold, and redwood bungs, which were more porous and gave off an unpleasant flavor.

A temporary solution led to redwood bungs being infused with hot wax, dipped in a hot fryer where the pressure created a better closure. Hobbs’ research had found a solution, but also led other winemakers to think there was a better way. Lifted from space-program technology, silicone became the ideal closure.

In 1979, Robert Mondavi chose Hobbs to be the first winemaker for Opus One. The Old World met the New World in California with Opus One, as the Mondavi family and the Rothschild family of Bordeaux, France, teamed up. It took six months of research just to get the cork set at uniform height without the use of paraffin.

“The Skunk Works was our little group, [an homage to the group] that developed the U-2 spy plane and stealth bomber; we were a splinter group studying in a bunker – we were hunkered down and didn’t even tell the Mondavi family the work we were doing. We did all kinds of research: the best way to sanitize a barrel, how to make the best wine; we looked at everything.”

The first vintage of the Paul Hobbs, George Menini Estate Pinot Noir 2021 ($95) is remarkable. The wine had raspberry and baking spice – specifically, ground clove on the nose with vanilla and creamy cigar wrapper accents. Raspberry, baking spice and blueberry pie flavors emerge on a medium-bodied red that is rich in flavor but juicy in mouthfeel. An elegant, majestic wine.

That vineyard is named after an apple farmer who owned the estate, and who passed away while driving a tractor on the property. Hobbs felt an instant connection; his father was an apple farmer, and the topography was perfect. It sloped west to east/northeast, where it turned away from the hot, afternoon sun and was close enough to Bodega Bay with a gap that ushered in fog.

“One of the things I love about pinot is that when they are really good they have this haunting type of character,” Hobbs said. “There’s something ancient about them, like when I see these old rocks with lichens on them in Europe, pinot speaks to me that way.”

At first, Hobbs’ intent was to only make single-vineyard wines. The Paul Hobbs Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2021 ($80) had pronounced black cherry flavors balanced out by black tea, sage and marjoram notes.

“As time went on and I started working with a few more growers, I saw some synergies, some symbiosis with doing some blending,” Hobbs said. “Appellation wines should be as solid as vineyard designates. It’s like an orchestra versus a soloist.

“They give a different emotional response because it’s two different paths by which to make a wine,” Hobbs said.

For over 40 years, Hobbs has carved out different paths that have covered vineyards across the world.

• James Nokes has been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Email him at jamesnokes25@yahoo.com.