Jim Fore was drafting piping schematics for submarines at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard when the closure was announced around 1994, and the shortlist for what came next included chicken farming in Ohio and catfish and cucumbers in Lodi. He chose grapes — he had already taken first place in the home winemaking division of the Napa Town and Country Fair in 1986 — and went to work learning to develop vineyards under grower Doug Hill. Priced out of Napa by 2000, he found a Cobb Mountain property in Lake County through an old friend; his first reaction on seeing it was that you'd have to be crazy to farm somewhere that high and that exposed. He, his wife Diane and son Eric bought 100 acres off Bottle Rock Road and planted seventeen to Grenache Blanc, Albariño, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. The first Cobb Mountain vintage was 2005, production runs about 1,000 cases, and the tasting room opened in Kelseyville in 2016.