Wine Writers’ Symposium

Tod Mostero has been Director of Viticulture and Winemaking at Dominus Estate since 2007 and at Ulysses since 2008.

Born in Southern California, Mostero studied architecture at Tulane University, and viticulture and enology at the Lycee de Blanquefort and the University of Bordeaux.  He has trained at Chateau Haut-Brion, Opus One and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. He met Christian Moueix for the first time in 1998 when he interned at Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion.

Following his studies, Mostero was named Technical Director of Domaine de Lambert in 2000, and was responsible for renovating this estate that the baroness Philippine de Rothschild and her family acquired in the Languedoc region of France.  In 2004, he became Winemaker for Vina Almaviva (Maipo, Chile), a joint venture between Vina Concha y Toro and Baron Philippe de Rothschild.  After studying and working abroad for eleven years, he returned to California to work with Christian Moueix and today manages both Dominus Estate and, more recently, Ulysses Vineyard, acquired by the Moueix family in 2008.

Mostero believes that wine has a capacity to communicate the unique qualities of a place, and that the greatest responsibility of a winemaker is to be in touch with, understand and respect the vineyard where their wine is made.  His winemaking approach is founded on careful observation and minimal, targeted intervention.

“Christian Moueix has been my guide, the greatest example of a perfect winemaker: clear, exacting and profoundly devoted to the land.”