Jim Moore, a veteran of the California wine
industry with over thirty years experience, is the proprietor and winemaker of
l’Uvaggio di Giacomo. The company’s name loosely translates as “The Blend of
James” and he established it starting with the 1997 vintage to produce and
market his own distinctive Cal-Italian styled wines. Also since 1998 he has also
worked to develop and define the wines for seven other producers located in the
Napa Valley and one prominent producer based in Santa Cruz, serving as the
winemaker with each. All these wineries vinify Italian varieties or
produce ‘Mediterranean’ styled wines.
Moore graduated from UCLA in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and History. While still a student he began working with wine as a clerk, eventually becoming the manager of Wally’s in West Los Angeles, a renowned retailer of fine wines. His exposure to the world of fine wine motivated him to follow a path that led to actual winemaking, so he moved to the Napa Valley in 1976. For the next three harvests Moore gained ‘hands-on’ experience working for several small producers, eventually becoming the assistant winemaker at the original incarnation of Villa Mt. Eden in February of 1978.
Then in September of 1979, Moore joined the Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, beginning a nineteen year tenure at California’s most famous winery. During his first ten years there, he held a variety of wine production and supervisory positions. In 1988, Moore was promoted to Barrel Operations Enologist and achieved his long-held goal of working within their renowned winemaking department. Also during this period Moore continued his formal education by taking wine and business courses at UC Davis, which he pursued for the next seven years.
By 1992, Moore became a Variety Program Manager at Mondavi. In this capacity, he helped develop Mondavi’s new line of Burgundian inspired Carneros wines, reintroduced a Napa Valley Zinfandel to their portfolio, and revamped the wine style and packaging for Mondavi’s Moscato d’Oro, a proprietary dessert wine. He also created the brand La Famiglia di Robert Mondavi and its satellite brand named Bocce in California while helping to develop both Luce and Lucente from Tuscany, the latter a collaborative effort with the Frescobaldi family of Florence.
Moore’s work with Mondavi earned many accolades. Two of the Zinfandels he crafted in Oakville were honored by their inclusion in the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the Year and one bottling of Luce garnered a prestigious “tre bicchiere” (three glasses) rating from the Gambero Rosso wine guide, Italy’s pre-eminent wine review.
Toward the end of his tenure at Mondavi, Moore was promoted to Assistant Winemaker. He worked with the Director of Winemaking to help elevate the quality of Mondavi’s entire Napa Valley portfolio and investigated new winemaking techniques, some of which were integrated into their massive and ambitious fermentation cellar renovation.
In 1998, Moore left Mondavi to further develop l’Uvaggio di Giacomo and to broaden his base of experience. Currently he is the general manager and winemaker for a new small Napa Valley winery that planted its first vineyards in 2005 and is constructing a cellar for production starting with the 2006 vintage.
Moore resides in Napa and is a professional
member of the American Society of Enology & Viticulture and is a founding member
and director of the Consorzio Cal-Italia. In addition to his formal winemaking
training and education, Moore has traveled extensively through Burgundy and
Bordeaux in France, in addition to numerous trips to Tuscany. He has also
traveled through northern Italy, including Umbria, Piemonte, Trentino, and
Friuli. During his frequent European wine-related visits he has walked the
vineyards, immersed himself in the regional grape varieties and winemaking
techniques, studied coopering and the use of cooperage in these diverse regions.