JAN HOHMEISTER
Jan Hohmeister was born and raised in Germany, but has been living abroad since his early twenties. After studying journalism and literature in Boston, USA, he lived in Madrid, Spain and Paris, France and finally settled down in Liguria, Northern Italy.
In his autodidactic style he learned about the crafts of wine making, planted his own little vineyard with different grape varietals and tried various maceration styles. After ten interesting years he took over an old Nebbiolo vineyard near Barolo, Piedmont and started to blend his Ligurian grapes with the noble Northern berries. In the following years, he also added grapes from Provence to his list and started to sell his blends to a small list of wine enthusiasts.
Ever since then, he’s been chasing the dream to create wild and interesting blends from all over Europe. After meeting Roberto Orsi, who contributed the professional base for a meaningful production, the team of the Vagabondo family has grown by more interesting characters, which Jan found on his travels through Europe.
Roberto Orsi
Coming from a viticultural background, Roberto studied for six years Enology and Viticulture in Alba, Piemonte. After that, he frequented for two more years the Facultà Agraria di Torino for a specialization in viticultur & enology leading concequently to the title of an enologist. From '91 to '96 he moved to the Tenuta Cannona - Centro Sperimentale Vitivinicolo della Regione Piemonte. Here Roberto was able to experiment with micro fermentation processes on numerous varietals.
In 1996 his father let him choose, to either sell the family vineyard close to Aqui Terme or to take it over. He decided to keep the land and moved from the lab to the countryside. The vineyard has grown to 40 hectars (99 acres) in the Alto Monferrato zone South-East of the Piedmont region.
Even though Roberto is not a man for big titles, it should be mentioned that he is also part of the government-licensed personnel, which hands out the DOC & DOCG seals, guaranteeing a wines quality. In his words: "It's a way to compare what's out there."
Roberto's intimate relationship to his wines is best shown on his impeccable vineyards. "My roots are in the viticulture not enology," sounds almost controversial, regarding his incredible knowledge of the wine cosmos.
Dr. Henry (Hoby) Wedler (Ph.D. of Organic Chemistry, University of California, Davis)
Dr. Henry “Hoby” Wedler has been completely blind since birth. He just completed his Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of California, Davis, he is the founder and director of the nonprofit Accessible Science, and he is a food and beverage sensory expert. Hoby found his passion for food, drink and how they relate to the senses when he began hosting truly blind wine and beer experiences in 2011. Hoby grew up in Petaluma, California where early on he fell in love with beautiful Sonoma County. When he’s not busy pursuing his academic studies or leading his blind or visually impaired chemistry camp students in conducting hands-on organic lab experiments through touch and smell, he turns his attention to food and drink – where he’s most passionate about flavor, accurate flavor descriptors, and how flavor and aroma relate to science.
In 2012, Hoby was one of only fourteen individuals honored at the White House when he was named one of President Barack Obama’s Champions of Change for enhancing educational and employment opportunities for Americans with disabilities.
In 2016, Hoby’s work in the food and drink industry was generously recognized by Forbes Magazine when he was named one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in the food and drink category. This prestigious honor is granted to 300 individuals from around the world all under 30 years of age across ten categories, making a total of 30 individuals per category. Hoby was also recently recognized as one of the Sacramento Business Journal’s 2016 40 under 40 recipients. Hoby completed his Ph.D. in December, 2016 and is now working full-time in the food and drink industry.