Coz and Effect

“Hey, Mitch!” “Hey, Mitch!” Everyone at the PGA Merchandise Show wants a moment with Mitch Cosentino, as the affable, sprightly 56-year-old darts across the Orlando Convention Center. Is he this year’s hot new club designer? A swing mechanics guru? The guy who handles tickets at Augusta National?

He’s actually a winemaker. But what is he doing at the PGA Show and why do so many people seem to care? His friend and colleague, Jesse Ortiz, president and club designer for the Bobby Jones Golf Co., tries to explain.

“From woods to putters, Mitch has got the eye of a tour pro and he’s passionate about club design,” said Ortiz, who, like many other equipment manufacturers, listens when Cosentino speaks. “If he wasn’t making wine, he could walk into any club maker in the country and take over. He’s that good.”

Like thousands of other enthusiasts, Cosentino came to Orlando see what’s new and schmooze with old friends. Unlike most attendees, the Napa Valley vintner not only gets first crack at the new stuff, some of the equipment includes specifications he suggested.

“He is such a club connoisseur,” Ortiz said. “He has seen so many designs over the years and has such a vast collection of clubs, he can pick up things right away, knows what will and will not work. He’s really more of an historian of club design….Many companies run their designs by him because he has no ax to grind. He will tell you what he thinks, good or bad, and he can articulate his ideas about angles, radiuses, materials…or whatever.”

A lifelong bachelor, Cosentino puts all his energy into two things: wine and golf. “When I’m on the course, it is the only time I’m away from the wine business,” he admitted. So, it’s not surprising that he finds parallels between his two passions. It turns outs the subtle and sublime make all the difference in great winemaking and in a sweet golf swing.

“I have the God-given talent on how to put the pieces together to produce great wine,” Cosentino said. “You can’t just follow a recipe or even go by what tastes good in the barrel. In winemaking two plus two does not equal four. When you add something to the blend, you don’t always taste it, but it can make a big difference in the final product.”

Cosentino sees golf as a complex combination—a blend, if you will—of equipment, coordination, attitude and physical abilities. “Mentally, I really enjoy taking apart the game to its basic components,” he said. “Once you understand how each part functions, you can then see how things interact and influence the others….Often as not, it’s the least obvious detail that has the greatest impact.”

To make his point, Cosentino picks up a random driver at the PGA Show’s indoor driving range. He explains to several rapt bystanders that the way a driver head is shaped influences one’s eye and—for better or worse—alters the way a player draws the club back. Before tweaking a perfectly comfortable stance, adjusting the grip or addressing a swing (that happens to slice the ball more often than not), Cosentino would first take a peek at the golfer’s bag.

When he is not offering impromptu lessons on point of inertia physics and driver head flow, Cosentino oversees operations at five wineries in northern California, including Cosentino Winery in Yountville, the flagship for nearly 50 labels including his highly regarded M. Coz wine. A self-taught winemaker, Cosentino started dabbling in wine production during his short-but-successful career as a wine distributor in the mid-1970s. A quick study with an extraordinary palate, he was soon exchanging fermenting and blending tips with wine icons Myron Nightingale, Ed Sbragia and George Bursick.

Among his early successes was his ability to lend a deft touch to merlot wines, which had more established vintners asking him how he achieved his velvety texture without sacrificing complexity and intensity. “Not too long ago at a charity function, Ed Sbraigia [the long-time winemaker for Beringer Vineyards] was at the podium talking to the group when he saw me in the audience,” Cosentino said. “He pointed to me and said: ‘There’s the guy who taught me how to make merlot…and how to drink it, too.’”

But before wine, there was golf. Cosentino struck his first golf ball in 1959 and while the scratch golfer would like to say he was a natural, he can’t. “Golf was hard, but it was something I loved to do,” says Cosentino, a multi-sport high school athlete. “But you have to be willing to work hard at the things you like, otherwise they become frustrations and then you lose interest.”

Cosentino played on the golf team at California State-Sacramento, where he graduated in 1974 with a communications degree. He gave lessons on the side and seriously entertained a golf career after school. But even with a solid offer from Manteca Park Golf Course near Sacramento, he thought otherwise. “You work in the golf business and it destroys the love for the game. Winemaking, on the other hand, is a more of a lifestyle.”

It’s obvious Cosentino would give his eye teeth to put a PGA trophy on the mantel, but he harbors no regrets of choosing wine over golf. “One day I realized I just did not have the skill and I would always just be a field player….Working on my game became drudgery. I was putting in the time, but I wasn’t making headway. When I decided I wasn’t going to pursue the game as a profession, it came back for me. When [golf] isn’t everything, you begin to play better.”

Working at multiple wineries and maintaining a torrid travel schedule does not keep Cosentino off the course, but it does prohibit him from any serious tournaments. He still finds himself in several one-day money matches during the year and he sponsors the M. Coz Invitational. The two-day tournament, which he won in 2000, is held in Napa Valley for club pros, the occasional tour pro and top amateurs. And while the purse may not rival those on the PGA tour, the food and wine served at the winner’s banquet might be hard to match.

Merging his love for golf and wine, Cosentino produces beautifully etched, commemorative bottles for equipment makers, tournaments and golfing clubs. He always reserves one for himself to put in his wall of fame at his Napa Valley winery. The collection comprises nearly 100 bottles, which are prominently displayed in the tasting room.

His latest golf-wine blend brings 15-time PGA Tour winner Fred Couples into the mix. In a program similar to his Legends line of wines, which the winemaker produces with basketball great Larry Bird, Cosentino has partnered with the PGA star to make two new wines.

Couples, along with several business partners, wanted to get involved in the wine business. Naturally, they were pointed to Cosentino, who put together some blends in late 2008 for Couples to try.

“[Couples] flew into Napa straight from the Shark Shoot Out in December and we had a detailed meeting and tasting,” Cosentino said. “I was able to fine tune the wines we had with Freddie. After tasting with him, I knew we had wines that he had a hand in blending, but also wines that had a style that works artistically.”

One will be a Napa-based cabernet sauvignon blend ($50) and the other a sangiovese-cabernet sauvignon wine made in a Super Tuscan style ($30)—a tribute to their Italian heritages. The name of the wines and the labels, which will feature Couples and Cosentino, will be announced during Masters Week.

“Stylistically, it will be different from any of the other wines we do,” Cosentino said. “It is like a whole new start up. It will not be bolt-on or a line extension of our wines….It should make for an interesting Presidents Cup. The two captains, [Greg] Norman and Freddie, will have their own wines. Maybe there’ll be a little wine competition.”

As to which wine has the smart money on it, Cosentino’s long list of gold medals speak for themselves.

Cosentino chuckled when asked which wine would win. The golfing winemaker may or may not sink his ball in the cup ahead of the Shark, but don’t bet against Cosentino when it comes to putting his wine in a glass.

The Blended Facts

When Mitch Cosentino released his 1986 Poet, it was the first wine that bore the word “Meritage.” The term, which rhymes with heritage, was developed by American winemakers to indicate a blend using traditional Bordeaux varieties. Only members of The Meritage Association can use the term and the group requires that red wines be made from cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec grapes, with no variety exceeding 90 percent of the blend. Whether the wine is from Bordeaux or California, if you ever wondered what each grape adds to the final mix, Cosentino offers this primer:

Cabernet Sauvignon—It is the king of the grapes and provides the most structure and intensity.

Merlot—It provides finesse, elegance, spice and a velvety mouthfeel.

Cabernet Franc—I view it as the most important grape. It is a key component for aromatic qualities. It is the spice of the wine. It also provides additional depth and complexity that the others don't.

Petit Verdot—It helps set off the other grapes. It gives the wine a deep color, provides a tannic base, adds depth, but depending on the vintage and the vintner, it is not always needed or used.
Malbec—It adds an additional spice component and tends to brighten the wine in terms of acidity. It sometimes can add a tart fruit component, but is typically used in small amounts.