Our Team
We are fueled by the possibility of discovering something new. It’s in our heritage, and in our DNA. We are here to make wine our way: without compromise. To create something exceptional.
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Arpad Molnar, Co-Founder & Managing Partner
When Arpad came across the coffee table book, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture, it literally changed his life. “That was my ‘go for it’ moment when I decided to pursue endeavors in agriculture full time,” says Arpad. “Forests, vineyards, and entrepreneurship combine all my loves: nature, weather, growing, long-term thinking and creativity.”
During the wonder years, Arpad spent weekends riding three-wheelers over mounds of pumice at the family vineyard where his dad grew grapes for Napa Valley wineries. In the early ’90s, he and his brother Peter moved to Budapest, Hungary and began exporting barrels from a cooperage which sourced wood from the storied Tokaj forest. Today this cooperage, Kádár Hungary, is the company’s exclusive supplier of oak and is owned by the Molnar family, in partnership with the Taransaud cooperage. Arpad teamed up with Peter and winemaker Michael Terrien to found Obsidian Wine Co., after discovering an old abandoned walnut orchard half a mile above sea level in the high Mayacamas Range of California’s North Coast; an ideal site, they suspected, to grow mountain fruit. They vinified their first 98 cases of Obsidian Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon in 2002, and their first Poseidon Vineyard Chardonnay the following year.
Before beginning his entrepreneurial adventures in wine, Arpad graduated from UCLA and Harvard Business School. Along the way, he picked up skills in strategy, operations, and finance, working for GE, The Boston Consulting Group and the obligatory technology start-up.
When he’s not managing Obsidian Wine Co., Arpad can be found behind the controls of a Diamond Star DA40. “I have a deep passion for piloting. Besides the joy of flight itself, piloting requires care, judgement, planning, and discipline. But flight also means ultimate freedom—you get to chart your own course. Part science, part art, it’s a unique combination—not unlike building a barrel, making wine, or growing a company.”
Michael Terrien, Co-founder
After briefly considering a long-line swordfishing career in his home state of Maine, Michael headed west to California, where restaurant work piqued his interest in winemaking. It was around this time that he met Peter Molnar through a mutual friend. They met for a drink, and by the second had decided to make some wine together, starting with just a few dozen cases for friends and family. Meanwhile, Michael earned a degree in Enology at U.C. Davis and made wine at Acacia and Hanzell under the tutelage of some industry greats. The discovery of an abandoned orchard of bonsaied walnut trees on a steep ridge half a mile above sea level in the Mayacamas Mountains was a delicious turning point. Together with Peter’s brother, Arpad Molnar, the three founded what is today Obsidian Wine Co.; vinifying their first 98 cases of Obsidian Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon in 2002 and their first Chardonnay from Poseidon Vineyard the following year.
Peter Molnar, Co-founder
Peter began his adventures in wine as a teenager, suckering and tying vines and driving irrigation tractors during summers in the vineyard where his father grew grapes for Napa Valley wineries. He moved to Budapest, Hungary in 1990, working in the World Bank and USAID programs to privatize the country’s wine industry after the fall of communism. In the four years before returning home to manage the family vineyard in 1994, Peter helped build a winery, started a négociant company, and began collaborating with Kádár Hungary, a cooperage located in the renowned Tokaj region, that the Molnars now own, in partnership with the de Pracomtal family of Taransaud Cooperage, in Cognac. In 1995, the Molnars teamed up with winemaker Michael Terrien to vinify their first Pinot Noir from Poseidon Vineyard, aged in Kádár barrels. They discovered an abandoned walnut orchard on the volcanic slopes of the high Mayacamas Mountains of Lake County, California in 1998; an ideal site, they believed, to grow mountain fruit. After planting in 1999 and 2000, they debuted their first Obsidian Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon in 2002 and their first Poseidon Vineyard Chardonnay the following year.
When not in the vineyards or at the cooperage, Peter travels to winemaking regions around the world to collaborate with barrel customers. A lifelong sailor and open water swimmer, Peter is also a licensed Merchant Marine Captain and Master who applies his skills and experience to support and fund marine conservation, working with San Francisco Baykeeper, Point Blue’s Farallon Patrol and the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience. He resides in Berkeley with his wife, Jess, twins, Eszter and Gabriel, and dog, Jericho.
Alex Beloz, Winemaker
For Alex Beloz, a college apprenticeship in Siena, Italy was the beginning of a love affair with wine culture that persists to the current day.
Casey Graybehl, Production Director and R&D Winemaker
I play the banjo and as a wise man once said, “A gentleman is someone who knows how to play the banjo and doesn’t.”
Corey Bunnewith, National Accounts Director
After a failed education in Baking and Pastry arts, I was inspired by a more useful kind of fermentation—of grapes. Balthazar, Hemingway, and Jimmy Buffett’s “Tin Cup Chalice” all brought me to where I am today.
Douglas Thompson, Experience Director
I have an overdeveloped ability to nickname my family’s outfits. Examples? Comfortable Sea Monster, Detective in a Mid-sized City, Custom Cabinets, Janice.
Gladys Trujillo, Cellar
I’m a cellar worker. I’m the assistant to the assistant of the assistant. I top barrels, rack wines and fill barrels. My favorite part of the job is during harvest, when I prepare yeast for fermentation.
Gwen Larson, Grape Nut
As a baby I crawled backwards first. I learned to rock climb blindfolded while sabering a bottle of Champagne…ok, not together but they did happen.
Jennifer La Rosa, Sales Director, Western US
Born in the Midwest, powered by spreadsheets, 90s hip hop, and Champagne—and a firm belief that good wine, good music, and a day at the coast can fix anything, except my habit of saying ‘ope’ when squeezing past people
Kelcie Rico, Soil Mate
You could say I’m a ‘wanderlush’…always looking for my next travel adventure and glass of wine.
Lea Nesvold, Direct to Consumer Coordinator
Some of my favorite things include hiking with my dog Harper, cycling classes, and a glass or two of bubbly on the weekends. Maybe not all at the same time but I wouldn’t be opposed to trying…
Mary Rogers, Customer Relations Director
I like to change lyrics to popular songs and sing them to my Pomeranian, Ginger. Like “Sweet Ginger-Pie” to the tune of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” and “Ginger Gee” based on Grease’s “Sandra Dee.”
Rene Bolanos, Cellar Foreman
My brother worked in a winery and would bring wine home. Sometimes I would steal a bottle to share with my friends. We didn’t like the taste of wine, so we would mix it with soda. I’ve come a long way.
Sarah De Lima, Accounting & Sales Associate
I love my Pitbull Lillian and fine art in the form of tattoos.
Susan Sueiro, General Director
I got my start in this business as cashier at my father’s cheese shop. I was around seven.
Vangie Llanos, Financial Controller
Not all people from Napa are in the wine business, but I’m from Napa … and in the wine business.