Not too long ago, we were DROWNING in samples here, taking one for the team, doing our damnedest best to dig through them, throwing our livers out onto the line of fire for you, in search of the best of the best, for our busiest season, on our busiest year yet, since our inception in 2007, blah, blah, blah…

Among them, stood a unique vertical with artsy labels going back to the 2009 vintage, that had its ups and downs, with some rustic and tired, but one that rose WAY above the others. Today, you are looking at it. Little did we know, that “Ossessione” was the magnum opus of a lifelong obsession, as the name perfectly implies, to make and source the best possible wines for Mosby’s ardent admirers since his humble beginnings in the 1960s.

A gorgeous color greets the eye, a shy crimson perhaps, turning garnet, turning a deep brick on the rim. Intense on the nose, with ripe black cherries, brambly berries, hints of herbs, tar, and bacon building up to a complex palate. Brings forth plum and prune, with dusty, earthy tannins taming it all to smoothness on the superb and seamless finish, thanks to some age and especially at this price, it rocks. Perfect with porchetta, aged cheeses, salami, long-simmered tomato, or even better, truffle sauced pasta.

In the early 1990s, Robert Parker defined his style precisely: “One has to admire the interesting group of wines offered by Bill Mosby… big, chunky, husky wines with tremendous reserves of fruit, unctuous, dense textures, fine body, and peppery, spicy, ripe fruit… they are attractive, full-bodied, rustic wines for drinking with your favorite Italian dishes. They have the requisite concentration to last…” Tremendous consistency too, may we add, nothing seems to have changed!

The local newspaper Lompoc Record conveys Mosby’s story best: “Having become infatuated with the unique wine varieties grown in Italy, which he drank with the winemakers, he decided to bring home vine cuttings. He explained that the soils in his estate vineyards are similar to those in Italy. He called this ‘dumb luck.’ There’s nothing dumb about this passionate, down-to-earth winemaker, who doesn’t brag but he’s one of Santa Barbara County’s modern wine industry pioneers.”

Throughout his fruitful life, and up until his last, every year Bill traveled to Italy, not only to continue his education and pursue his hedonism but to hunt down unique wines that simply could not be replicated in Santa Barbara. Enter close friend and agronomist Dr. Marco Cavalieri, with whom he collaborated for growing Ossessione in Marche, making it there and importing it to the US. This one of a kind “bridge” of a red wine connects Ancona with Buellton.

There are no rating or reviews on this wine, nor is there a vintage chart for Marche, however, Tuscany is next door, and Wine Spectator’s assessment provides the clues to justify why this wine is so outstanding as “extreme weather produced rich, concentrated wines with ripe fruit and freshness; the best have the structure to age.”

For $16, this Montepulciano brings it home, ready to go with a weekday pizza or pasta feast. It is one of those wines that cuts back on the thinking, while it encourages the drinking. As if 50+ percent off wasn’t enough to do that.

This’ll move fast.