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HISTORY

Nebil “Bilo” Zarif  Proprietor

Nebil “Bilo” Zarif, born and raised in Iskenderun, Turkiye, began his love for fine wine at a young age. Zarif studied in Turkiye, Lebanon, France, and England and later graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Denver in Colorado in 1978. He continued to study towards his master’s degree with a minor in Energy Management. Although his heart was in the wine industry early on, Zarif founded Rock Oil, an oil and gas company, in 1979 in Denver, Colorado where he lived. After Zarif built Rock Oil into a sizeable independent oil company, he sold Rock Oil in 1987. He then became the managing partner of Davco, an oil and commodities trading company out of New York, with his mentor Marvin Davis and the trader’s team from Solomon Brothers from 1987 to 1990. Zarif decided to operate a small cap take over and acquisition company under the name Zarif Companies. By 1992, Zarif wanted to explore his dream of ranch living outside of the city life and purchased a ranch in the Highlands of Santa Barbara County where his dreams of nature, horses and dogs came to life. Zarif went to study Viticulture at UC Davis where he brought vine-growing knowledge into his profile. His passion for fine and rare wines began in France with the support of his longtime friend and advisor, Pierre Elby, where he was introduced to the regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone Valley while studying in Paris. When Zarif settled into California in 1979, he directed his wine interests towards the prestigious wineries of Napa. During this time, Zarif began to discover the many fine growing regions of California. Captivated by the region’s natural beauty and the Mediterranean lifestyle reminiscent of home, Zarif returned regularly to explore the harvests of the Napa and Sonoma vineyards. As he learned more about Santa Barbara wines and the people that were producing them, Zarif became convinced that his future in the wine industry would be revealed in the diverse growing regions of the Central Coast. In 1993, Zarif acquired 250 acres of land in the Highlands of Santa Barbara, a serene high elevation region of Santa Barbara County. As a pioneer of one of the highest elevation vineyards in Santa Barbara, Zarif would develop Barnwood Vineyards to encompass more than 2,000 acres with 800 acres planted to vine, all warm climate varietals, mostly Bordeaux and Rhone varietals. It was during this same period that Zarif’s passion for wine would lead him to acquire the renowned Maison Deutz Winery in San Luis Obispo County with a partner he had met in the energy industry. Mr. Zarif expanded this property from 100 acres already planted to approximately 690 acres of cool climate planted vine that encompassed 1,800 acres of ranch land and raised the stature of their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, bearing the name Laetitia Vineyard & Winery. Under his direction during his tenure at Laetitia and Barnwood vineyards, he achieved his projected goals by converting a 40,000-case sparkling winery to a still winery with distribution all over the United States and overseas. Zarif also created several other brands, in particular “Avila”, and worked with Louis Mitjavile, a French winemaker from Tetre Roteboeuf in Saint-Emilion and Michele Pignarre Le Danois, who was a significant contributor to Summerland blends and for the Grand Jury of Jacques Lurey in Bordeaux, France. His most notable contributions to the California wine industry include planting one of the highest elevation commercial vineyards at over 3000 feet elevation in the state of California, which is by far the warmest and most conducive climate in Santa Barbara County for Rhone and Bordeaux varietals. He was also one of the first in California to implement the many Dijon clones of Pinot Noir found in the state-of-the-art vineyards that he developed at Laetitia to create one of the largest pinot noir vineyards in the region. Zarif’s vision to transform the former sparkling wine facility to that of a world recognized Pinot Noir producer became a reality at the 2001 Vinexpo when his 1999 Laetitia Pinot Noir Reserve received the Silver Medal in the prestigious Challenge du Vin. In 2002, Zarif sold his interests in Barnwood & Laetitia to pursue new and exciting endeavors, most notably Summerland Winery. Drawing upon years of experience in the southern region of the central coast, Summerland is dedicated to offering the best of the wine producing areas spanning from Santa Barbara to Monterey Counties. From the get-go, Summerland Winery was praised for its first releases of Bien Nacido Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah, respectfully getting top scores from the world renown wine writer and judge, Robert Parker, scoring 93 – 92 – 91 in 2002 as the first vintage under the Summerland label. Over the years, Summerland has enjoyed a tremendous amount of growth from 3,000 case production to 60,000 case production. Zarif’s most recent accomplishment has been planting and producing Summerland’s first Estate wine in a very dense vineyard known as Theresa-Noelle in 2007. After a great run with Summerland, Zarif sold the Summerland Brand. He retained ownership of the Theresa Noelle Vineyard and continued operating his estate Theresa Noelle vineyard since 2020. Zarif continues to produce Pinot Noir (Le Jardin) with winemakers Duncan Harmon at Terre et Sang and Joey Gummere at Transcendence Winery’s. He’s produced the 2020 & 2021 vintages with Duncan Harmon and is now working on the 2022 vintage with Joey Gummere. Enjoy these hand-crafted beautiful wines!

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For any inquiries,
feel free to contact us


 

Theresa Noelle Vineyard & Winery

Zarif Companies

9903 S. Santa Monica Blvd.

Suite 1021 

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

805-698-1838

info@theresanoelle.com

NO TASTING ROOM AT THIS TIME

Winery and Vineyard visitation by appointment only

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