Our Beginnings
How it happened!
It’s hard to know where Lobo Hills started. Did it start with the driver not seeing Tony on his bike that sunny April day? His recovery included a realignment of priorities as well as bones. Or did it occur the day Diana and Tony rode their bikes along the vineyards of Napa Valley, half-joking to ourselves that “This is it, this is where we’re going to be!” on our honeymoon? It would be thirty years before we would make wine of our own. The beginning is perhaps hard to trace because we have always known deep down that we were made to do something different. Something on our own.
The path wasn’t always obvious, and the route has seen twists and turns for both Tony and Diana, but the cardinal direction has always been true. It’s why when Tony came home after getting laid off and said “I’ve got good news and bad news,” Diana’s response was, “this is a sign that we need to keep making wine.” The panic waited till the next day, but the belief never wavered. It’s this belief that keeps us making wine, and making new friends with whom we share it.
Meet Tony
One bright Sunday afternoon in April, Tony Dollar was riding his road bike down a hill when a driver of a large car turned left, into him. Waking in Harborview Medical Center's emergency room, lying on a gurney, he found out that he had flipped over the hood, landing on his head, fracturing his spine.
It’s true, what they say about near-death experiences. Priorities shift. He found himself contemplating what is truly important: his faith, his family, and where he wanted to spend the remaining years of his life. In reflection, the best moments of his life have been spent in community with friends and family, drinking wine and eating food. He had detoured from wine. Now, he found himself back home, now making this fantastic beverage and bringing it to you.
Tony attended the Northwest Wine Academy, focusing on wine making. His wine roots go back to his college days where he ran tours out of one of California’s first wineries, Almaden Vineyards in San Jose, California. From there, he traveled to Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland and the Netherlands, before returning to San Jose and J. Lohr Winery. There, he ran the tasting room and served as Hospitality Director. One day, bored with tasting rooms, he bought a VW van – inspired by On the Road and Travels with Charlie and toured the country before settling in Seattle. This is where he found wine to be the most promising. He served briefly as a wine steward at the world-renown Canlis Restaurant, left to write, wrote, and now he’s back in the business, but this time making wine… wine that he hopes you find to be full of promise and flavor.
A Fun Fact: Lobo Hills was named after Tony’s childhood dog, Lobo.
