Mountain View resident owns winery with siblings

Jun 14, 2023

Christine Moore and daughter Annabel enjoy time at Moore's winery, Teac Mor.

I posted to Facebook April 16 asking for suggestions of what our readers want to see in the Food & Wine section. The answer became clear: Christine Moore.

"We adore Christine Moore's contributions!!" wrote Joy Sheerer.

"Ditto on Christine Moore's articles. Love good recipes and wine pairings," responded Rachel Haydon.

And while I knew Moore, author of the Town Crier's "Silicon Sips" column, was a foodie and excellent writer, I would have never guessed that she also owns a winery.

Located in Sonoma County on the same 50-acre land she and her three siblings grew up on, Teac Mor is a family-owned micro boutique winery. Pronounced "Chawk Mor," Teac Mor is Gaelic for "Big House" and refers to the two-story house Moore's great-grandfather built in Glenamaddy, Ireland. The house became a staple in the community and a place where people would engage in deep conversations with one another.

"We really feel community is at the core of our winery," Moore said. "We love it when people open a bottle of wine and sit by the fire on their back patio and have fabulous conversation with their friends."

Teac Mor winery, located in Sonoma County, is on the same land that Christine Moore and her three siblings grew up on.

Moore and her three siblings established Teac Mor in 2006 on the same land they grew up raising cattle, sheep, ducks, chickens and peacocks on.

When all four siblings left for college, Moore's father, who owned a construction company, planned to build housing on the land, but the Army Corps of Engineers said the land had to stay agricultural. So, in 1999, he decided to plant grapes, selling the fruit to other

wineries.

By 2006, the four siblings realized they had complementary skills that would allow them to run their own winery. Moore's younger brother, a farmer, would tend the crops; Moore's older brother, an attorney, would make the wine; Moore's sister, a tax attorney, would take on the finances; and Moore, a writer, would handle the marketing.

Agriculture meets art

Christine Moore received her Level 1 Sommelier certification to better understand wine as a co-owner of Teac Mor.

A Level 1 Sommelier, Moore said she loves wine because it's the intersection of agriculture and art. In terms of agriculture, Moore and her siblings work hard to ensure biodynamic farming practices to keep the land healthy.

"The art part of it comes from nurturing the fruit from fermentation into the bottle," she said. "My younger brother sings to all the fruit. He considers them his children. He's out there talking to the vines and interacting with them."

But owning a winery isn't without its challenges. In 2020, Teac Mor lost its entire harvest to smoke taint, which is when smoke gets into the fruit, and in 2022, Teac Mor lost 99% of its harvest due to unexpected frost.

"The joke is if we’d decided to start growing grass-fed beef, we’d probably be much more profitable at this point," Moore said. "But we just kind of thought, ‘Let's do it more for the passion, the art of it than the financial success.’"

And it seems Moore's passion for wine is contagious. When I talked with a Los Altos resident who frequently purchases Teac Mor, he was so passionate about his love for the wine that he bought me a bottle because I "simply had to try it."

"My wife and I have been through many cases," Michael Boennighausen said. "My wife hands it out as gifts because it's a very good wine, but it's not one that you see all over the place."

He said the only issue with Teac Mor is learning to pronounce the name.

"If you go into the store, do you ask for ‘Chawk Mor’ because that's the way it's pronounced or do you ask for ‘Teac Mor’ because the clerk might not be up on his Irish vocabulary?" Boennighausen said.

Teac Mor's wines can be purchased by the bottle at Draeger's and Ava's Market or by the glass at Redwood Grill at Rancho Shopping Center.

Moore said she hopes to increase production of wine so she no longer has to sell the fruit she grows to other wineries. She also hopes to make and sell grappa, a liquor made out of the mash, and establish a tasting room.

For more information on Teac Mor, visit teacmor.com.

Hi, my name is Adrienne Mitchel, and I lead the Food and Wine section and social media. I have a passion for food journalism and love to travel.

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