Wine with Bobby

from Cullman County Good Life Magazine - Winter 22

Good Cooking

Make yourself at home with the Moodys’ German heritage and warm southern hospitality, and maybe even try your hand at.. Making wine with Bobby & Bobo

Story by Steve A. Maze Photos by David Moore

Irealized I had arrived at my destination when I was met in the driveway by Bobby and Dale Moody and their Blue Tick hound, Bobo. Situated off Logan Road, the beautiful 40 acres the couple have called home for more than a half century was part of an inheritance from Bobby’s mother, Evelyn York.

It felt like … home.

The outdoor gathering spot for friends and relatives is the 80-plus-year-old water well situated at the end of their driveway. The well was originally covered by a one-room log cabin but now sits underneath an attractive gazebo.

“We actually used the well when Dale and I first married,” says Bobby. “The windlass that draws up the bucket was actually built by Hilmar Peinhardt, one of Cullman’s first settlers.”

Under the front lip of the gazebo are two ladderback rocking chairs. To be invited to sit in one is to know you are welcome.

“You’re home when you come here,” Bobby says, as he waves one arm around the water well and immaculately kept grounds.

When their son, Brad – now a local surgeon – was in college, up to 26 of his fellow students and friends would crash in the Moodys’ basement during the holidays. I’m sure they felt at home, too.

“We treated them as our own and they were comfortable here,” Bobby says. “They called us Mr. Bobby and Mama Dale, and they still stay in touch.”

It didn’t stop there. Wine ends up being part of the reason.

Most of those friends now have their own families and homes, but other generations also visit the Moody’s to enjoy their hospitality.

“We had 78 of our church senior circle group come to visit for our first grandson’s birthday,” says Dale. “Family is the most important thing to us, but everyone is family when they come to visit.” The Moodys’ deep German roots extend back to the Peinhardts in the late 1800s. Having such German heritage means having a “taste” for making great quality wine. Bobby’s grandmother, Alma Peinhardt York, was a wine connoisseur and the inspiration for his adventure into wine making.

Like the Moody family, many people in Cullman County have German roots. Bobby learned the wine making process from Eddie Peinhardt, but was inspired by his grandmother, Alma York. Most German families grew grapes, scuppernongs, Though the Moodys don’t use the old well in their yard since muscadines, etc., when they first settled the area.they got running water years ago, but, as Bobby demonstrates, “As a teenager, I helped they can still crank up a bucket of good, clear water. Eddie with making wine, and he probably learned it from his dad, E.O. Peinhardt,” Bobby says. “I remember Eddie driving a horse and wagon down the muddy Section Line Road (now Logan Avenue) to the warehouse district in Cullman to sell his grapes.” Wine isn’t just mashing up grapes. The tending, harvesting and Mother Nature have a lot to do with the quality of taste. “The amount of rain received in June determines the quality of the berries and

Bobby Moody has a little fun with Bobo as they walk between some of his vines to the side of his and Dale’s house. His grapes and other berries were just beginning to bloom the first of April when these photos were taken.

grapes,” Bobby says. “Too much rain causes blight. It also takes three to four months for the wine to set after it is made.”

Bobby began growing grapes in the 1960s to make wine as a hobby. He soon became known for his high quality grape wine and is constantly perfecting the process. Now people come from many miles around to get his wine.

“Our son, Brad, is the one who suggested we make a variety of wines instead of just grape,” says Bobby.

In addition to purple grapes, they now produce white grapes, muscadines, scuppernongs and others. An assortment of home grown blueberries, blackberries and strawberries add further variety to his wines. The 30 grape vines and berry plants grown on the Moody farm produce anywhere from 30-50 gallons of wine per year.

Bobby also teaches others the art of wine making in order for the rich tradition to be passed along to other generations.

“I’ve never sold a bottle of wine,” Bobby states. “I give it away to friends and neighbors as gifts. We attend the Christ Lutheran Church in Cullman and many of those people have a deep German heritage. In fact, it was entirely German when the church was formed. Each of them gets a bottle of wine to put in their Christmas stockings each year.”

Racks of wine age in the Moody’s basement along with 5-gallon carboys of wine that sit up for 90 days. They contain whatever juice they want, 12 pounds of sugar plus yeast to ensure the sugar is broken down into alcohol –12-18 percent Moody Vineyards. A “thumper” in the mouth of the carboy allows pressure to bleed off during the process. Below, retired banker Don Hubbard, a friend of the family and fan of Bobby’s wine, helps with the crushing process to extract the juice from the grapes. Below left, are some of Bobby’s beautiful Catawba grapes.

Red Star is the yeast Bobby uses. Potassium sorbate goes into the carboy about two weeks before bottling to stop the yeast process. The other packet is a yeast energizer his son uses in brewing beer.

Bobby and Dale are almost selfsufficient on their farm, which includes 25-30 head of cattle at any one time. Bobby has his own mini-processing plant, smokehouse and cooler on premises where he processes deer sausage and pork. The generous couple share that bounty with friends and neighbors as well.

Bobby has also had an on-site sawmill for the past 22 years. Much of the wood for buildings located on the property began life as lumber from his sawmill or repurposed wood from other buildings.

The wine cellar in the basement of their home is constructed of cedar rafters and floor joists resurrected from a barn with the original saw markings on them. Rows of various wines are neatly placed in the handmade cedar wine rack, and some of the walls are repurposed lumber from their own old barn.

The wine cellar contains a pool table, deer mounts, old advertising signs and other nostalgic items along the walls. It is also where Dale stores her canned items, such as kraut, green beans, pink-eyed purple hull peas, tomatoes, pickles, etc. Two chest-type freezers are full of meat, pecans, veggies and other food items.

Dale and Bobby are two of the most down-to-earth people you will ever meet. Their farm and home is like those from the past – it contains a bit of history, a bit of nostalgia and a lot of southern hospitality.

I can picture their holiday meals looking like a dinner-on-the-ground church service with everyone happy and smiling. It’s a place where you feel home on the first visit. You don’t even have to take off your shoes to come inside.

It is apparent that Bobby and Dale’s farm is not just a piece of land, house and gorgeous outbuildings. Nor is it just a place to grow food and cattle, make wine or enjoy as a gathering spot. It is a place to grow relationships. It is a place to cultivate their heritage. It is their soul.

Good Life Magazine