Raised in Los Angeles, Eric graduated from California State University at Long Beach with a degree in food science and a minor in chemistry. His career began as a wine buyer at The Wine Country, a noted wine retailer in the Long Beach area. Mohseni aided in managing an extensive collection of wines while developing his knowledge of wine and the wine consumer.

In 1997, Eric took a sabbatical from wine retail, to work a harvest at Edna Valley Vineyards. There, he had his first dose of winemaking. “I will never forget the aromas from barreling down new wine into a new oak barrel. It gave me goose bumps.” In 1999, he furthered his winemaking knowledge by serving as a member of the harvest crew of Esk Valley Estate in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand’s fifth largest vineyard. Eric credits both of these experiences with igniting his passion for hands-on winemaking.

In 2001, Eric joined Zaca Mesa as Enologist. Over the years, he worked his way up to Assistant Winemaker, then to Associate Winemaker and finally to Head Winemaker in July 2008. Since joining Zaca Mesa, he has helped fine-tune the wine quality, and has refined the winery’s style resulting in wines that have character, integrity, and a sense of place.

After becoming Head Winemaker in 2008, Eric took a special interest in replanting the vineyard. The first challenge presented itself in the Chapel G block which was planted in 2008 and then replanted with 3.5 acres of Mourvèdre and 14.3 acres of Syrah. This created the second high density plantings of Syrah for Zaca Mesa and the first high density block of Mourvèdre on the property. This planting also brought in 4 new clones of Syrah, and one new clone of Mourvèdre. Later in 2012, Eric continued to improve the quality of Zaca Mesa’s vineyards by planting the Mesa C block with 18.5 acres of high density Syrah.

Eric lives in Orcutt with his rescue bulldog Ichi. When Eric is not thinking of wine (which is rare) he enjoys quail hunting, trap and range shooting, cooking, traveling, and collecting a wide variety of music and film.