Three Fat Guys: How a trio of ex-Packers formed a bond and started a wine label -

What ultimately began as an indulgent hobby 13 years ago for three Green Bay Packers offensive linemen has matured into a serious winemaking endeavor.

Former Packers Tony Moll, Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz began Three Fat Guys wine together by producing 100 cases for friends and family, teammates and themselves.

Drafted together in 2006, the three quickly developed a strong bond and decided they wanted to produce something together they could all enjoy long after their playing days ended.

Thus was born the series of fine wines with the hilarious name.

More than a decade later, the label has morphed into a maturing business. With Moll out front providing the lead block, Three Fat Guys is producing 1,500 cases per year and has immediate plans to double production. Moll also opened a tasting room in Sonoma, Calif., and ideally would like to expand to other spirit-related projects with Colledge and Spitz, including vodka, bourbon and beer.

“We started this over drinks and napkins,” said Colledge, who played five seasons with the Packers and, along with Spitz, won a Super Bowl. “To see it become what it is now, it’s crazy to think about it. In all reality, the sky is the limit for the business. Tony is the big dreamer out of the group and he sees it being a big thing. It’s just a matter of how much time and energy you want to put into it and how much you’re willing to sacrifice to grow the company. Tony has found a way to jump in with both feet and make it his life.”

A fifth-generation Northern Californian whose great-grandparents grew grapes in Healdsburg after moving from Italy in the early 1900s, Moll always thought he’d wind up in the wine industry.

He intended to return to Sonoma after college until a position switch to offensive tackle before his senior year at University of Nevada resulted in a career detour.

Moll played well enough that the Packers selected him in the fifth round (165th overall) of the 2006 draft. In somewhat of a rare occurrence, the Packers, who were looking to revamp their offensive front, used two other picks on linemen that year. Green Bay also selected Colledge, out of Boise State, in the second round with the 47th overall pick and took Spitz, from Louisville, in the third round at No. 75.

Offensive linemen generally are thought of as being among the closest-knit teammates in the NFL. Bonding is a necessity. If you can’t hang out and get along, how are you expected to form a wall to protect the quarterback and create holes for the running game?

As such, it didn’t take long for the three rookies to become close.

“Bond is a strong word,” Spitz said with a laugh. “I don’t know if it was instantaneous, but it wasn’t very far off. Shit, we all bought houses so we were within a certain distance of each other.”

As if the rookies weren’t aware of the uniqueness of their situation and how well they got along, their older teammates often pointed it out. Not only did veterans Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher take the trio under their wings, they made sure Moll, Spitz and Colledge realized they were in a rare position during group dinners. During those pregame dinners, Moll, Spitz and Colledge realized wine was yet another subject they had in common.

“You’d hear from the older guys,” Moll said. “’You guys are friends now, but just wait. You’re going to go to different teams and you’ll lose touch.’ … ‘We’ve got to do something about this that’s fun to keep our friendship going.’

“There were always some great conversations happening around wine. It wasn’t anything over the top, like winos. It was more like, ‘Hey, have you had this wine from Italy called Brunello?’ You could tell all three of us enjoyed wine. It made it pretty easy to say, ‘This is what we should do.’”

The motorized scooter brigade started in the summer of 2007 or 2008.

Having quickly developed a friendship on the field, the group become inseparable off it. They all decided to purchase homes near one another within three miles of Lambeau Field and the Packers training facilities.

Then they bought scooters.

“We’d start the chain at Daryn’s house,” Spitz said. “He’d work to Tony’s and then Tony’s to mine and my place to the stadium. We were thick as thieves.”

Every day for an entire summer, the trio rode their scooters to the office. Suffice it to say, teammates had fun at the expense of their front line.

“I had no idea we’d end up on scooters,” Colledge said. “If you’d told me I’d be riding a $400 scooter to work every day for the whole summer I probably would have laughed in your face. Most people did laugh in our face for doing it, but we kind of did most things to the beat of our own drum.”

Moll, Spitz and Colledge had been making noise since the moment they arrived. Though rookie head coach Mike McCarthy described Moll as a fringe prospect, the first-year lineman was versatile enough to move around and start 10 games while playing in all 16 in 2006. Spitz started 13 of the 14 games he played while Colledge started 15 of his 16 games and earned a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie Team.

“We were versatile,” Spitz said. “Tony was a swing tackle. He could also play inside. Daryn could move out to left tackle when (Clifton) occasionally got hurt or banged up. Just having the versatility, especially as rookies, is huge for job security. I can’t imagine having a better rookie year. A) You play in the NFL and B) a big part was the bond you had, not only between Daryn and Tony, but all the guys.”

All three praised their veterans for showing them the ropes. But the Three Fat Guys have stuck together the longest despite vast differences in their backgrounds.

Colledge grew up an avid outdoorsman in North Pole, Alaska, before attending Boise State. Spitz was raised in Jacksonville, Fla. until football took him to Louisville. And Moll headed to Reno to play collegiately after growing up in Sonoma.

“We all came from different backgrounds and all had different values, but we found something that really connected all of us,” Colledge said. “It’s what has sustained that friendship through now. Obviously, we’re all in different places and different careers, raising families. The wine holds us together. We still talk on a regular basis and keep in touch with each other’s lives.

“I played with a lot of guys that I went through a lot with, won Super Bowls with that I don’t talk to at all.”

Before they started having families and even since, the group has always traveled together. They went salmon and halibut fishing together in Alaska. There have been trips to China, Thailand, Italy and France. They even considered an adventure with Colledge’s uncle, who guides bow hunts for grizzly bears.

“We were kicking around the idea of doing that a long time ago but that was pre-kids,” Spitz said with a laugh. “I’m not sure that’s the greatest idea now.”

Their close nature led the three to believe they’d play together forever. But the harsh realities of the business that is the NFL struck on the eve of the 2009 season.

The Baltimore Ravens loved the versatility of Moll, who had been a blocking tight end at Nevada until his senior year. They had a hybrid role in mind for him and traded defensive back Derrick Martin to Green Bay to acquire him eight days before the start of the season.

“That hurt,” Colledge said. “It was hard to watch a buddy leave. It was hard to watch one of your best friends on the team go to another place. But the reality of the business … you know it can happen. Eventually, we all left that place. You think you have something and you look at it and you’re a dreamer — ‘The three of us will be doing this together forever, and you’re going to retire.’ That’s the Cinderella story, but it’s not the reality of the game. Life changes. Finances change and teams change and teams are going to do what they think is best.

“I think we should have kept Tony, but that’s a personal decision and an emotional decision. We wish he hadn’t gone, but we were all so excited for him to have the opportunity.”

After starting 10 games in 2006, Moll had eight combined starts the next two seasons and appeared in 23 games. The Ravens wanted Moll to play a mix of offensive lineman, wing and blocking tight end. The move came with a $1.176 million contract extension for the 2010 season that nearly matched what Moll made over his first four seasons in the league.

Moll played two seasons in Baltimore and then signed with the San Diego Chargers in 2011, his final season in the league. Colledge and Spitz both remained in Green Bay through the 2010 regular season, their Packers careers culminating with a 31-25 win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV.

Daryn Colledge spent five seasons in Green Bay, blocking for both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. He started at guard in the Packers’ Super Bowl XLV win over the Steelers. (Tom Dahlin / Getty Images)

From there, Colledge signed a five-year deal worth $27.5 million with the Arizona Cardinals while Spitz earned a multiyear deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Colledge played three seasons with Arizona before moving on for one last year with the Miami Dolphins in 2014. Spitz played for the Jags for two seasons and ended his career after spending a month of the 2013 season with the Seattle Seahawks.

These days, Spitz has three children and is an investment banker for Baird, which has 16 offices in Wisconsin. Whenever he’s asked to travel to Wisconsin, Spitz fetches his Super Bowl ring from a safe deposit box.

Colledge enlisted and has been a helicopter crew chief in the Idaho National Guard since March 2016. Colledge, who has two children, is four-plus years into his six-year active commitment as a reserve soldier, meaning he’s a “monthly day soldier.” Because he’s not full time, Colledge is also self-employed and is invested in several local businesses in the Boise area.

Moll also has three children.

For now, the trio and their families haven’t traveled quite as much as they used to. But they know one day they’ll all reunite for another Three Fat Guys vacation.

“I’m probably going to be friends with Tony and Daryn until the day I die,” Spitz said. “The wine just happens to be something we got into. We have a bond you really can’t replace or get rid of. We enjoy each other’s company. We’re three similar people even though we come from different places and backgrounds.”

None of this happens without Charles Woodson.

Same as the rookies, the 1997 Heisman trophy winner joined the Packers in 2006, signing a lucrative seven-year free-agent contract.

By that point, Woodson was already very established in the wine industry. While he was with the then-Oakland Raiders in 2001, the three-time All-Pro cornerback founded his own label, partnering with winemaker Gustavo A. Gonzalez in 2001 and buying an estate in Calistoga, Calif.

During one trip to Green Bay in 2006, Woodson’s wine team struck up a conversation with Moll, Spitz and Colledge. They wanted to take over an entire vineyard and were seeking other players who were interested in renting rows of grapes. Colledge, Spitz and Moll were interested in their own wine, but were too focused on football to get involved with the production efforts.

No problem. Woodson’s wine team would handle all of the production.

A year later, the linemen had their first 100 cases made.

“Charles is a great guy,” Moll said. “His team helped develop our wine. It was a really good wine. It made it simple for us to focus on football, but we had this really fun thing we could hand out to our friends and family. Slowly but surely it was going to turn into a full-fledged business.”

Two years later, the Three Fat Guys label was created as Moll, Spitz and Colledge went out on their own.

What those early years taught Moll was how to operate a smaller wine label without requiring an estate. Rather than buy the land and try to operate on a grand scale, the practice of custom crush allows smaller producers to purchase segments of vineyards and use shared equipment to produce their wines. It’s similar to large buildings renting out office space to different businesses with the desks and chairs being replaced by rows of grapes and wine vats.

Having retired from football, Moll became much more invested in the wine industry upon returning home. He used his local ties to establish relationships with several vineyards and brought on a longtime friend, the appropriately named Jim McMahon — not that Jim McMahon — to become the label’s winemaker.

While the vineyards would grow the grapes and the winery would handle production, it was up to Moll and McMahon to create the formula for the winery to follow.

“It’s become too expensive to buy the land, vineyard and build a winery,” Moll said. “We rent everything.

“Jim comes in and does all the protocols, builds out exactly how we want to make our wines. I do a lot of the day-to-day, out in the vineyards checking on stuff, I’m in the tasting room. Once we get closer to harvest, I’m daily in the winery making sure they’re doing what we want to be done to the wines.

“We’re still way too small to own a physical winery ourselves. We’re roughly 1,500 cases now. We have a fun sister brand we’re getting ready to launch. But to have a full, operational winery, you need to be doing 50,000 cases.”

Three Fat Guys produces a Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, rosé and Chardonnay. Each of the styles receives a rating of at least 4 out of 5 stars at vivino.com while winemag.com rates the label’s 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, which sells for $80 per bottle, at 92 points out of 100.

Moll opened the label’s Sonoma-based tasting room last September. Prior to September, Moll offered tastings at his wife’s restaurant, The Red Grape. Everyone employed at the tasting room grew up locally. He also operates three different tours from the tasting room, though COVID-19 has slowed down that process considerably.

Moll describes the tasting room as non-pretentious and wants to help educate novice wine drinkers. He wants his patrons to come and relax outdoors on the back patio and feel like they’re at a friend’s house — one with kickass wines.

While the name has brought recognition, Moll admits it has created a few hurdles.

“We’re this weird anomaly now, this super comical name making dead serious wines,” Moll said. “We’re kind of getting people to get over the fact that it’s called Three Fat Guys. Then they actually let down their guard and they can enjoy it. Everybody knows a wine snob. To this day, people will put their noses in the air and say, ‘I’m not going to a place called Three Fat Guys.’

“We’re turning the industry upside down on itself. People love coming here. … It’s so comfortable to relax. ‘I don’t feel like I have to know a bunch about wine. I don’t have to dress up super fancy to come here.’”

Naturally, the tasting room draws Packers fans who arrive in full team gear looking to take pictures and sit down for a few glasses. Moll said he also draws a fair amount of fans of the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, which results in friendly banter. Former teammates often drop by and autograph the ceiling. Currently, the most famous signature on the wall belongs to wide receiver Jordy Nelson.

“You’ll get Bears fans that come in and say, ‘I’m a Bear fan, I can’t drink this stuff anymore,’” Moll said. “’But our winemaker is Jim McMahon,’ and all of a sudden they light up.”

How far the business will reach, nobody knows.

But Moll has big plans in store. He’d love to have Colledge help him operate a potato vodka in Boise. Moll also wants to take advantage of Spitz living in Louisville to create a bourbon. And, of course, the trio could produce beer in Wisconsin to keep them close to the state where this all began.

“It started out as a hobby more than anything,” Spitz said. “We just so happened to fall into it. Fortunately, Tony has grown up around the industry his whole life. He’s been bootstrapping the damn thing. Now, it’s a legitimate business.”

Spitz and Colledge currently play more of a marketing role than anything. They’re still listed on the company’s website as co-founders, but each sold their shares to Moll when he decided to expand the company.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not involved. Often when Moll travels to promote the wine for events to benefit the non-profits the winery is associated with, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation and USO, Spitz or Colledge will join him if their schedules allow.

Moll’s former teammates don’t doubt his ability to expand the business. Were he to reach his goals, Moll is excited about the potential for what it can do for others just as his original partnership has done for him and his friends.

“While we were playing, we got it launched and rolling,” Moll said. “We got into a handful of different restaurants in different states. But once I retired, that’s when we took a pretty big jump and got it to the level it’s at now.

“The more we can do, the more we can give back. That’s extremely important. It allows us to be involved in different aspects of life, helping different people. … The ability to change lives, that’s what football did for us.”

(Top photo of, from left, Daryn Colledge, Tony Moll and Jason Spitz: Courtesy of the Green Bay Packers)

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