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FeedNapa Valley View
Minnesota-born Betty O’Shaughnessy toasts with her own Cabernet Sauvignon
By Christina Amini
Photo by ken gutmaker
(page 1 of 2)
“Don’t lose faith!” the directions read as I navigate the hills of the Napa Valley, onto a private road in the small town of Angwin, past seven “No Trespassing” signs, and finally, up 1,800 feet to the O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery. Frankly, I’m terrible with directions, and I need the encouragement—I wonder, what it was that brought the winery’s owner, Betty O’Shaughnessy, from Minnesota to this particular spot?A businesswoman, real estate maven, and traveler, O’Shaughnessy fell in love with the Napa Valley after her first visit in 1975. “It’s about as close to utopia as I think one could get,” she says. Having grown up in a small town in southern Minnesota, O’Shaughnessy knew something about farming, and, as the founder of Mrs. O’s Cooking School in Minneapolis, a great deal about hospitality and wine.
In 1990, O’Shaughnessy and her then-husband purchased a second home in Oakville, a town on the floor of the Napa Valley. The purchase included 28 acres of planted vineyard. Their Oakville home and Napa lifestyle made O’Shaughnessy hungry (or thirsty, rather) to start her own winery.
“We wanted to have a mountainside vineyard, probably because of our love of Cab Sauvignon,” she says matter-of-factly. She attended viticulture classes at U.C. Davis, transferring her knowledge of cornfields in Minnesota to grape vines in Northern California. After six years of searching, she found the right microclimate for her Cab on Howell Mountain.
Now at the top of the mountain, I see the winery, set on a precipice overlooking the grape vines. The building takes its cue from old stone barns, and is clad in Sonoran goldstone from Mexico, picking up the color of the dry California hills behind it. Architect Michael Guthrie “captured the beauty of the site and integrated the process of winemaking,” O’Shaughnessy says proudly.
Photo by Ken Gutmaker
A glass-encased wine library, the centerpiece of the winery’s hospitality wing, is filled with mahogany shelves that reach two stories to the ceiling, cataloging 10 cases of each vintage. The jewel-box divides the wing into two areas: tasting and dining. Barbra Christo, O’Shaughnessy’s assistant, and I stand at the high tasting table crafted by Gregg Stevens, which has a veneer of bubinga wood from West Africa. We talk about the fermenting process as I try the Howell Mountain 2003. Christo explains that, for the dining area, Stevens made the clear-toned table with red cedar salvaged from the bottom of Lake Superior.
Whether watching the lines of the vineyard curve over the hills, or lounging on the topiary-like Richard Schultz chairs on the patio, the winery calls visitors to escape. “Betty realized that when people came up for a special tasting,” architect Guthrie explains, “she’d want to keep them for awhile, as it’s quite a drive. She wanted to keep them entertained by the building, by the setting, by the wine tasting, by a dinner, by a special event at the patio or in the wine cave.” This new classic winery—like the wine within it—is meant to age, so that one day, when the vines cover the wine cave, it’ll feel like it’s been here forever.
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