ShatterCane Valley of the Moon Vineyard Proprietor‘s Red Sonoma Valley 2019

Cathleen Murphy is that super cool grandma you know and love, with her bright smile, kind blue eyes, and sandy blond hair. She pulled up to ACME the other day in a weather-beaten late model Land Rover to joyfully hand-deliver her new wine, Shattercane, and speak to us about it and her life. Cathleen’s roots in agriculture run deep: she grew up one of six children on a corn and barley farm in Papillion, Nebraska, along the banks of the Missouri River. Always enamored of science, she studied medicine at the University of Northern Colorado and became a traveling nurse upon graduation. A job posting brought Cathleen west to the Bay Area city of San Carlos, where she fell in love, got married, and raised a family. While working as a nurse practitioner at the UCSF Medical Center, she discovered that many of her colleagues were interested in wine, and they would make weekend trips to Wine Country. One day, a patient arrived at the ward with a grave condition and in need of a high-risk procedure. It turned out the gentleman, who will go unnamed, was the proprietor of a famous vineyard in Napa Valley, and he promised Cathleen that, if he survived the surgery, he would pay his thanks with fruit from four rows of his Cabernet Sauvignon. Fortunately, the procedure went off without a hitch, and Cathleen was on her way to becoming a winemaker! The wine she ended up making that harvest received an award for non-commercial wine of the year.

After retiring eight years ago, Cathleen got serious about winemaking and purchased a home not far from the Sonoma Square. She became involved in the Sonoma Home Winemakers organization and was eventually elected to its board. And, as luck would have it, one of her neighbors was the late Walter Schug, the founder of Schug Carneros Estate Winery. He would often take walks through town and pop in to offer some insight as Cathleen was tinkering with or blending wines in her garage. Whenever he would find one that truly spoke to him, he would tell Cathleen, “This wine tells a story”- this phrase is now proudly printed on every Shattercane label. And the image with six roots represents Cathleen and her siblings and their time-honored, familial connection with the land.

The fruit for the Shattercane Proprietary Red hails from an old vine vineyard that Cathleen farms in Kenwood, adjacent to Chateau St. Jean, in the Sonoma Valley. It is a field blend comprised of 65% Zinfandel and 35% Petite Sirah. The wine exudes a beautiful combination of notes- including blackberry, licorice, and warm spices layered with fresh, juicy ripe raspberries and cherries. Flavors of strawberries and red plums mingle with spice, pepper, and jam characteristics unique to Zinfandel. Subtle cinnamon and sweet tobacco spice from 25 months in French oak barrels create a bold wine. Nurse this wine over a plate of smoked barbecue- it’s just what the doctor ordered!