When Clay Shannon stumbled upon a long-forgotten, 150-year-old vine on his northern California property, little did he know he had uncovered a story of historic resilience and future hope.
The Shannon Family of Wines proprietor and his wife Angie dug deeper and discovered they owned a unique viticultural treasure: a Vitis vinifera Cinsault vine brought over to North America from Croatia in the 1870s by a family who built a homestead on the site that is now their home ranch in California’s Lake County, about an hour and a half drive north of Napa.
To conserve this precious legacy and expand production, the Shannons collaborated with a specialist nursery to propagate buds from which to create new vines and then plant vineyard plots. In 2024 the fruit of their labor was finally ready: the very first wine made from the new Cinsault vines, a rosé aptly baptized Mother Vine, was born.
This touching tale connects the dots from pioneering 19th century Croatian homesteader Martin Ogulin and his family to the Shannons’ present-day quest to craft wines with a sense of place.
This passion project is deeply rooted in the past, but it also has important implications for the future, especially as climate change is leading producers to adapt their vineyards.
An Intriguing Discovery
For Clay and Angie Shannon, the story began in 2013, when they were looking to expand their wine business and vineyard holdings. They already leased Cabernet Sauvignon vines from the third-generation descendants of Ogulin, and when the
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
