Betty O’Shaughnessy & Paul Woolls

Proprietors

In 1990, Betty O’Shaughnessy walked thirty-two acres of Oakville and made a decision that would define the next three decades of her life.

She had spent her career building things — a family, a real estate portfolio, a cooking school in Minneapolis that became a beloved venture. But land in Napa was different. It felt like something you could tend forever. Over the decade that followed, Betty assembled an estate that no single purchase could have created: Oakville on the valley floor, Howell Mountain in the volcanic highlands above, Mount Veeder tucked into the Mayacamas range to the west. Three dramatically different landscapes. Three distinct expressions of California terroir. A cave was carved into the hillside. The O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery crushed its first harvest in 2003. Paul came to wine the way most great wine lovers do — through stubborn curiosity and one unforgettable meal. A lawyer by training and Midwesterner by upbringing, he spent years chasing the question of what made certain bottles transcendent. The answer, he eventually discovered, was the person who grew the grapes. He met Betty at a wine tasting. The rest followed naturally. Today, Betty and Paul remain deeply involved in every harvest, every allocation decision, every vintage release — not out of obligation, but because the land still holds their attention completely.

“We’re making wine to do justice to what these mountains give us.” – Betty