Mor whisky when they light also a time for guys to bond by smoking aand relax, or to celebrate a special occasionlike the birth of a child or job promotion. It’sost cigar aficionados willchoose their favorite scotch up their choice stogie, but one couple cigar slowly while having a discussion.” Like wants to change that. Is the world ready, a good wine, the taste of a premium cigar willing and able to enjoy a fine cigar along will get better with age, and if stored properly with a premiere red wine? Podcast for All could last for years. Things Stogie host The Doc says, Yes, but To entertain guests during his tasting pairing the two won’t be easy. events, Mike often holds a “big ash contest.” Mike and Catherine Murphy are so “When I got the first box sent to the U.S., I entranced by the Napa Valley, one could noticed the cigar holding its ash, so I thought be confused about whether or not they I’d try to smoke it all the way down to the live here. Wine and the Napa Valley have double maduro,” said Mike. “Nobody could been part of this couple’s lives for over believe I could do it. So when we go to do thirty years. In 2001 they founded the Mike and a show, I do the contest. If anyone posts a thirty-acre Bellaterra Ranch, meaning Catherine Murphy picture on our Facebook page with the ash “beautiful earth,” located in historic down to the maduro, I send them two cigars. Franklin, Tennessee, where they raise Texas It’s been a blast. Many of the stores continue Longhorn cattle, horses and South African Boer Goats. the contest after I’m gone.” “Providing the ‘finest things in life’ is our passion, and livestock is our Mike and Catherine are pioneers in their fields. “We are not aware of peaceful therapy,” according to the couple. But winemaking was something anyone else who is pairing their wine with cigars,” said Mike. “In the ’40s Mike knew he needed to do. and ’50s it was proper etiquette to smoke a cigar paired with wine,” said “We wanted to make a premium wine, but law in Tennessee stated that Mike. “Then cigar companies started creating big, robust, full-bodied cigars after two years a winery needed to buy Tennessee grapes,” said Mike. “It that overpowered the wine.” wasn’t our dream to make that kind of wine. We wanted to make world- “Our wine’s complexity doesn’t have an overpowering amount of fruit,” class wine, and the best grapes for the style of wine we wanted to make were added Mike. “There is a burst of fruit in the back of your mouth, but it in California, Oregon and Washington state.” won’t knock you out. Long finish. Balance. Our winemaker takes all the The majority of their grapes are sourced in the Oakville and Howell characteristics of the wine and makes them subtle enough so one doesn’t Mountain appellations of the Napa Valley, then bottled in Sonoma. 2005 overpower another. When you start off with great fruit, you are going to saw their first vintage, and by 2007, they had introduced their first cabernet have a good wine. When you have a winemaker who can put everything in and chardonnay, adding a new varietal each year for the next seven years. balance, that is when you have a wonderful wine.” Mike, who worked many years in the healthcare industry doing research, Mike’s passion for wine and cigars started when he was thirteen years said he did a lot of data research on the people who drank their wines, and old. He played football in high school, and when he walked home every found many like to smoke cigars. But he couldn’t find a premium cigar that night he would see an elderly Italian gentleman who always smoked a cigar. went well with red wine. So he and his team began researching and fine- “Finally I approached him and chatted with him in his broken English. tuning a cigar blend that did go well with red wine. After three-and-a-half His name was Dominic. That started an amazing relationship. We talked years they found a blend that beat all others. about a number of things, but we always got on the topic of wine. He was “It’s been a great success for us,” said Mike. “For our club members it my inspiration to make wine. I fell in love with that man; he introduced was another product they could purchase, and at our wine events it was me to his granddaughter, and we have been married for thirty-two years. It’s something people who haven’t smoked a cigar could try. Then we were been a storybook relationship. Catherine’s grandfather has always been an having cigar smokers getting introduced to our wines, and at wine events, inspiration to us. We finally launched our own wine in his memory.” wine drinkers getting introduced to cigars. The result allowed one to When Mike went off to college and played baseball, his coach got him a experience all the notes of the wine and appreciate all the craftmanship of job at a wine warehouse. “The rule was that on any labels that were ripped, the cigars.” the employees could buy the wine for a dollar,” smiled Mike. “We weren’t Now Mike and Catherine travel the world educating people about ripping the cheap labels, we were ripping the expensive labels. While other cigars and pairing them with red wine. All of their cigars are produced in people were going to keg parties, I was growing a nice collection of premier Nicaragua, made from Cuban seed tobacco grown all over Central America. wine.” Mike can also create a custom-blended cigar for other wine clubs. Mike worked in the Silicon Valley for many years and started a medical The pair admits there is a stigma about data company for healthcare workers. cigars, but in fact cigars may be good for you Healthcare officials visited California in moderation. “Tobacco is all lumped in one frequently, and he and Catherine oftenhedulesCastingtBellaterra Wine/Cigar category from a consumer’s perspective and (5% of all proceeds donated to the st. helena hospital Foundation) took those executives to the Napa Valley from a harm view. The fact is most tobacco september 8, 5 p.m. – napa river inn, napa to go wine tastings, where, he said, they is laced with chemicals, and those chemicals september 11 & 20, 6 p.m. – embassy suites, napa ‘closed most of our deals.’” have been linked to cancer,” explained Mike and Catherine continued to Mike. “Our cigars are hand rolled, treated september 21 & 22, 2:30 p.m. – improve their knowledge of the wine 100-percent organically without chemicals a dozen Vintners, Calistoga industry, so they were destined to be part from the wrapper, filler and binder.” of wine country. The duo will be in the Cigars are not smoked like cigarettes, september 27, noon – Oakville grocery, Oakville Napa Valley most of September, sharing according to Mike. “People don’t smoke six their wine and cigars at a number of local or more cigars a day like cigarettes,” he said. locations (see insert left).For more info on other events and plans, visit www.bellaterraranch.com “Cigars are usually smoked in a celebratory For a listing of Bellaterra wines, cigars and fashion like at the end of the day to unwind events visit www.bellaterraranch.com. S E P T E m B E R / o c T o B E R 2 0 1 2 17
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