With Club President-Elect David Bixby presiding for Ken Parker who was out of town, Rotary Santa Maria South club members were presented a program January 6th by Matt Murphy, president of Presqu'ile Winery. Matt described how the winery evolved from the purchase of 72 acres of county land on Clark Road, east of Hwy 101, to the opening of the tasting room in June 2013. The winery is named after the Murphy family compound in the Mississippi Delta, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  "Presqu'ile" means "nearly an island" in French. While Matt believes that Santa Maria is "the best place on the West Coast, or possibly in the new world" for pinot noir, the winery also produces sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and syrah wines. The family's 2013 production was 5000 cases, with lots of room for growth, as the potential volume could be around 18,000 cases one day. Matt, who is a board member of the Santa Barbara Vintners Association, spends much time on the road promoting the Santa Maria Valley AVA and Santa Barbara County wines. As he says, he isn't trying to put Santa Maria on the wine map, because it's already there, he's just trying to make the dot a little bigger!

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