The O'Brien Clan

EVENTS

The O'Brien visits the O'Brien Family Vineyard,
in Napa, California.
12 December 2004.

"Bonded by blood and a love of wine"

The O’Brien was given a royal welcome by Bart and Barb O’Brien, owners of the O’Brien Family Vineyard in Napa, California when he arrived there at the head of a thunderstorm on the 12 th of December for a tour of their estate. An Irish Tricolor flag, with the O’Brien Coat of Arms emblazoned in the center, snapped smartly overhead in the damp breeze to signal the presence of the Prince of Thomond in the Napa Valley. Under wind whipped clouds as gray as slate Bart O’Brien escorted the Chief of the O’Brien Clan during his inspection of the tidy green rows of Merlot and Chardonnay grape vines, lined up like an honor guard to salute a visiting dignitary.

While the boys were out doors getting mud on their boots, Barb O’Brien, a charming and graceful hostess with a wonderful sense of humor, was busy preparing a candle light feast of green salad and grilled salmon, snugly inside the five bedroom ranch style home at the edge of the vineyard which the O’Briens share with their two teen aged children. Bart opened a bottle of his Chardonnay during the first course, which he serves slightly below room temperature, rather than refrigerated to allow us to “taste the full flavor”. The wine was delicious with the salad, its texture was smooth and crisp with a refreshing, lengthy finish. With the second course came out the red wine glasses and a bottle of “O” Merlot, a full bodied wine blending black cherry, chocolate and espresso flavors, which Bart poured generously between Irish toasts and blessings.

The conversation soon turned to meaning of being an O’Brien. The O’Brien said that we share much more than the same last name because we all descend from a common ancestor; Brian Boru, the eleventh century High King who first united Ireland. Barb asked how one becomes “The O’Brien” to which our worthy Chief replied with a broad smile “An accident of birth”. In fact, Conor O’Brien has a pedigree a block long linking him directly through the Inchiquin O’Briens to Brian Boru himself. In 1543 Conor’s ggggggggggreat grandfather Murrough O’Brien changed his title from King of Thomond to Earl of Thomond when King Henry VIII conquered Ireland. The O’Brien’s great uncle, the 16 th Baron of Inchiquin was offered, and refused, the title “Prince President of the Irish Republic” by Eamon de Valera during the 1930’s. In 1944 the Irish government granted courtesy recognition to The O’Brien’s uncle as “Chief of the Name”. The titles passed to Conor O’Brien, whose father had proceeded his older brother, the 17 th Baron of Inchiquin, in death.

After lunch, Barb and Bart passed out an armful of umbrellas, then led the way out through the downpour and into an adjoining building where the wine making is actually done. On one side of the structure there is a row of two-story tall, temperature controlled stainless steel tanks in which the first half of the fermentation process occurs. After the primary fermentation is complete the wine is transferred into French oak barrels where it will age for at least twenty months. Barb and Bart proudly posed for photos with The O’Brien beneath one of the scarlet and gold Brian Boru Millennium banners used during the 2002 Festival in Ireland. Finally, Bart revealed a top secret new product for ladies only from the cellars of the O’Brien Vineyards, called “Seduction”, conveniently due to be introduced in time for Valentine’s Day this year!