Our Story

3 Muddy Men, Muddy Boot 1

3 Muddy Men

In short, we grew up together.  Our moms were best friends, our families have farmed next to each other for almost a century. There’s even a rumored picture of all three of us in a bathtub together as babies.

David and Phil are twin brothers, along with good friend Tom, the three of them traveled the world and made it on their own before returning to their family farms.

Phil, David, and Tom share a passion for Clarksburg–the wine, the history, and the community. Their vision is to create wines that encompass what Clarksburg ‘is’, and share that passion with the world.

 

Start'em Early.  David Ogilvie

David has a passion for growing wine grapes and yeast.  After getting a degree in Viticulture & Enology at UCDavis, David traveled the world working at wineries in South Africa, Spain, Australia, and Sonoma, California.  He traveled everywhere in between and learned how the lubrication of wine and beer brought people from all backgrounds together creating friendships that continue across boarders.   After returning to California, David followed his grad school bound girlfriend to Atlanta, GA and worked in wine sales eventually taking over his own territory.  Atlanta has a great beer scene that prompted David to start homebrewing.  He caught the brewing bug and after taking a 5 month short course through the UC Extension. David worked for Firestone-Walker Brewing Co, and then for Anheuser-Busch in Fairfield California.  David was then promoted to a management role in  A-B’s  Williamsburg Brewery where he eventually took over the brewhouse.  After many years away from the family farm and Viticulture, David’s first love brought him home to Wilson Vineyards, where he is now a Vineyard Manager and Director of Wine Production.

Phil Ogilvie Phil Ogilvie

After leaving Clarksburg for College, Phil began a viticulture degree at Fresno State and ran for their Track Team.  In 2003, Phil graduated with a BA in Communications and after completing his track career and marrying his wife Shannon in 2004, they moved to Costa Rica where they served youth in Puerto Viejo.  Following his call in ministry, Phil and his wife moved to Dallas where he earned his Master in Theology and worked as a young adults pastor. Ultimately, after 10 years in ministry, Phil returned to his communications roots and built his own online marketing company to help small businesses have a complete online presence.  The growth of this company brought him home to Clarksburg where he opened a sales hub.  But you can’t take the farm out of a farm boy.  As the need arose, Phil returned to his family’s farming operation and now serves as Chief Financial Officer, and attempts to learn more about the wine industry everyday.

Tom Merwin Sippin Tom Merwin

Tom is an 8th generation farmer in the Sacramento Valley and manages the day-to-day business operations of his family farm in Clarksburg, where they specialize in growing high quality winegrapes. Tom earned his B.A. degree in International Relations from UC Davis. While at UC Davis, Tom earned an Undergraduate Fellowship with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which allowed him to study counter-terrorism and democracy in Israel and Washington, D.C.. Tom has continued his education with project management and winegrape production coursework from the UC Davis Extension. Tom currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Clarksburg Winegrape Growers and Vintners Association, and is a member of Class 44 in the California Agriculture Leadership Program. Tom has a passion for travel, and was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Cochabamba, Bolivia and also is a partner in an export company specializing in exporting agriculture goods to China.

The Muddy Boot Lore

When we were about 10 years old, Tom came to the Ogilvie house.  He’s the instigator. Nothing gave him more joy than to see the Ogilvie Twins get mad at each other, again.  After 25 years, there are several versions of the “Muddy Boot” story, so we’ll only share enough to make your next Muddy Boot wine tasting a little more interesting.

Tom and one of the twins were living out their Indiana Jones fantasies and built “booby traps” throughout the field behind the Ogilvie house.  Luring a lone twin like ducks to a decoy, the instigator and his twin sidekick caused the other to step into a knee high mud pit.

If the embarrassment wasn’t enough to cause life-scarring anguish, the brand new pair of boots with the right foot completely soiled through, was.  The lone twin only screamed in agony, “Clean My Boot! Clean My Boot!”

20 years later, over a reunion lunch at the Pheasant Club, where the instigator continued to play his role, the story was reminisced.  It was then, that Muddy Boot was born.  For us, Muddy Boot is not just a good bottle of wine, but memories of our childhood–where fields, friends, adventure, and a lone Muddy Boot prevailed.

Join Us, and Let’s Get Muddy!

 

Muddy Boot Wine is a brand proudly offered for your boot stompin’ pleasure by:

Wilson Vineyards
Clarksburg, California

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