Photo courtesy of Presqu’ile
“My passion for wine stems in part from my parent’s
involvement in a small winery in Santa Maria beginning
in the early 2000s,” said Murphy. “Through that involvement, I became more familiar and enamored with the wines from this part of California.”
Murphy moved to the Central Coast in 2006 and worked at
two wineries in the Santa Maria Valley, both of which sourced pinot noir from vineyards across California and Oregon.
“Over the course of several harvests, and quite a bit of wine tasting, I began to notice my preference for pinot noir from Santa Barbara County and more specifically Santa Maria
Valley. This epiphany led my family and me to plant our roots in this area when we formed Presqu’ile,” he said.
Murphy then began to invest in the community surrounding him. “After becoming more familiar with the Wine and Viticulture Department at Cal Poly, we saw a great opportunity to
play a small part in helping develop the next generation of wine industry leaders,” said Murphy. “It is invaluable that employers throughout the state have a pool of potential
employees that are well educated and prepared to enter
the workforce. This is what we have seen from the Cal Poly graduates we have hired at Presqu’ile. Cal Poly provides
Thank you, Murphy Foundation. This scholarship means everything to my family — I would not be in college if it were not for your generosity. I can promise that I will continue to strive for academic excellence and live my life according to the Mustang Way: pride, responsibility and character. I hope that one day I will be able to make such an impactful difference in someone else’s life, like you have made in mine. Knowing that I have generous people backing me and supporting me on the journey to achieve my goals, pushes me even more to strive for greatness. — Patricia Williams, third-year wine and viticulture student
students who are business savvy and ready to learn because of the Learn by Doing ethos. Partnering with the college has worked well for us.”
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