The Eisele Story
The long history of the Eisele Vineyard began when vineyard owner Milton Eisele, who had previously sold his grapes to co-ops, contracted Paul Draper (Ridge) to make one of the first California vineyard-designated wines.

Conn Creek followed suit in 1974 before Eisele worked out a long-term supply arrangement with Joseph Phelps from 1975-1989 who sometimes made wine separately under the Eisele vineyard label but often used Eisele fruit for 90%+ of his flagship Insignia.

In 1989 Eisele sold the 40-acre vineyard to Fruit of the Loom CEO William Farley, who turned around and sold it to Bart and Daphne Araujo.

Grapes from the first vintage under Araujo ownership (1990) went to Phelps, but after that the Araujo's hired the famed consultant Tony Soter (Niebaum-Coppola, Dalla Valle, Etude) to help replant the vineyard and design a winery and Haut-Brion trained Francoise Peschon to make the wine. In 1991, Araujo and Phelps shared the Eisele vineyard grapes, but since then Araujo has used all of the grapes for their own Cabernet Sauvignon cuvees.

Since then, Araujo has introduced organic winemaking techniques and begun to use naturally occurring yeasts. The combination of incredible terroir and natural production methods offer a wine with excellent richness without being at all heavy. A wonderful earthiness and an impressive ability to age define one of the most Bordeaux-like of all California wines.