2019 Volker Eisele Terzetto

Volker Eisele Family Estate is in the Chiles Valley District, a Napa Valley sub-appellation. It was once part of an historic 19th century ranch where, in the 1870s, a German immigrant founded a winery. Volker Eisele was a graduate student in Berkeley when he started visiting the area, and in 1974 he and his family bought 400 acres and started growing grapes. Volker Eisele became active in sustainable agriculture and land preservation. He died in 2015 but his wife and children still own and operate the estate. Volker Eisele Family makes Cabernet Sauvignon-based Bordeaux blends, and Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blends. Molly Lyman is winemaker. The 60 vineyard acres have been farmed organically since 1974.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,