2022 Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

Before Georges III, before Martha's Vineyard, before To Kalon, there was Eisele Vineyard. Vines were first planted on this Calistoga site in 1884, decades before Napa Valley became the name it is today. Eisele's terroir gives it a singular character, with low yields, concentrated fruit, and a wine that manages, vintage after vintage, to be both powerful and eerily graceful at the same time.

That reputation has translated into collector-level prices for decades. Under the Araujo label, Eisele Cabernet became one of the most coveted bottles in California...and one of the hardest to find. When Artémis Domaines—whose portfolio includes Château Latour and Clos de Tart—made Eisele their first Napa acquisition, it sent a message to the wine world: this vineyard belongs in the same conversation as the great estates of Bordeaux.

The modern era began in the 1960s, when Milt and Barbara Eisele purchased the site and converted it to Cabernet Sauvignon. Paul Draper made it just the third vineyard-designated Cab ever bottled in Napa. When Daphne and Bart Araujo bought the estate in 1990—tipped off by the founder of Screaming Eagle—they converted it first to organic farming, then to full biodynamics. Bart loved how wines from here offered "weight but without heaviness."

Under Artémis Domaines' stewardship, winemaker Hélène Mingot has continued the estate's quiet ascent—tilling to encourage deeper root systems, running barrels at a lower toast to let the vineyard shine.

The vineyard sits on an alluvial fan at the base of the Palisades Mountains, its volcanic cobble soils forcing vine roots deep in search of moisture. The Palisades shield the site from cold northern air, while westerly breezes keep summer heat in check—a microclimate that ripens Cabernet fully while preserving the precision that defines these wines.

The 2022 vintage tested the team. A dry winter and early budbreak gave way to a warm July and mild August before an early-September heat spike demanded fast thinking and faster hands in the vineyard. The result is a wine of remarkable grace and precision.