Ilsley Vineyards
Located in the Vaca Mountain foothills of Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District lie the Ilsley Vineyards. For three generations, the Ilsley family has provided grapes for some of Napa Valley’s finest wines. Now, after fifty years of farming, they have hand-selected grapes from the hillside vineyards to produce two limited production, estate wines, that they believe capture the essence of the Stags Leap District.
Originally planted by the Downey Family prior to 1900, the Estate vineyard now consists of 17 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, three acres of Malbec, two acres of Sangiovese, and one acre of Petit Verdot.
The grapes grown and wine produced represent three generations of the family farming this special vineyard. At Ilsley, the label of “family winery” is not just a marketing strategy; it is a way of life. The work is divided among three third generation siblings – Janice, Ernie and David – and their spouses. Each has a full time job and works for the family business as a labor of love.