Eagles Nest resident winemakers are both university and practically trained. Dennis the co-owner is the principal winemaker however co-owner Julie makes her special bins and assists or stands in Dennis’ occasional absence during the crush season. They not only make wine, they grow the wine grapes that go into their Estate wines.

While producing primarily dry wines, Eagles Nest also produces an array of Port or desert wines. Eagles Nest’s wine making philosophy is to make quality wine that delivers the classic characteristics of the varietal and the terrior of the area. We produce and ferment our wine in small multi-hundred gallon lots allowing us close hands-on monitoring of the process.

Both owners have taken wine making and sensory evaluation courses at the renowned UC Davis and regularly participate in continuing education courses and seminars in the industry. 

"Premium Wines Inspired by Breathtaking Views"

Our Winemaking Philosophy

As a Boutique Winery we take great personal pride in our intimate hands-on style of winemaking. We are an industry member of The Wine Institute, American Society for Enology and Viticulture, and yes, the Farm Bureau! Our focus is making only quality wine. Our estate vineyards, quality sourcing, and hands-on winemaking give us complete control over the quality of the grapes going into our wines. And as the saying goes "Quality wines begin with quality wine-grapes."

Our red wine varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, Tempranillo, the Rhone staple Syrah/Shriaz, and others. Our white varietals include the popular Rhone varietal Viognier, and we are experimenting with Picpoul Blanc and others. We are continually researching quality varietals that compliment the Ramona Valley for future vineyards and meet our customer's needs.

Making fine wine is both an Art and a Science

How we maintain our quality:

• Make our wines by hand in small releases to allow close monitoring of quality and nuances of each vintage year harvest & grape varietal
• Use carefully selected equipment including bladder presses to gently press our grape must - avoiding excess tannins caused by crushed grape seeds and mashed skins
• Operate under sanitary, temperature controlled conditions to maintain quality - we encourage visitors to tour and inspect our facilities
• Close hands-on monitoring of each barrel during the fermentation and aging process
• Close monitoring of vital wine chemistry