Wheeler Farms

Wheeler Farms is Bart Araujo's triumphant return to Napa Valley winemaking, the project he launched after selling Araujo Estate (now Eisele Vineyard) and purchasing the historic Wheeler property in St. Helena as the canvas for his next chapter. Founded in 2019, the estate represents the accumulated wisdom of a man who built one of the valley's most revered cult wines and who now applies that experience to a different site with a different vision. The Wheeler Farm property, with its historic buildings and 9 acres of vineyard, provides the intimate scale that Araujo prefers.

The 9-acre vineyard is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Syrah on the St. Helena benchland, with the historic farm buildings providing an atmospheric setting. Araujo's experience at Eisele (which he built into one of the most critically acclaimed estates in the valley before selling to Francois Pinault's Artemis Domaines) informs every farming and winemaking decision at Wheeler, though the wines are deliberately different from the powerful Eisele Cabernets.

Bart Araujo produces wines that reflect his evolved palate: more restrained, more food-friendly, and more focused on balance than the concentrated Eisele wines that made his reputation. The Cabernet is elegant and structured, the Sauvignon Blanc is crisp, and the Syrah shows peppery complexity. The overall style suggests a winemaker who has nothing left to prove and is free to follow his instincts.

Tastings are by appointment on the historic farm, where the restored buildings and intimate vineyard create a setting of rustic elegance. The $100 fee includes the portfolio and the story of Araujo's return to winemaking.

Wheeler Farms demonstrates that the most interesting second acts in winemaking often come from producers who choose a different path rather than repeating their greatest hits. Bart Araujo could have built another Eisele; instead, he built something more personal, more restrained, and more revealing of the winemaker behind the wine.