Jessup Cellars was founded in 1996 by Napa native, Mark Jessup and his wife at the time Pamela. Mark began his career in wine at the age of 17 working at the grand Inglenook Estate in Rutherford and later helped craft some of the first wines at Opus One. The first physical location of Jessup Cellars was on the lower slopes of Mt. Veeder off of Redwood Road; the wine was made in a cut and cover cave. This property was originally owned by Mark’s family. Today this site is currently home to Anthem Winery. Seeking a space that would better allow them to see visitor’s they opened a tasting room in Yountville in 2004. The Jessup’s are no longer involved (Mark dissolved his share of the partnership in 2008) and Pamela left in 2006. Today, Jessup Cellars is part of the Good Life Collective, a parent company that also owns Handwritten Wines.
Jessup Cellars is one of the few multi-couple owned wineries in Napa Valley; in this case, six couples all connected by a love of wine, friendship and various involvements in the medical and healthcare fields. Current ownership includes: Dan and Becky Blue, Roy and Cheri Eisiminger, Vance and Jana Thompson, Jim and Kelly Mazzo, Kerry and Cindi Solomon, and Eric and Marleen Donnenfeld.
Roy (a Napa Valley based perfusionist) and Cheri Eisiminger live in Napa and were one of the early investors in Jessup Cellars. The Eisiminger’s met couples Dr. Dan (a general family medicine doctor at Sanford USD Medical Center) and Becky Blue and Dr. Vance (an ophthalmologist) and Jana Thompson at a BBQ in Napa – both couples are from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Vance and Dan have known each other since medical school. Kelly & Jim Mazzo, an executive involved in the ophthalmic industry for many years – from Orange County, CA, became partners in 2016.
Dr. Thompson’s father was a family doctor in Gregory, South Dakota, a tiny community with a population today of around 1,200 residents. Both of his parents were what he calls “gourmet cooks”; they loved being in the kitchen and taught him a great deal about the culinary world and wine. He remembers his father introducing him to Napa staples such as Markham Merlot and Opus One. With friends, he and his wife began visiting Napa Valley at least once a year starting in the mid 1990s.
Dr. Thompson is a highly successful eye doctor having as of mid 2026, performed more then 130,000 eye corrective operations, is involved in research, is an author and continues to teach. His headquarters and original vision center are based in the southern part of Sioux Falls but as of our latest update to this review, also maintains centers in select cities in Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota.
He is constantly impressed by the collegiality within the wine community. Within Napa Valley he considers vintners such as Andy Hoxsey (Napa Wine Co.), Ren Harris (Paradigm Winery) and Paul Franks (Gemstone Vineyard) as mentors.
Vance and Jana’s son Blake is co-founder and head brewer of the popular Fernson Brewery; the name was created by combining part of his last name with the last name of his business partner, Derek Fernholz. Their beers are served at select locations throughout the state including their primary tasting room in downtown Sioux Falls and at the actual brewery. And their products are distributed throughout parts of the north Midwest.
A couple of the Jessup Cellars partners were/are minority investors in South Dakota’s first commercial winery, Valiant Vineyards Winery & Distillery based in the tiny town of Vermillion (about a 60-minute drive south of Sioux Falls). This winery began operations in 1996, founded by South Dakota state wine pioneer, Eldon Nygaard and his wife Sherry.
In part, known for their ‘native wine’, they hand pick grapes growing in the wild from vitus riparia in locations within 2 to 6 hours from the actual winery including on an Indian Reservation. This variety often grows high into the canopy of trees – and between reaching these high grape clusters, birds and others who collect these grapes for various uses – finding enough fruit can sometimes be challenging. They produce a still wine from this and also a delicious, fortified wine, both bottled under the trademarked name, Wild Grape. They were the first winery to ever produce a wine from this variety commercially. Incidentally, the grapevine growing on the arbor over the entrance to the tasting room is vitus riparia.
Their tasting room offers a diversity of their wines and also some of their distilled products for sale including whiskey, vodka and brandy. They also offer select Fernson beers on tap. And during 2020, they pivoted somewhat using their distillery to produce a strong hand sanitizer.
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The physical Jessup Cellars winery space is located in a business park just south of the city of Napa. Despite being in an urban setting they have creatively installed a Winery Wastewater Treatment System at the edge of their parking lot bordering Enterprise Drive. This system connects to the drains within the winery building and uses microbes to treat and break down the wastewater.
The tasting room and hospitality space (which hosts visitors by either walk-in or by appointment) is located in what locals sometimes refer to as ‘NoYo” or North Yountville. It is located only a block down the street from the famed French Laundry Restaurant. Yountville is a small town, and one can easily walk here from the hotels in the center or south of town. The tasting room hosts are very well trained in the world of wine – with a number having passed the various levels of courses offered by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET). The tasting room has also room has earned top recognition from customers of Cellar Pass (a winery reservation website) for their outstanding level of customer service and wine knowledge.
Their connection and care for customers here clearly shows. Dr. Thompson looks for team members who give energy to each other (rather than take), and those who naturally want to connect with both their fellow team members and customers. This approach gives employees a sense of purpose and fosters a culture of empathy, compassion and respect. He told us you can’t skip certain steps in business; you have to create a team experience first and foremost. The “people part” of his businesses have been the most powerful aspect of his own journey. And when discussed how best to grow the business, his reply was a single word, “LOVE”.
Customers stop by the tasting room for wines that are reasonably priced but to also have fun, often referred by friends and family remembering the good time they had when they were in Napa Valley.
The tasting room is still in the original location from when they opened in 2004 but they since expanded their footprint taking over the ownership of an art and photography gallery that used to operate next door. This is the oldest tasting room in Yountville, having opened just prior to Hope & Grace that same year. In fact, this may be the second oldest stand alone walk-in urban tasting room in Napa Valley behind Vintner’s Collective in downtown Napa which opened 2002.
A number of tasting spaces are available for guests including a small courtyard, a VIP private room for up to 6 people as well as the Premier Room which can seat up to 14 people. Art and music are important complementary parts of a tasting experience. An upbeat sound track plays popular music while curated pieces of art from local and regional artists are on display and rotate every few months. These encompass a diversity of mediums from paintings, wood workings to glass blowing.
Jessup Cellars was primarily distributed when ownership changed; since then a wine club was built and is now an integral part of their operations. This club is not only about the wine, but also about building relationships between both Jessup Cellars and consumers. And to that end, the team takes pride in customer service and a variety of events and experiences hosted throughout the year including including their popular Art House Short Film Days in select winter months when their wines are paired with award winning short films. And in certain summer months they hold the Art House Sessions – wines are served while guests enjoy live music.
The Jessup wines are primarily sold at the tasting room, online, through the wine club and at special gatherings such as in-home hosted tastings around the country. Other than in South Dakota, they have no distribution including to wholesalers, wine shops and restaurants. One of the keys to their success is the diversity of wine that Jessup Cellars produces including both blends and single varietals. Often several vintages are available for tasting or purchase, depending on the variety and year.
After years of working with a vineyard in Wooden Valley (roughly 25 minutes northeast of the city of Napa) for many years, the longtime growers and owners decided they wanted to sell part of their property. Through this relationship with the growers cultivated by former Jessup Cellars winemaker, Rob Lloyd, the Good Life Wine Collective purchased 28 acres of which 8 are planted to various red varieties. Appropriately, they now call this the Good Life Vineyard and the grapes go into both some of the Jessup and Handwritten wines.
Jessup also sources grapes from various locations in Napa Valley through long term vineyard leases, including working with Carneros growers, the Truchard family, primarily for their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and other up-valley locations for the more robust reds. Jessup maintains significant input into viticulture decisions for any vineyards they lease.
Select Wines
Whites
Sauvignon Blanc
The 2025 Jessup Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, Oakville Napa Valley is pale to medium gold in color; up front immediately aromatic, the bouquet sports scents of pineapple, golden apples, comise pears and floral elements including honeysuckle, jasmine and citrus blossom. This wine offers plenty of California sunshine, without ever crossing into the territory of the herbal qualities that this variety is known for from cooler climates. And Oakville is not a cooler climate. Fresh, bright and flavorful, this wine tastes like pineapple, mandarin orange, golden apples, honeydew melon, nectarine and golden plums. Finishes with plenty of flavorful persistence. The texture is present with a creamy and rounded mouth feel. Finishes with a light herbal note including of tarragon and dill. This wine was both fermented and aged in 50% stainless steel tanks and concrete eggs.
Sémillon
The 2024 Jessup Cellars Sémillon, Shanks Vineyard Napa Valley is 100% varietal and was fermented and aged in 50% French and American neutral oak barrels and 50% in concrete egg vessels. This was a one-off bottling. This wine is medium gold in color; fragrant, floral and fruity with a light herbal influence, this wine smells like honeysuckle, beeswax, pineapple, honeydew melon, nectarine, apricot, peach and thyme. Offering a pleasing palate presence, this wine tastes like apricot, yellow nectarine, papaya, pineapple guava, vanilla, pie crust, ginger and finishes with a light spicy character including of white pepper. The palate is lit brightly by an energetic acidity, which balances out the inherent varietal texture (a rounded and lightly creamy character). Finishes with a persistence of flavor. Tasting this wine makes us wonder why more Napa Valley producers don’t produce 100% varietal expressions of this variety.
Chardonnay
The 2024 Jessup Cellars Chardonnay, Truchard Vineyard is medium gold in color; the nose smells like the variety without a heavy influence of oak or butter. Sweet aromatically in terms of both fruit and barrel spice, this wine smells like honeycomb, creme Brule, baked apples, baked pineapples, apricot, vanilla, toasted almond, butter and toasted oak. A rich but not heavy expression of the variety, this wine tastes like apricot, peach, baked pineapple, Alphonse mango, ripe papaya and finishes with a light spicy character, a result of its time in oak. Finishes with a perceived sweetness, not from residual sugar but from ripe fruit. And there is some phenolic grip here, showing a light creamy feel. This wine was fermented in concrete eggs; its élevage was 10 months in 100% French oak barrels of which 40% were new and 60% neutral.
The 2022 Jessup Cellars Chardonnay is from grapes grown at the Truchard Vineyard on the Napa side of the Carneros District; this wine is deep golden. The nose is ripe and honeyed with plenty of golden stone fruits including apricot, peach and yellow nectarine, accompanied by almost overripe pineapple and honeydew melon, mango, assorted sweet baking spices, crème Brule and butterscotch. The ripeness and intensity of the fruit are clearly the stars of the show here with the oak showing a nutty character, but acting as more as a restrained backseat passenger and not in the driver’s seat. Call the palate what you want, but to us its dessert in the glass or alternatively, bottled California sunshine. Ripe, rich, opulent and bursting with flavor it sports notes of honeycomb, apricot, yellow peaches, mango, papaya and pineapple. A rich acidity complements the intensity of flavor and supple texture. The sweetly fruited and bright finish persists for quite some time accompanied by a light hazelnut character. A meal in the glass.
The 2016 Jessup Cellars Chardonnay is sourced from the Truchard Vineyard in Carneros. It is pale straw color in the glass and perhaps not as dark as one would think it should be based on its rich aromatic and flavor profile and barrel aging. It was barrel fermented in both French and American oak and went through full malolactic fermentation. Both fruit and a diversity of dessert spices show on the bouquet including notes of creme Brulé and vanilla. Rounded, almost oily in its presentation on the palate this wine shows flavors of buttered popcorn along with lingering citrus flavors on the finish. A rich texture – this is a layered Chardonnay with a significant depth of flavor.
Reds
Pinot Noir
The 2023 Jessup Cellars Pinot Noir, Truchard Vineyard, Carneros Napa Valley is pale to medium ruby in color; the sweetly fruited bouquet is focused on red fruits including raspberry, red plums, cherry liqueur, red licorice and with a light note of old cedar box and dried rose petals. And darker baking spices including of cloves and cinnamon stick. Like the bouquet, the palate is also sweetly fruited, sporting flavors of dark raspberry, blueberry and plum along with notes of black tea. The tannins are present, but not heavy; they persist with light gravelly character. Balanced but not overly bright acidity. Finishes with a light spicy nuance – a light dusty and savory presence. This is not a delicate expression of the variety.
Zinfandel
The 2022 Jessup Cellars Zinfandel, Pacini Vineyard, Mendocino County grows dry farmed and organically old-vine Zinfandel. This wine is medium to deep ruby in color; forward fruited with some varietal spice, the bouquet smells like raspberry, Santa Rosa plum, blueberry, red licorice and a brambly character. Perceptibly sweet on the palate with some residual sugar; still this sweetness is balanced by a bright acidity. This wine tastes like red cherry, currant, cranberry, boysenberry, strawberry jam, red licorice and Santa Rosa plum. The tannins are broadly dispersed across the palate, sporting a light gravelly and dusty character. Both fruit, sweetness and textures persist for some time, with texture ultimately being the lasting character. This wine was aged in re-purposed Chardonnay barrels, aged for about 15 months. The focus of this wine is for the fruit to express itself, rather than oak. Its listed ABV is 16.1%.
Merlot
The 2021 Jessup Cellars Merlot, Truchard Vineyard Napa Valley is a blend of 92% Merlot and 8% Petite Sirah. This wine spent two years in barrel and then spent another two years in bottle prior to release. It is deep ruby and nearly opaque; the nose smells elegant and layered with aromatics of blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum, dark mulberry, baker’s chocolate and cocoa powder. The aromatics are focused on its core of fruit with the oak adding a complementary character. Bright, and balanced with the fruit, acidity and texture the star of the stage here, this wine tastes like plum, blackberry, boysenberry, and dark cherry. It is a more muscular Merlot in terms of texture; the tannins are broadly felt across the palate, with a persistent firm dusty and drying grip. Lingers bright, lively and youthful at five years post vintage. This wine will continue to age well – and we would love to try this again in the next 8-12 years.
The 2019 Jessup Cellars Merlot, Truchard Vineyard Napa Valley is a blend of 80% Merlot, 16.5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3.5% Petite Sirah. This wine was aged for 22 months in American & French oak barrels of which 40% were in new barrels. It is deep ruby in color; somewhat brooding, especially initially, the bouquet is built upon its darker primary and secondary aromatics. It initially offers scents of mushroom and damp potting soil which morphs into mocha, espresso, warm chocolate, vanilla, dark cherry, Pakistani mulberry, blackberry and boysenberry. The fruit comes forward rather quickly with a short time in the glass and displaces some of the other darker aromas. The palate delivers flavors of ripe blackberry, boysenberry and dark mulberry with a light note of cedar. The tannins are rounded, ripe and seamlessly integrated into the finish; they last with a light gravelly and subtle drying note. In addition to its dark fruit characters, this wine lingers with a sweet note of tobacco spice. If this were a party, this would be the life of the gathering. 15.1% alcohol.
Manny’s Blend
This wine is named in homage to Manny, Jessup Cellars former vineyard manager (from Cape Verde, Africa). One year he made a special ‘garagiste’ wine blend and shared it with the team at Jessup Cellars. They enjoyed this wine so much that they started making this for Jessup Cellars; it is produced annually, primarily for club members, but is also sold in the tasting room.
The 2023 Jessup Cellars Manny’s Blend is 70% old vine Zinfandel Pacini Vineyard and 30% Petite Sirah from Ryder Vineyard (Wooden Valley). This wine is deep ruby and nearly opaque; the bouquet offers an immediate dusty and chalky character but as it opens, it reveals more fruit including of dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry and blueberry, with a light note of old cedar box. Not expecting sweetness from the bouquet, the palate is off dry with both red and darker fruit flavors including cherry, boysenberry jam, blackberry pie, and mulberry. The tannins are very much present, but never edgy, rather their rounded texture broadly coats the palate with a persistent dusty character. Finishes sweet. This wine was aged for 15 months in used Chardonnay barrels.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2020 Jessup Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7.5% Merlot and 7.5% Petite Sirah with this latter variety from the Goodlife Vineyard. This wine wine is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet is a union of both darker fruits and darker barrel influences. This wine smells like dried tobacco leaf, old cedar box, dark chocolate, dark plum, blackberry, boysenberry and Himalayan purple mulberry. Superbly balanced at 6 years post vintage, and still youthful, this wine tastes like dark cherry, boysenberry, blackberry and Satsuma plum, while finishing with a light smoky character. The tannins are gravelly textured, never dominating, and linger with a slight drying feel. Bright and balanced. This wine is an expression of this particularly challenging vintage – with the smoke in the air experienced that year, expressed primarily on the palate, rather than the bouquet. This wine was aged for 24 months in 60% new French oak barrels.
The 2019 Jessup Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petite Sirah, 3% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc. This wine was aged for 22 months in 80% new French oak barrels. It is deep ruby; the initial aromatics are brooding including nots of sweaty saddle leather, but these are very short lived. The bouquet quickly opens to its core of fruit. Scents including dark raspberry and blackberry. The palate reveals flavors of red cherry, blackberry, and raspberry. It is more red-fruited than dark. The tannins are soft like liquid velvet. Delicious. This is an easy drinking wine from a textural point of view (lightly gravelly with a rounded and supple character) while being extremely flavorful. The finish is long and fruit filled; drinks very well at this age, 6 years post vintage. Balanced. For reference, we tried this wine only several weeks after it was released.
Petite Sirah
The 2021 Jessup Cellars Petite Sirah, Ryder Vineyard Napa Valley is 100% varietal; this wine was aged for 2 years in the barrel with another two years in bottle before it was released. Not lacking in terms of color and very representative of this variety, this wine is deep ruby, opaque and sports amaranthine hues. The nose smells loads of layers, both in terms of fruit, barrel influence and spice characteristics. These aromas include blackberry pie, dark cherry, boysenberry jam, dark mulberry, lavender, violets, old cedar, pipe tobacco, dark chocolate and coffee grounds. As layered on the palate as on the bouquet, this wine delivers dark fruited flavors including blackberry, plum, boysenberry, mulberry and a light note of toasted oak on the finish. More people would gravitate towards this variety if they had a chance to try this beauty. Petite Sirah often sports robust tannins which can dominate in young wines; present, but they are not edgy or course, rather their texture is gravelly with a light chewy character and a persistent dusty feel. This wine has a long life ahead of it. BBQ please.
Table for Four
The Table for Four wine is what Roy and Cheri’s son, AJ Eisiminger called his, “wine I open to solve the world’s problems with friends”. This is one of their more popular wines and even incorporates a clever play on words. Four refers to when Jessup Cellars was owned by four couples and it also paid homage to vintages of this wine that included four varieties.
The 2021 Jessup Cellars “Table for Four”, Good Life Vineyard Napa Valley is 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Petite Sirah and 23% Cabernet Franc. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet is focused on its core fruit with its time oak a complementary character. This wine smells like blackberry pie, boysenberry, Satsuma plum, dark mulberry, and a kiss of dark baking spices including cinnamon. The palate mimics the bouquet to some extent with dark fruits including blackberry, boysenberry, dark cherry and mulberry. Finishes with a light kiss of dried tobacco leaf and mint. The tannins are integrated nicely at 5 years post vintage, persisting with a gravelly and dusty character. Finishes with a vibrant thread of acidity which keeps this wine fresh. This wine was aged for 22 months in 70% new French oak barrels.
The 2013 Jessup Cellars Table for Four is fairly dark in the glass – deep ruby and nearly opaque. The aromatics open with ripe blackberry and red cherry, lifted by subtle hints of mocha that add complexity to the nose. On the palate, the wine enters with a fairly supple, welcoming feel before gradually revealing more depth and dimension. It builds nicely, finishing strong with robust, somewhat chewy tannins and a mouthwatering acidity that keeps everything lively and in balance. It’s the kind of finish that doesn’t let go quietly. From the first sip, this wine was practically calling out for a steak — something with a good sear and a little char to stand up to all that structure and boldness.
Juel
Juel is named after Becky Blue’s father Juel, although the name of the wine is pronounced Jewel, a quiet nomenclatural nod to his Scandinavian heritage.
The 2021 Jessup Cellars “Juel”, Good Life Vineyard Napa Valley Merlot dominated blend) 30% cabernet Sauvignon with the reminder Petite Sirah. This wine is deep ruby and opaque; the bouquet notes dried rose petals, lavender, with dark fruits including blackberry, boysenberry, dark plum and savory elements including of old cedar box and pipe tobacco. A fresh, youthful and balanced expression at 5 years post vintage, this wine shows in a sweet spot at this age. On the palate there are flavors of cherry, red plums, boysenberry, currant and Persian mulberry. Finishes with a light ferrous/minerally character, a vibrant thread of acidity which will keep this wine fresh for years to come, and integrated tannins sporting a light gravelly character, primarily felt on the front of the palate.
The 2013 Jessup Cellars Juel. This Merlot-dominated blend is noticeably dark in the glass, and it’s no mystery why — 12% Petite Sirah and 8% Petite Verdot lend the wine a depth of color that hints at what’s to come. The aromatics are rich and inviting, leaning toward the darker side of the fruit spectrum: ripe blackberry, a hint of dried cherry, and a gentle kiss of mocha that lingers in the background. On the palate, those dark fruit flavors carry through — blackberry and licorice take center stage, with just enough structure to keep things interesting. The tannins have a nice presence in the mouth, firm but not aggressive, with a slightly chewy finish that gives the wine some welcome grip and length.
Port-Style
Jessup has made a Port-style wine since 1996. Traditionally they have called it a Port wine and were grandfathered in on being able to continue to use the name Port on the label but as respect to Porto, Portugal, starting with the 2015 vintage they changed this to a Solera-style of wine and the name of the wine to Infinite Recursion. Each new release will have at least a portion of the original vintage – which was in 2008. The brandy they use to fortify this wine is aged in neutral barrels for a full year before being added to the wine – the idea being to soften the brandy and best allow the fruit to shine. Infinite Recursion is made from Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Chocolate lovers take note; Jessup Cellars partnered with Napa’s most well-known chocolatier, Anette of Anette’s Chocolate & Ice Cream shop in downtown Napa to produce a Chocolate Tawny Sauce. Presumably this product would be good for evenings by the fire in the middle of winter up at Lake Tahoe in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The small sip we tried during one of our visits, was certainly quite enjoyable.
For more information, to purchase wine including both current releases and a limited selection of library wines, to secure an appointment for a tasting or to join one of their wine clubs, visit: www.jessupcellars.com
Yountville Tasting Room
Good Life Collective Winery
I just returned from a nice visit to parts of South Dakota – what an awesome state!!