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Ehlers Estate is rich in the history of Napa Valley. The Callejomano band of the Wappo people were the first inhabitants to enjoy the bounty of the Estate. They traded widely in obsidian, a black volcanic glass indigenous to the area and highly prized as a material for tool making. In the early part of the 19th century Mexican settlers led by General Mariano Vallejo established themselves in the area. Stewardship of the Estate then passed to an English physician named Edward Turner Bale, who had married Vallejo's niece, and was awarded a 17,000 acre land grant in 1841. Pioneer immigration into the Napa Valley was in full swing by 1848. Most of the newcomers were farmers who came to purchase and work the land. One such landowner was Reverend Theodore Lyman from Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco. He purchased the Estate from Florentine Kellogg, the metalworker whom Bale had hired to construct a grist mill (now known as the Bale Grist Mill, part of the California state park system). Kellogg, who had been paid in land by Bale, sold a portion to Lyman before leaving to pan for gold in the Sierra Nevada. Lyman, who saw the potential for wine production, was called to be bishop of North Carolina, and he passed the land on to his son, W.W. Lyman. W.W. Lyman, also a religious man, helped found Grace Episcopal Church of St. Helena; he also provided property for Grace's first minister. In 1882, W.W. Lyman sold the Estate land to Reverend Alfred Todhunter. Although Todhunter planted 10 acres of vines, the root louse phylloxera was already making its presence known in the Napa Valley. In 1885, faced with a dying vineyard, Todhunter sold his property to Sacramento grocer Bernard Ehlers for $7,000 in gold coin. In 1886, Ehlers completed planting the vineyards and constructed the stone winery building, which remains today as the focal point of the Estate. When Ehlers passed away in 1901, he left the Estate to his wife Anna, who maintained the property for the next 15 years. In 1923, local resident Alfred Domingos purchased the land from Anna Ehlers. Since home winemaking was legal, Domingos and his brother "bootlegged" wine and brandy to a growing stream of Bay Area visitors. In fact, so many tourists came to Napa Valley to obtain illegal alcohol that the Carquinez Bridge was erected to facilitate transportation. When prohibition ended, the Domingos brothers established the Old Bale Mill Winery, which they ran successfully until 1958. The early 1970s brought a revived interest in California wines, and the Estate became home to a number of small new wineries including Conn Creek Winery, Saintsbury, Vichon Winery, and Stratford Winery. In 1982, Parisians Jean and Sylviane Leducq established the Prince Michel Vineyards and Winery in Virginia. Their goal was to marry their Gallic passion for fine wine and food with American history. Under the direction of French enologist Jacques Boissenot, in 1987, the Leducqs purchased 7 acres of vineyard that were part of the original land tract belonging to W.W. Lyman. This land was replanted to the traditional Bordeaux varietals-Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. The Leducqs continued to acquire contiguous parcels as they came on the market. In May 2001, the original stone winery and estate home built by Bernard Ehlers was purchased, thus reuniting the Estate. The stewardship of Ehlers Estate is now in the hands of the Leducq Foundation. The Leducq family and the Leducq Foundation are firmly committed to the continued maintenance and prosperity of this historic property, and to the making of estate-grown wine.