Charles Justi and The Ellis Octet
Their adobe home became a stagecoach stop as early as the Civil War. Glen Ellen became a town on this date, July 19, in 1872, after residents petitioned the U.S. Postal Service for a post office. Glen Ellen’s first post office was estabished on the property with Charles Justi as its first postmaster.
Our original estate vineyard is of significant importance to the history of California winemaking. The earliest French winemakers gravitated to this site in the late 1800’s, and our old vine zinfandel in a field blend, planted in 1919, speaks to the Italian heritage of the area. For our 25th Anniversary, and the 20th Anniversary of our wines being estate grown, we look back at the story of this special place.
In 1853, Charles Justi and his wife Marie closed their jewelry business in San Francisco and moved to Sonoma to operate a freight and passenger service. They purchased several hundred acres of land in what would become Glen Ellen, and began growing grapes and making wine, while Marie kept a boarding house for travelers.
Map of Glen Ellen, 1869
Leopold Justi, 1892
Leopold served as Justice of the Peace, worked at the Berkeley School for the Deaf and Blind, and was also friends with Jack London, who made Glen Ellen his final home. As a gregarious and engaged member of the community, Leopold left behind fifty years’ worth of correspondence. This vast and diverse collection is treasured as rich historical documentation of Glen Ellen and of California’s early wine industry.
The Lasseters purchased the property in 2000 and renamed it in honor of the Justi Family.
Glen Ellen became recognized for high quality wine production during this time, having become home to the earliest French winemakers in California. The Justi’s son Leopold, youngest of eleven children, became an important viticultural figure. He gained expertise in vine grafting during the Phylloxera era, eventually selling bench-grafted root stock from France to George de Latour of Rutherford. At that time, Latour was just establishing Beaulieu Vineyard, which became and remains one of California’s most famous wineries.
Leopold Justi, at the winery
