Wallis Family Estate was started by Edward Wallis in 1975, even though it would be decades before it produced wine. Barely out of college in 1975, Wallis was drawn by the estate’s dramatic 85-acre site on Diamond Mountain Road and its “castle” and carriage house. The buildings date from the early 1900s when the estate, then called Château Pacheteau, produced sherry to export to the East Coast. In 1988 Wallis married Marilyn Belk, and a decade later they replanted 13 acres of vineyards. Within a few years they were selling fruit to Ramey Wine Cellar and Lokoya Winery, but in 2006 they started their own label. Two years later they brought in Thomas Rivers Brown, one of California’s most admired winemakers. Wallis Family Estate makes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and red blends. Robert M. Parker has rated the estate’s wines in the mid-90s and complimented them for “finesse and elegance as well as substance and concentration.”