David Eakle
OWNER/Vintner
David was born and raised in Pope Valley. David has grown up in the family business working from a young age pruning, bottling, assisting with production, running heavy equipment and working on vineyard development. He spent his high school summers running from construction sites, to helping remodel houses, to planting vineyards.
After graduating from CSU Chico in 2007 with a B.S. in Agricultural Business, David came back to work at Pope Valley Winery. From 2008-2015 David was acting winemaker learning from then consultant Shaun Richardson until he took a larger role in our vineyard development company, becoming head of operations and then launching Eakle Vineyard Management in 2017. David has unique knowledge of the wine industry from the soil, and vineyard management to winemaking, production and bottling. He has produced magnificent award winning wines. David prides himself on producing premium wines from the vineyards he helped to plant.
David is the boots on the ground “make things happen” winery owner. Brother and sister team, David and Diana complement each other. They each have their own strengths and work together seamlessly. David oversees production and vineyard management of our Estate vineyards as well as many vineyards for other highly acclaimed California wineries. As the business has grown, David stops by the office in the morning to check in and to drop off our wine dog Gus for his job of greeting guests as they come to visit. Then David is off to check on the vineyards, oversee harvest operations with his Vineyard Management Company, Eakle Vienyard Management, and manage the Eakle Construction and Trucking team,as well.
David lives a short drive from the winery with his children, daughter Ryen, son Chet, and wine dog Gus.