Easkoot Cellars takes its name from a sailor who made his final landfall in Marin County and later became the surveyor who first staked out the vineyards the winery would come to farm — a fitting origin story for a project rooted in a very specific sense of place. Wine importers Emily and Stephan Schindler founded the label in 2010, drawn to the cool, fog-laced terrain of Marin's Petaluma Gap, where marine air rolls in at night to slow ripening and preserve the kind of nervous, high-toned energy that defines old-world-leaning Pinot Noir.

Those early Marin vineyards, farmed sustainably by local grower Mark Pasternak, gave Easkoot its signature: wines of fresh and smoky red berry character, fermented spontaneously on native yeasts that Pasternak's careful farming helped preserve. Whole clusters found their way into the tanks, deepening the earthy, savory dimension that ran beneath the fruit. The Petaluma Gap's geography — relentless fog, cool nights, coastal wind — did the rest.

The pandemic years brought disruption. As Marin farmers retired or wound down operations, Easkoot lost access to the single-vineyard sites that had defined its portfolio. Rather than force a compromise, the Schindlers discontinued those bottlings and continued with their Foggy Bottom line — Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, and Chardonnay — while they waited for the right next chapter.

That chapter arrived in 2025, when an opportunity to source Grüner Veltliner from the Sonoma Mountains brought a genuinely unexpected addition to the lineup. Chardonnay from the Steiner Vineyard followed in 2026. A potential revival of single vineyard wines at Easkoot? Who knows...