Winery

The Winery

Gavilan Vineyards works with the oldest winery in San Rafael, Bodega La Abeja (The Bee), which dates back to 1883. It was founded by Rodolfo Iselin, a French immigrant; he came to San Rafael and started vineyards and the winery. Bodega La Abeja still stands next Iselin’s old family house.
 Our winemaker, Oscar Salazar, is one of the best enologists in the area, and he has made many award winning wines in his long career.

Gavilan’s production has steadily grown over the past years; in addition we have clients who want to participate in our wine making program. As a result we have now reached the capacity that Bodega La Abeja can allocate for our operation. Therefore we’re currently working with architects to design our very own winery that will be built at Gavilan within one of the existing vineyards. With the general concept of eco-friendly construction, we are looking for designs that cater to this ideology.

The Wine Store:

In 2012 we will open The Wine Store. Here you’ll find all products that have been produced at Gavilan Vineyards. From the Gavilan Wine series to the wines made by our Wine Estate owners, as well as olives, oils, and some fine jams from the apricot, plums and peaches grown at Gavilan.

From the Tasting Room we will offer educational vineyard tours to tourists visiting the area. The Vineyard Tours will offer an insight into the first step of making great wine, i.e., making a great grape. Without a good grape you cannot make good wine!