Eislynn is a one-woman show, and Emily Myers will tell you so herself, right down to the dog she calls her cellar hand and soulmate. She makes low-intervention wine from the Central Coast on her own terms, buying only from growers who farm organically or biodynamically and treat their workers well, then adding almost nothing in the cellar but a touch of sulfur. The wines are honest, alive, and exactly what she believes in: community, kindness, and responsibility, poured into a bottle.

A one-woman show, on her own terms

Emily Myers grew up in Los Angeles and Orange County and came north to Santa Barbara for college at UC Santa Barbara, where her first job out of school was, of all things, tech sales. Wine pulled harder. She earned her stripes working for established Santa Barbara producers before deciding she needed something that was completely hers, soup to nuts, made the way she wanted to make it.

That became Eislynn, her own middle name. The story behind the name is pure mischief: her mother lifted it from the heroine of a racy romance novel she was reading while pregnant. The elegant spelling hides a cheeky origin, which fits a winemaker who describes herself as no gatekeeper to a good time.

Low intervention starts in the vineyard

Eislynn does not own a vineyard. Instead Emily hand-picks fruit from Central Coast growers who farm the way she believes farming should be done, organically or biodynamically, with respect for the land and the people who work it. That sourcing is the whole foundation, because low-intervention wine only works when the grapes arrive clean and healthy.

The Santa Ynez Valley gives her a deep bench to draw from. Her Sauvignon Blanc has come from the Gildred Family Vineyard in Solvang, her Cabernet from Coquelicot, and her Syrah from Demetria. In the cellar she does as little as possible, with small sulfur additions the only real addition, so what ends up in the glass is a clear read on the fruit and the season.

The wines: fresh and transparent

The lineup is small and shifts with what the vintage offers, but the throughline is freshness and transparency. The Sauvignon Blanc is bright and energetic, the kind of white built around acidity rather than oak. The Syrah, sourced from cool Santa Barbara sites, leans savory and peppery rather than jammy. A more recent Cabernet Sauvignon rounds things out. These are not big, manipulated wines, they are made to taste like where they came from and to be opened with people you like.

What to pour it with

Bright, low-intervention Sauvignon Blanc is a table workhorse, and the classic move is goat cheese. The two share green, herbal notes that read as a single flavor, a textbook aroma bridge, while the high acidity in the wine slices through the cheese richness and tang. It works just as well with a salad in a sharp vinaigrette, since the acid in the glass matches the acid on the plate instead of fighting it.

The savory Syrah wants something with char and fat: grilled lamb, a peppered steak, or sausages off the fire. The tannins bind to the protein and fat so the wine softens and the meat tastes cleaner, while the pepper note in the wine echoes a cracked-pepper crust. Save the Cabernet for a proper steak night, where its structure has the richness it needs to shine.

Eislynn Wines: common questions