We began collecting wine back in the 1980s. A trip to Napa, including a visit with Steve Girard of Girard Winery, hooked our founder, Ed and sparked his dream to build a handcrafted winery. In 2002, Ed decided to plant 25 two-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon vines in his backyard. Two years later he was able to harvest just over 100 pounds. In addition to the harvested crop, Ed purchased 500 pounds of grapes and blended them with the fruit from our backyard vineyard, and our first wine was produced.

As a family endeavor and one in which Ed has been paramount to the winery’s success, it was decided to name the winery “Eddie’s Backyard.” As an avid and knowledgeable wine maker, Ed is involved in all aspects of the winemaking process. He continues to expand his knowledge and education though participation in the Orange County Home Winemaking Society.

Since 2002, we have produced over 60 different wine varietals. Our wines have been entered in numerous competitions: Orange County Fair, Los Angeles County Fair, California State Fair, San Joaquin Fair, Indiana State Fair, and the Wine Maker Magazine International Competition. The dedication of Ed’s work has garnered over 190 awards and counting. In 2009, our 2007 Syrah was selected as the Wine Maker Magazine International Competition Grand Champion from 4,476 entries. Similarly in 2013, our 2011 Pinot Noir was awarded as Best of Show Red Wine, topping 2,300 other entries.

In 2014, EB Winery was created to carry the brand forward utilizing Ed’s talent for making award-winning, custom wines. We currently produce most of our handcrafted wines in Encinitas, California while we source our grapes from California's finest vineyards.

After more than 40 years in the automotive business, Ed retired in 2016. He now dedicates time and energy on his journey of building the EB Winery brand of distinctive and high-quality, handcrafted wines. Ed lives in Laguna Niguel, California with his wife Robin and their two grown children, Garrett and Kayla.

During our wine making process there are hundreds of decisions that go into making a premium bottle of wine. At EB Winery, we carefully consider each decision to ensure our commitment to producing distinctive, high-quality handcrafted wines. It all begins with the selection of the best available fruit from some of the premier vineyards of California. We go to extreme lengths to source our fruit from the same vineyards in order to provide a consistent vintage to vintage taste. We use hands-on, classical, and traditional methods blended with the use of modern crushing, destemming, and pressing equipment.

We typically receive the fruit within twenty-four hours of being harvested. For our red wines, the fruit is sorted, destemmed, and cold soaked for a number of days. We then elevate the temperature of the must and begin the primary fermentation process with the inoculation of specific yeast stains for each of the different wine varietals. Upon completion of the primary fermentation the fruit is pressed and pumped into tanks to begin the malolactic fermentation. After a few weeks the process is completed and the wine is racked off the sediment and pumped into oak barrels. We use a combination of both new and older oak barrels, like French and American Oak, with different levels of toast. These combinations change based on the wine varietal as we attempt to achieve the highest quality and flavors from the fruit.

The wine is typically racked multiple times during the 12 to 24 month aging process. For our white wines we press the whole berry clusters immediately upon receipt from the vineyard.  Depending on the varietal of the fruit, we will complete the primary fermentation and stirring of the lees in either tanks or oak barrels. Typically, our Chardonnay goes through malolactic fermentation in oak barrels and is aged for 8 to 12 months. 

The final step in our production process is the blending. We typically begin the process several months prior to bottling. These bottled wines are tasted over the course of several months or even years prior to release.

We are proud to finally release our first group of wines from EB Winery. Follow our dream at EB Winery.com.