Perhaps it was the romantic tales of Murrieta that attracted Louis Mel to this site in the 1880s. More likely it was this natural source of water and the unusually gravelly soil. A native of France, Mel bought the surrounding land and built a gravity-flow winery into the hillside adjacent to the well. He imported cuttings of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon from the famous estate of Chateaux d'Yquem and red Bordeaux cuttings from Margaux.

"One day I crossed the country from Tracy to the Livermore Valley and stopped at a ranch that was nicely wooded with a flowing creek, a stop where the bandit Murrieta used to stop because he claimed that the water was the best in the country which he roamed. In fact, they called a well there, 'Murrieta's Well.'

I was enchanted with the place. Its soil and climate seemed much like the countryside of La Belle France, where we had both spent our younger days. So I took Mrs. Mel to see it and she agreed it was a lovely spot. In 1884 we bought the place and made it our home, and as the Wentes and Concannons and other neighbors around us had vineyards, I decided to plant vines, too."

~ Excerpt from an interview with Louis Mel, Wines and Vines, October, 1935