The 2.5 story frame grist mill dates back to 1856, when it was built on th mill site by Joshua Chauvet as a saw mill. Eighteen months later it was converted to a grist mill and remained as such for over 100 years. In 1881, a large stone winery was built next to the grist mill, using water power to produce steam to run the machinery.

Mr Chauvet was born in the Champaign province of France in 1822, the son of a mill owner and millwright. He learned the trade of milling early as a youth and in 1850, emigrated to the United States, coming around Cape Horn to San Francisco, a trip from France that took from the beginning of February to the middle of September. He promtly did a little gold mining around Calaveras, then engaged in building and operating bakeries in places such as, Molkelumne Hill, Jackson, and Sandy Bar.

In 1852, Chauvet was again baking in Molkelumne Hill, paying as high as $120.00 a barrel for flour and only selling his bread for $1.00 a pound. He decided to make his own flour. He bought a French two run of stones flour mill and machinery in 1853 and had it set uo in Oakland, Oaklands first flour mill, to run from wind power when it arrived in 1854. The venture proved a financial loss however and he went back to Sandy Bar as a baker.

He arrived in Glen Ellen in 1856. Having bought 500 acres of land together with his father, which included a mill site along Sonoma Creek, from General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, he built the saw mill, then 18 months later , converted it into a flour mill, which continued under his operation until 1881. He started planting grapes, made some wine in 1875, and by 1881, he had built a 50'X 125' 3 story winery to handle his output of the previous year of 125.000 gallons. In association with the marketing firm of Walter, Schilling & Co. of San Francisco, his business exceeded all expectations and became one of the largest wineries around Glen Ellen.

A later brandy distillery, the "Egrot" produced about 6-7 thousand gallons/year of that entity. The mill was a restaurant on two levels in 1996, called Almedeo of Glen Ellen, Ristorante. In the mid 1980's, the restaurant was called the Old Mill Restaurant.