The winery mostly produced Bordeaux-style wines for decades. But one family member discovered a vineyard full of 100-year-old Zinfandel vines. The family ran them through the press and bottled them after the first crush. With only a touch of crimson pigment from the grape skins, the wine was a pale pink in color and very sweet.

This was the first white Zinfandel, and it flew off the shelves in 1974 under the Trinchero Estates label, according to Senior Vice President of Operations Robert Torres. Production doubled every year, and Trinchero Family Wines was able to use that revenue to get into Chardonnay and expand their brands.

Their bestselling label is Menage a Trois, which came along when the company picked up another winery in St. Helena in 2004. The idea was to have a separate place to produce Trinchero Estates, a luxury brand, and the label came with the winery.

"Oh, that will be a nice little brand to have, or so we thought," he said. Now Menage a Trois is the best-selling red wine in the country, due to some sales and marketing magic.