The Napa Valley is known for its wines and anyone who has visited knows of the many choices of tasting rooms to visit. Among this array of options, sometimes it is nice to stick with the tried and true. Sutter Home Winery is one of the original wineries of the Napa Valley and its tasting and retail sales room, remains one of the staples of the valley.
Situated along the Napa Valley’s Highway 29, Sutter Home is one of few wineries to offer complimentary tastings, remaining true to the original mission statement set forth by founder Mario Trinchero – “to offer customers a great product at a fair price.” A variety of wines are offered in the tasting room, including Chardonnay, White Merlot, Moscato, Merlot, Zinfandel, and of course, the world-famous White Zinfandel.
The tasting room at Sutter Home also boasts a few specialty items not available in stores including a Reserve White Zinfandel as well as Sutter Home Vinegar, which is back by popular demand. The vinegar, a secret passion of White Zinfandel creator Bob Trinchero, will hit the shelves of the tasting room at the end of May.
As with most Napa Valley wineries, Sutter Home was shut down during Prohibition. The winery remained abandoned until 1947, when John and Mario Trinchero purchased it, immigrant brothers from New York City whose family had long been active in the Italian wine business. The Trincheros refurbished the winery and began producing a diverse assortment of Napa Valley wines. For many years they operated “mom-and-pop” style, selling to their Napa Valley neighbors who filled their barrels and bottles at the winery’s back door.
In the late 1960s and early ’70s, the next generation of Trincheros, Bob, his brother Roger and sister Vera, inherited stewardship of the winery. A turning point occurred in 1968, when Bob Trinchero sampled a homemade Zinfandel made from grapes grown in the Sierra Foothills, California’s famed Gold Rush country. Impressed by the character and intensity of this robust, spicy red wine, Bob began vinifying Amador Country Zinfandel, the first North Coast winery to do so after Prohibition. The result was a rejuvenation of the historic Sierra foothill growing region, and recognition of Sutter Home Winery as a pioneer in this quintessentially American varietal.
In 1972, another of Bob Trinchero’s innovations made wine history by providing the American consumer with an entirely new style of premium wine. Experimenting with ways to make his Amador County Zinfandel even more robust, Trinchero drew off some of the free run juice and fermented it as a ‘white’ wine. This pale pink Zinfandel, lighter-bodied and more delicately flavored that its red counterpart, became a favorite of the winery’s tasting room clientele.
Production of the wine, originally called Oeil de Pedrix (Eye of the Partridge), began in 1972 at 220 cases. The name was quickly changed to White Zinfandel, and sales grew exponentially throughout the 1980s as Americans by the millions fell in love with its approachable, food-friendly style. By 1987, Sutter Home White Zinfandel had become the best-selling premium wine in the United States. In 1994, the Wine Spectator, the world’s most influential consumer wine publication, gave Bob its coveted distinguished service award for “having introduced more Americans to wine on the table than anyone in history.”
The original winery site on Highway 29 houses the winery’s spacious Visitors Center. Hanging in the tasting room is a poster-size historic photo of the original winery, donning the Sutter Home name across its roof. Two doors – the entrance to the old winery, can be also seen in the photo. These same two doors now serve as the entrance to the tasting room.
Still very much family-run, Bob and Roger Trinchero and Vera Trinchero Torres, along with Vera’s sons, Anthony and Robert Torres, manage a large and talented winemaking organization, overseeing all operations from grape-growing and production to marketing and sales. The Trincheros are noted for their industry leadership, commitment to sustainable agriculture and preserving the environment.
The wines of Sutter Home may be sampled in a spacious tasting and retail room adjacent to the Sutter Home Victorian and Gardens. The Visitor Center is located on Highway 29 in St. Helena and open daily, except major holidays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. More information on wine clubs and wine club events is available by visiting the website at www.sutterhome.com or calling 1-800-967-4663. Visitors are invited to stroll through the organic garden surrounding the Sutter Home Victorian Inn which sits next to the tasting room. The White Zinfandel Garden is a horticultural wonderland containing hundreds of different plants and flowers, at least one of them in bloom every day of the year.

Related Information

• Sutter Home Winery