Sutter Home Family Vineyards wine initially caught my attention because, brace yourself, I like their "White Zinfandel" blush wine. In writing about White Zinfandel, I noticed that Sutter Home is attempting to follow the success of their Zinfandel blush wine with similarly produced White Merlot and White Cabernet blush wines. Much like their White Zinandel blush wine, these wines involve removing the wine from contact with the crushed grape skins fairly soon in the process, well before fermentation. This affects both the color and the flavor of the wines.

The closer I looked at Sutter Home, and their parent corporation, Trinchero Family Estates, the more intrigued I became. It's a rather wide-ranging but California dominated collection of brands, vineyards, and wineries. Sutter Home and Trinchero were, before winemaker John Trinchero's serendipitous introduction of White Zinfandel in 1972, primarily known for their "old vine" single vineyard Zinfandels. They went on a buying spree in the 1980s, mostly in California's Nappa Valley. The more upscale, single vineyard varietals are produced and sold under the Trinchero Nappa Valley label (we know it is upscale because the online wine store is a "Boutique," rather than a store). These are wines with limited availability, generally. Other labels and wineries within the corporation, like Terra d'Oro, who seems to have taken up the Zinfandel charge. Montevina produces other limited volume, single vineyard and boutique wines, including Zinfandels, but in a variety of price ranges, and from a number of vineyards. Sutter Home is Trinchero Family Estates most recognized consumer table wine line, but Trinchero Family Estates also own budget labels like Ménage à Trois produced by Folie a Deux, Wild Bunch, producers of unabashed drink-it-now fruit-forward red and white wine table blends, and Trinity Oaks.

The fact that Sutter Home is still emphasizing affordable consumer varietal wines instead of blends intrigued me, and now, I'm resolved to work my way through all of Sutter Home's lineup. The fact that they are so very ubiquitous—they are in pretty much every grocery chain that sells wine, most supermarkets and all the chain drugstores—and that they are selling varietals at extremely affordable prices, and that they make no bones about being California budget table wines, all of those intrigued me. They have quite a line-up: in addition to the three blush wines (White Zinfandel, White Merlot and White Cabernet Sauvignon, they make a red blend called Red. Their range of red varietal wines includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel. In white wines, Sutter Home makes Chardonay, Pinot Grigio, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewürtztraminer and Moscato, a sweet dessert wine.