“When The Prisoner came out, to me personally, I thought it was a really good thing. She remembers the release of The Prisoner as a much-needed revolution in Napa. Liz Thach is the Distinguished Professor of Wine and a Professor of Management at Sonoma State University she also holds the title of Master of Wine from the Institute of Masters of Wine in London. It’s never meant to be dark or edgy or disruptive, but maybe that’s a byproduct.”Ī retrospective on the wine published on VinePair last year argues, “What Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ did for indie rock in the 1990s, Phinney’s Prisoner has done for California reds in the new millennium.” That may sound hyperbolic, but not to those in Napa Valley’s insular but influential wine world.
“I’m settled on something I like and I can stand behind, and hopefully, people like it. I’m not going after Millennials or Gen Xers or 85-year-old grandmothers,” Phinney says of his wines. “We’re never trying to appeal to anybody. “I had this juxtaposition of highbrow fine art and graffiti, essentially.” His parents were both professors, and frequently took him to museums. Phinney grew up in LA in the 80s, embedded in its surfing, skateboarding, and punk rock scenes. There are anecdotes about wine sellers being asked if they could obscure or even soak off its label for worries that Goya’s sinister imagery could offend dinner table guests. It might retail for just under 50 bucks a bottle (in its early days, it was $25), but its branding conveys a suffering, solitary man, possibly a criminal, instead of a chateau on a hill, or a hunting expedition of old white guys and their English Pointers. Its delicious but unstuffy flavor is essential, but The Prisoner’s once-controversial aesthetic is equally integral to its success. “Though it may be a push classic Old World lovers of Bordeaux or Rhône Valley reds to put this one on the dinner table, there is a new generation of wine drinkers who can't get enough of this style of wine,” wrote wine critic Wilfred Wong in his review of The Prisoner’s 2016 vintage.
He adds that the company is essentially capped out at that number, due to grower contracts, quality control, and the constraints of sourcing the right fruit in Napa, but that it’s at a sweet spot of supply and demand. Now, after being acquired by the Fortune 500 company Constellation Brands in 2016 for $285 million, The Prisoner is the number-one luxury red blend “by a huge margin,” says Logan Michaud, Senior Wine Education Specialist for The Prisoner Wine Company, with 180,000 cases produced each year. By the time Phinney sold the brand in 2008, it was producing 85,000 cases annually. The wine’s popularity soared, and the brand expanded.
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