Helena, Calif., is complete with skeletons made of graphite, neon signs mirroring the scratch marks on its Dérangé bottles, and matte-black pottery adorned with metal spikes and more. The 40,000-square-foot facility, located in St. The brand’s unconventional tasting room follows suit with its dark and eerie labels.

The brand is constantly fostering new relationships with vintners across the state, meaning its network of 100 growers will likely continue to grow. Instead, to source grapes for its blends, the brand turns to a variety of small-scale producers in California who grow unique varietals. The brand doesn’t have a single vineyard where it grows its grapes. The brand works with over 100 growers throughout California. Brands like Apothic have adopted Prisoner-style labels, while others even attempt to imitate the font on The Prisoner’s bottles. Since The Prisoner’s rise to popularity, red blends have come into fashion. The Prisoner is now one of more than 100 brands owned by Constellation, and in 2017, the company produced about 165,000 cases of The Prisoner - a dramatic increase from its initial production. However, these days, Dave Phinney is no longer involved in the brand. When The Prisoner was first created, it was a small label - Phinney released only 385 cases of the wine in 2000.

In 2016, it was again sold to Constellation Brands, a major beverage conglomerate. Within 10 years, the brand was sold to Huneeus Vintners. Back then, dark labels like The Prisoner’s weren’t done, and most winemakers focused on single-grape varietals, making a red blend like The Prisoner unconventional for multiple reasons. Yet the Zinfandel-heavy red blend, with its creepy yet Instagrammable label, became wildly popular in Napa and beyond. When The Prisoner was first released in 2000, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram had not yet been invented. It went viral, before going viral was a thing. The brand’s flagship wine, a red blend made with Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Syrah, and Charbono, was a major hit, and since then the brand has released two additional blends: a red blend called Dérangé, and a white blend called Blindfold.

The Prisoner Wine Company is best known for its unique blends. The sketch, which was given to Phinney as a gift from his parents at age 12, served as a “visual protest against the injustice and brutality of the Spanish War of Independence.” The Prisoner Wine Company continues to be inspired by the drawing, using it as a constant reminder to never be complacent or restricted by rules and traditions. The Prisoner Wine Company based its entire brand mission on a single sketch from the 1800s drawn by Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. It was inspired by a sketch from the 1800s.

Prisoner wine