In 1976, Dan Duckhorn — a Northern California native — was a financial industry entrepreneur who was working with an investment firm in Napa Valley. When the firm decided to divest a nursery operation in Napa Valley, Dan, his wife, Margaret, and a small group of investors, decided to step in and purchase 10 acres in Napa. This began an adventure that would grow and excel for more than three decades and expand into three brands.

Duckhorn fell in love with merlot at an early stage and knew that he wanted to plant it in Napa, so he decided to buck the conventional wisdom of the day by attempting to make a world-class merlot wine in California. Duckhorn Vineyards quickly developed a reputation for producing some of the best merlot based wines in the country. Noted wine columnist Frank Prial dubbed Dan with the nickname, “Mr. Merlot.”