Phinney is a winemaker — more accurately, a wine entrepreneur. He created mega-hit wine brands like the Prisoner and Orin Swift, both of which he has sold for hundreds of millions of dollars, and the Locations line of wines, which he still owns. But it’s spirits, not wine, that’s calling him to Mare Island, off the shore of Vallejo, where he’s building a distillery called Savage & Cooke.

“The minute I came down here, it was hook, line and sinker,” Phinney says of the island. With long-term leases on seven of the island’s historic buildings, he is getting into businesses he never imagined. In addition to the distillery, Phinney has plans for a winery, a fried chicken restaurant, a public park, a rooftop bar, a boutique coffee roaster, artists’ studios and more. He’s planning on starting a leather goods business, furnished by cattle whose meat he will also sell. And he’s getting into the “artisanal” shotgun business. (Yes, he’s serious about that.)