Michael Bello built a Southern California construction business and carried two ambitions out of it: to own a champion racehorse and to make a champion Napa Cabernet. He managed both. In 2000 he bought a parcel of Rutherford Bench land near St. Supéry and spent four years building a French-style farmhouse from materials shipped in from France, founding the winery in 2004 and hiring David Abreu to handle the vineyards and Aaron Pott to make the wine. The estate Rutherford Cabernet is the flagship; the California blend is called Megahertz after the thoroughbred filly he brought back from overseas, who won her first race at Santa Anita in 2002 and fourteen more before retiring. Son Christopher now runs day-to-day operations, and the family's St. Helena tasting room — opened in 2012 under a chandelier built from 200 red bottles — locals nicknamed Club Bello.