Half-Sisters Shake Up California Wine Industry After Incredible Journey To Find Each Other

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — After an incredible journey to find each other, two half-sisters are shaking up the California wine industry with their own label run primarily by women.

Andrea and Robin McBride both share a passion for wine, and their personal story is as unique as their professional one as two black women in a field dominated by white men.

In 2010, they started the McBride Sisters Wine Co., which at the time "was a bit of an old boys' club," Robin said.

In the U.S., 90 percent of the wine produced is made in California, but only 10 percent of the state's wineries are led by a female winemaker.

Seeking to change that trend, the sisters assembled a team that's 80 percent women, including their head winemaker and vineyard director.

"We have this vision and we have this goal and everybody is passionate about it and wants to get behind it and see it be successful," Andrea said.

For the McBrides, success is not just about selling wine, but creating a sort of sisterhood among their mostly female staff.

After all, it's sisterhood that makes their story so remarkable.

"We didn't know about each other at all when we were growing up," Robin said.

The story of their journey starts with their shared biological father, who wasn't around for most of their lives.

Andrea grew up in New Zealand with her mother Pauline until she died of breast cancer. She was placed with a foster family at the age of 6. Robin was raised by her mother Karen, more than 6,500 miles away in Monterey. Before he died in 1996, their father asked his family to try and connect the two girls.

"The catalyst was one of his brothers, our uncle, was in his living room watching an 'Oprah' episode and she featured private detectives on how you find people that owe you money," Andrea explained.

Based on the show's recommendation, the family pulled the records of every Robin McBride listed at the Department of Motor Vehicles and started writing dozens of letters.

Finally, in 1999, Robin received a note from her father's sister.

"She wrote on the letter, 'I'm your aunt and I'm sorry to tell you that your dad has passed away, but you have a little sister,' " Robin said.

A day later, the sisters met in New York's LaGuardia Airport and as they got to know each other, they discovered a shared passion for making wine.

"Had we not met, we probably wouldn't be in the wine industry, but we kind of felt like the stars lined up," Andrea said.

Sixteen years later, their banner now distributes wines to major grocery chains across the country.

The company's success feels like the culmination of their journey as sisters. For that, they are both grateful to a father they never really knew.

The women launched their newest brand called Truvee, derived from the French word "to find," in February. They say it's important to them that their wines are affordable and each one retails for under $20.