The industry contributes $9.5 billion a year to the county’s economy, according to a 2005 report from the consulting group MKF Research in St. Helena. While sales of Napa Valley wines generate more than $2.3 billion a year, according to the study, the industry accounts for nearly half of the employment in the valley, generating about $1.4 billion in wages.

Many of those jobs are high-visibility posts in tasting rooms or wineries, and many others are out in the fields.

But while vineyards and wineries are the most visible parts of the industry, other essential hubs of the Napa County wine industry are generally out of sight, and go unnoticed by tourists and tasters. Yet they create jobs and provide livings for thousands of locals.

“Napa is like a company town,” said Vic Motto, with MFK Research Global Wine Partners in St. Helena. “The wine industry is the biggest thing by far.

“Everyone’s job is affected by it one way or the other. We are all touched by the economic effect of the wine industry.”

Cork manufacturers, label designers, truckers and coopers — over the last 30-plus years people in all of these professions have established themselves alongside the more high-profile and glamorous players in the industry.

Today, the Register launches a three-day series, offering a peek into the world behind the wine, where Napans are hard at work.