Recent shot of Michael David Winery Co-Owner/President David Phillips and VP of Operations Kevin Phillips One of the more interesting reports logged by the industry trade publication, Wine Business Monthly, is a yearly list of 30 largest American wine production companies in terms of case sales within the U.S. In the February 2017 issue of WBM, two companies with direct ties to Lodi – Delicato Family Vineyards (DFV Wines) and Michael David Winery – are listed among the 30 biggest selling companies, which account for "nearly 90 percent of domestic wine sold by volume" (according to WBM). The Lodi Viticultural Area, in fact, supplies a significant amount of wine grapes to many (if not most) of the country’s largest producers. Turner Road Vintners, now owned and operated by Constellation Brands, was originally the third site of Woodbridge Vineyard Association, a Lodi growers' co-op in operation from 1946 to 1987 (when purchased by Sebastiani Vineyards) While the gigantic, Modesto-based E. & J. Gallo Winery has retained strong, long-standing relationships with Lodi growers, two of the top five wineries locate their largest production facilities within the Lodi region: Constellation Brands (which includes Lodi's Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi, as well as Vendange, Rex-Goliath and other brands produced at Turner Road Vintners, located on Lodi's west side);

and Trinchero Family Estates (spearheaded by Sutter Home, now largely produced at a 660,000-square-feet facility located in the Delta side of Lodi, just west of I-5).red wine name indian But just to put everything in perspective, the following is WBM’s 2016 listing of top-selling companies:best wine cake While based in nearby Manteca and managing their ever-expanding vineyard driven operation in San Joaquin Valley as well as Monterey County and Napa Valley, the Indelicato family behind Delicato Family Vineyards has farmed significant acreage in the Lodi AVA since the company's founding in 1924.buy wooden wine boxes online The Indelicatos, for instance, were among the first to recognize the enormous potential of the Lodi's Borden Ranch AVA; cultivating over 1,300 acres of ultra-premium wine grapes there since the 1990s, all farmed according to Lodi Rules for Sustainable Winegrowing.

Today, most of their top selling wines – including their Gnarly Head and Brazin Zinfandels, and their Noble Vines Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot – are grown in Lodi, either from their own vineyards or by numerous other growers. Gaspare Indelicato (left), an Italian emigrant who planted his first Lodi vineyard in the early 1900s; and subsequent generations of Indelicatos of Delicato Family Vineyards In a conversation last month, Michael David Winery Co-Owner/President David Phillips made note of the fact that, “While sales of our wines in the U.S. are up to about 650,000 cases, we sell another 70,000 or so cases to export markets in Europe, Canada, South America and Asia.” Michael David’s total annual sales of 720,000 cases remains puny compared to the 75 million cases sold domestically by E. & J. Gallo, but their growth has been dramatic. Thanks to uncanny winemaking and crafty marketing, they have gone from being grape suppliers to major grape buyers practically overnight.

According to Kevin Phillips, the family’s Vice President of Operations: “In 1998 about 95% of what we grew in our own vineyards (about 800 acres) were sold to other wineries. Today, we use 100% of our own fruit, and buy from another 75 growers in the Lodi region. I would say that we now take approximately 10% of all the Zinfandel grown in Lodi.” February 2017: century-old Zinfandel in Soucie Vineyard, one of Michael David's original "7 Deadly Zins" vineyards Although runaway successes like Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Petit (a Petite Sirah/Petit Verdot blend) account for a good percentage of the winery’s recent growth, Zinfandel remains the family flagship. Kevin Phillips tells us: “Although it’s shifting, over 60% of our production (close to 475,000 cases) is Zinfandel. Out of that, almost 90% of it is 7 Deadly Zins. Each year we make a selection of our top 10% in terms of pure quality, which goes into our Earthquake Zinfandel program; and out of that, the very finest 1% is selected to go into our Lust Zinfandel."

Since arriving in Lodi in the mid-1860s, the Phillips family’s ties to the region have run deep in several ways. David Phillips reminisces: “When we produced our first vintage of 7 Deadly Zins (in 2000), it represented a blend of Zinfandels from seven of the best, and oldest, winegrowing families on the west side of Lodi, most of them related one way or another to our own family. But once the brand took off, naturally we had to expand our list of grape suppliers. At least 45 growers are now contributing to the wine. All of them, we’re proud to say, in the Lodi region!” Michael David's Kevin Phillips, tasting Zinfandel in his Northern Interior Wine Partners barrel facilityWine collections are a hobby that take time, but will ultimately reap the most rewarding fruit. Amassing a large collection of the best wines makes these wine collections remarkable, and a must visit if you’ll be dropping by any time soon. The Chesapeake Energy Corporation CEO, Aubrey McClendon, is one of the largest land owners in the United States, and has also collected quite a bit of wine over the years.

He stores his wine collection in three cellars across the country, and which he also auctions off as the “Aubrey McClendon Wine Collection”. The energy tycoon received a salary of $112 million dollars in 2008, becoming the highest paid CEO in the United States as well the highest paid CEO in all Standard and Poor companies. Renowned food icon Charlie Trotter amassed a collection of 4,000 wine bottles before he put it up for auction with Christie’s. The collection even features large-format wine bottles, which are called such because they are so large that they require special equipment such as cranks and cradles to carry and transport. While most wines come in 750 ml bottles, Trotter’s collection has a significant number of premium wines that come in 1.5 liters. Restaurateur Leslie Rudd holds a collection of 10,000 bottles of Napa valley wines for his restaurant named Press. When he started his collection, Leslie worked with husband and wife team Kelli White and Scott Brenner, both of whom are sommeliers.

Leslie’s Napa wine collection is now an impressive array of every type of wine imaginable produced in the region. Tour d’ Argent is widely recognized among the wine community as having the greatest wine list in France. Located in Paris, the restaurant has the reputation of having guests arrive hours before dinner just to have a good read at the wine selection. In fact, the actual full wine list weighs a staggering 9 kilograms. The cellar specializes in old wines, with the youngest wine on the list being a 2003. Tour d’Argent’s sommelier enjoys buying the wines young, and storing them until they are ready to drink. Tawfiq Khoury’s collection was auctioned off through Christie’s as he was doing some spring cleaning, but before the sales, he was holding 65,000 bottles of wine. Christie’s estimated that the wines were worth $2.5 million, although an exact figure wasn’t revealed. For a time, he had one of the largest private collections in the United States, which were useful in his younger years when he and his wife used to throw a lot of dinner parties.

Since he traveled more with his wife, he decided to sell the other wines. Gene Mulvihill owns one of the largest wine collections in the world; displayed in Restaurant Latour, a restaurant he co-owns in New Jersey. According to Milvihill, every single bottle of wine is chosen exclusively because it’s one of the best; with no fillers in his cellar. The collection even features 90 vintages, with the oldest dating back to 1890, although he guarantees that no wines in the cellar have been damaged due to cork taint, or oxidation.  The cellar is also home to a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technology laboratory, which helps them analyze individual wines without the need to disrupt their aging or will flaw them from opening. The equipment was manufactured at the University of California, and was funded my Mulvhill so that he could easily determine chemical components and acetic acid content of the wine. Beyond the laboratory, visitors will find that each cellar’s cave represents a wine-producing country or region, and holds hundreds of varieties from there.

Bodega 1860 is located in Spain’s Basque Country, a town brimming with art, culture, and gastronomy. The collection features wines that include vintages from the 1860’s, with just a handful of those bottles left around. Even during the civil war, the winery continued to produce wines, so it’s not surprising that bottles from that era are also available. However, only VIP’s are able to actually sample the wines, including local political and religious leaders. Graycliff Hotel in Nassau, the Bahamas, is home to the world’s third largest wine collection.  The hotel is named after Captain Howard Graysmith, a pirate of the Caribbean who built the Graycliff mansion back in 1740. Graycliff is also one of the 75 restaurants in the world who have had the distinction of being awarded the Wine Spectator Grand Award, and they are the only establishment in the Caribbean to do so. The current owner, Italian Enrico Garzaoli, has also added 12,000 bottles of wine from Italy to the collection.

Tampa, Florida is where you’ll find the second biggest wine collection in the world. It was founded in 1956 and is still operated by David Laxer, who is the son of the original owner. The staff even recently discovered a gem among the stacks of wine: a $30,000 bottle of 1947 Chateau Latour, one of the most expensive wines in the world. Bern’s Steakhouse has a sister restaurant named Side Bern’s, as well as a a wine and liquor store. It has received recognition for the size of its wine collection, even George Bush dined at Bern’s twice during his term. The world’s biggest winery is an underground wine city, which stretches as far as 250 kilometers. The cellar complex is a maze, where streets are named after various types of wine which include Sauvignon, Cabernet, etc. A car is needed to drive from one part of the winery to the other, and the cellar’s own employees use a bike to travel within the winery. Milestii Mici is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for the size of its wine collection.