101 Best Wineries in America 2016 Photo Credit Copain WineryOutdoors at Copain Wines in Sonoma County, one of our 101 best wineries — not just from California and the Pacific Northwest, but from 14 states in all, including Arizona, Michigan, and Maryland. 101 Best Wineries in America 2016 SlideshowNapa Valley's Best Wineries for a View101 Best Wineries in America for 2015101 Best Wineries in America for 2014The 25 Best Wineries in California These Female Entrepreneurs Were Honored With ’30 Under 30’ Titles For Taking Over the Food IndustryFour women in the industry were nominated with the title This Sea-Inspired Beer Is Made With Lobsters and SeaweedThe limited-edition beer contains 7 percent ABV Struggles New Runners Face and How to Overcome ThemDon't be like most of them who have no idea what they're getting themselves into Man Landed 7 Years in Prison for Counterfeiting 5-Hour Energy ShotsThe conspiracy occurred between 2009 and 2012 These Stunning Avatar-Inspired Desserts Just Debuted at Disney WorldPandora — The World of Avatar opens at Disney’s Animal Kingdom next month: Here’s a sneak-peek at the park's desserts

10 Early Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s DiseaseThe number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease is growing each year101 Best Wineries in America for 2015 Ravi BangarooThe number and variety of truly beautiful wines being made in this country has grown exponentially in recent years. 101 Best Wineries in America Slideshow10 Coolest Wineries to Visit7 Sexy Wine Facts That Will Make Your Date Fall for You20 Best Winery Restaurants Around the World101 Best Wineries in America for 201410 Tips for Touring Wineries in ItalyThree sets of numbers — two public, one passed to me by my source in Big Wine — show just how dominant Big Wine continues to be, and how Big Wine growth will affect everything we drink. The first public chart, reproduced here, was compiled by Lew Perdue at Wine Industry Insight, and shows that the three biggest companies — E&J Gallo, Constellation, and The Wine Group — control almost half of the U.S. wine market. In this, the eight biggest companies sell 60 percent of the wine in this country, which leaves more than 7,500 wineries to fight over the other 40 percent.

Those are almost the same numbers in the second public study, the annual Wine Business Monthly top 30 producers list, which are similar to the finding in the magazine’s 2014 report, when Gallo, Constellation, and The Wine Group controlled half the U.S. market. best wine shop in singaporeMeanwhile, the top 30 companies in the 2016 report accounted for 74 percent of all the wine sold in the U.S. Interestingly, that’s less than they reported in 2014, when the top 30 sold 90 percent of the wine; best wines under 20 in bcchalk that up to bigger companies, like Diageo, selling their brands to smaller companies.best wine to have with cake The three biggest companies (again, Gallo, Constellation, and The Wine Group) controlled about half the U.S. market in the landmark 2011 Big Wine study conducted by Phil Howard at Michigan State.best wine to go to sleep

It’s important to understand how big big is. First, the Wine Business Monthly top 30 total just .04 percent of all U.S. wineries, which makes the infamous One Percent look like an all-inclusive kumbaya sing-along. Second, Jackson Family, which makes Kendall Jackson and is about as close to a national brand as wine has, isn’t one of the half-dozen biggest producers in the U.S. one hope wine australiaIt’s eighth in the Wine Industry Insight chart and ninth in Wine Business Monthly’s rankings with almost six million cases. buy wine society membershipThat’s still big, but the biggest companies are so gigantic that even some of their brands, like Gallo’s Barefoot, sell more than all of the Jackson Family portfolio. In other words, every time we buy wine, the odds are better than not that we’re buying a Big Wine product even if we don’t want to.

My colleagues in the Winestream Media pooh pooh this whenever I write it, arguing that wine drinkers have more choice than that. What about those other 7,500 wineries? The catch, and what they don’t understand, is that most of us don’t shop in places that sell wine from the other 7,500. We shop at Costco and Walmart and grocery stores, and those retailers account for almost half the wine sold in the U.S. Case in point: Sales statistics for 2015 that my source in Big Wine passed to me for 10 U.S. states (none of which are California), and where Big Wine (defined as a company that appears in either the Howard study or the Wine Business Monthly top 30) dominates at all prices:9 of the 15 best-selling wines between $15 and $20 are from Big Wine, including La Crema (Jackson Family), Louis Martini (Gallo), and Meomi (Constellation).12 of the 20 best-selling wines between $12 and $15 are from Big Wine, including Wild Horse (Constellation), Kendall Jackson (Jackson Family), and Chateau Ste. Michelle (Altria).

And I didn’t include Hess and Rodney Strong, both on the Wine Business Monthly Top 30 list but family run.All of the 20 best-selling wines between $9 and $12 are from Big Wine, including Menage a Trois (Trinchero), Cupcake (The Wine Group), and Apothic (Gallo).Sign up if you would like to receive occasional updates from our annual Top 100 eventRecent 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). But just to put everything in perspective, the following is WBM’s 2016 listing of top-selling companies: 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.

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.