As part of our review of the wine industry, Wine Business Monthly compiled its sixth annual ranking of the Top 30 U.S. wine companies by U.S. case sales. These companies represent more than 90 percent of the U.S. wine market by volume. Profiles start on page 30. In exclusive interviews with WBM, leaders of these companies spoke about where they are heading, how they plan to get there and the challenges they face.
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These industry leaders shared their views on the state of the market. All were optimistic about prospects for industry growth amid increasing consumer interest in wine and a general perception that overall grape supplies are tightening relative to burgeoning demand. Not at all surprisingly, they discussed the challenging economic climate and its effect on the wine market. The economy is always the key driver of sales--and this year especially so. A summary of their comments with an eye toward the wine market as a whole appears on page 22.
Top 30 U.S. Wine Companies in 2008 vs. 2003
How the list has changed: The consolidation of the wine industry continues. Over the last few years the pace of change has been spectacular. Since 2003, eight of the companies on Wine Business Monthly's Top 30 list have slipped off the list as they've been acquired, and new players have emerged toward the bottom of the list. The pace of transactions slowed in 2008, however, because of a global credit crisis; but two new companies appear on the list this year: Foley Wine Group, now a 500,000-case producer with the December 2008 purchase of Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery; and Ascentia Wine Estates, a new company formed when Constellation Brands, Inc. sold most of the wineries that it had acquired from Beam Wine Estates, along with two wineries in Washington state.
Also of note is that The Wine Group and Constellation Brands switched places on the list this year, primarily because Constellation sold its Almaden and Inglenook brands to The Wine Group, a transaction involving the equivalent of more than 10 million cases of annual production.
The total volume of the wine produced by the Top 30 wineries continues to increase each year. Additionally, the threshold for a winery to be on the list is currently at about 400,000 cases of U.S. case production annually while in previous years it was closer to 300,000.
