I am often asked an opinion of an obscure wine from California. People are perplexed that I, a writer, never heard of XYZ Winery. I just get to them all, folks. Even after covering the wine industry for more than 35 years, there will be forever a wine I haven’t tasted.

My theory was confirmed when I recently read a report from the Wines Vines Analytics
Winery Database that reported the U.S. has 11,691 wineries. I doubt that I’ve tasted wines from more than 200 of them. The good news is that there is still work to be done.

Large wineries (more than 500,000 cases a year) that account for most of the wine you buy in grocery stores number only 71. Smaller producers — those who produce less than 5,000 cases a year — account for 82 percent of all U.S. wineries.

I have been tasting countless wines from producers who make less than 2,000 cases a year. In general, these are great wines focused more on quality than quantity. Alas, to purchase them you have to go through their web sites and that’s frustrating. But in 2022, I ordered more wines to be shipped than ever.

Alaska has 15 wineries; Hawaii has 6. It’s unlikely I’ll live long enough to taste any of their wines.

The industry added 400 wineries in 2022. Since 2019 the growth has been 1,215.

This is an amazing growth rate, especially in light of flat consumption. Young people, except for those in their 30s, aren’t drinking much wine and that portends ominous warnings for the wine industry as the baby boomers die off. I suspect in the next decade we’ll see the market shrink.

What we draw from these statistics is that the best wine being made in California won’t be found in stores. They are best found visiting these areas and either joining a monthly wine club or shipping home your favorites. You need to let your fingers do the walking.