family wineries

[Innkeeper]

Yes/no. Yes/no. Yes/no. This may not sound like a very good answer, but it is accurate. You left out of the equation medium sized wineries, and that is the crutch. Small wineries have a harder time in the U.S. than in some other countries. In Europe, in particular, some have been around for centurys. Here the problem is distribution, where there are fewer and fewer wholesalers. Bans on interstate shipping are their big problem.

Medium size wineries, particularly New World ones are subject to being gobbled up by national and international conglomorates. Most of these do well after the dust settles, but one knows that this is just as long as the bottom line holds.

There are many big guy/little guy arguments, and there is no pat answer. That is why I started out my answer the way I did.