Consolidation in the wine business was a big subject at the 2006 Unified Wine and Grape Symposium just held in Sacramento. In the last two years, five of the top 30 wine companies merged into other companies. Three respected wine companies -- Robert Mondavi, Allied Domecq Wines and Southcorp of Australia -- were purchased and combined into other global wine companies. Robert Mondavi is now part of Constellation Brands; Allied Domecq Wines is part of Beam Wine Estates (Yes, the Jim Beam folks) and Southcorp was bought by Foster's, which already owned Beringer-Blass Wine Estates.

Although he's been in the premium wine business but for a decade, Chris Fehrnstrom has packed a lot of learning and elbow grease into those 10 years.