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6 WINES&VINES December 2016 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. ADVERTISING Vice President and Director of Sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 103 Midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 East (except New York) Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 New York and International Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 Advertising Production Manager April Kushner ads@winesandvines.com DIGITAL EDITION All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QUESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. Vineyard View n CLIFF OHMART Big Vines Disrupting Vineyard Establishment in California Big vines, 3 feet of rootstock with the scion grafted at the top, have become a popular seller at nurseries since being introduced in 2007. CONNECT WITH US CONTRIBUTORS Cliff Ohmart has been a regular contributor to Wines & Vines since 1998, longer than anyone else on the magazine's editorial team. Ohm- art is a senior scientist with agriculture firm SureHarvest. His Vineyard View column on page 26 looks at the phenomenon of "big vines" used to plant vineyards and their economic advantages. A big vine is basi- cally 3 feet of rootstock topped with a scion that reaches the fruiting wire as soon as it is planted. Big vines have become a valuable asset for many growers, and in this issue Ohmart explains why. Every issue of Wines & Vines includes a Technical Spotlight article that digs into the details of newly built or recently renovated wineries to reveal how they were designed and how they operate. On page 64, Northwest correspondent Peter Mitham looks at Domaine Roy, a new vineyard estate in Oregon's Willamette Valley founded by several people also involved with Beaux Freres, one of the state's highest rated Pinot Noir producers. As an enology specialist, Todd Steiner works closely with many wineries across Ohio. To help those wineries solve some of their winemaking issues, he set up a study to determine the amount of dis- solved oxygen in a sample of Ohio wines before and during bottling, as well as in finished wines. That study and the results are described in "Unraveling the Mystery of O 2 's Effect on Wine Aging" beginning on page 74. Part one, published in the November issue, reviewed potential sources for oxidation and critical points where oxygen can negatively impact those wines. WINESANDVINES.COM DECEMBER 2016 2016 YEAR OF THE DEAL Unified Symposium Sessions Preview Oxygen During Bottling and Aging Constellation Divests Canadian Wineries Hottest Trends and Stories of 2016 ON THE COVER Constellation shocked the industry Oct. 17, when it announced the sale of its Canadian wine assets for $1 billion (Canadian), ending a year of mergers and acquisitions. With properties in Ontario and British Columbia, Inniskillin is probably the best-known brand involved in the deal. QUESTION FOR DECEMBER: What was the most important wine industry deal of 2016? Brian Dunn Chief financial officer Hess Collection Napa, Calif. Constellation Brands built upon their 2015 acquisition of Meiomi with their 2016 acquisition of The Prisoner. This was signifi- cant because it coincides with the release of our own red blend, Lion Tamer, this summer. We see The Prisoner acquisition as confirming the growth trajectory of the red blend category and also consumers' desire for quality in wine. Ellen Brittan Director of wine education Linfield College McMinnville, Ore. The most important deal of 2016 was the alliance of Southern Wine & Spirits and Glazer's. This deal, the culmination of many years of consolidation within the wine and spirits distribution industry, has had a major impact on the wine industry, from small, family-owned wineries that dominate the Oregon land- scape, to the multi-million case operations in California. Armand Gilinsky Business professor Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, Calif. I'd have to say that Bill Foley's purchase of Stryker Sonoma last April was a significant deal because of the exciting future for the market for high-end Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines.