(PD) - U.S. wine shipments rose last year to an estimated record high of 383 million cases, an increase of 2 percent, despite fierce competition from importers buoyed by a strong dollar that makes foreign wines a bargain purchase, an industry analyst reported Wednesday.

The increase continued a 20-year growth trend for domestic wine shipments, said Jon Fredrikson, president of Gomberg, Fredrikson & Associates, a Woodside wine consulting firm. The growth, however, masks conflicting trends in the market, where wines priced at $9 a bottle and above are doing well yet cheaper budget wines are losing market share.

Fredrikson described U.S. wine sales as a “tale of two markets, and a widening gap in performance between the two” in his remarks Wednesday to attendees at the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium.

The trend toward more premium wines will benefit the North Coast, where grapes from Napa and Sonoma counties are the most expensive in the state and major wine companies are trying to corner a bigger share of the premium market. In particular, E&J Gallo Winery from Modesto has been especially active in buying up properties in the North Coast, such as J Winery and Vineyards in Healdsburg.

However, Central Valley farmers have suffered as sales of budget wines decline. For example, 20,000 acres of vineyards in California’s interior have been pulled since the 2015 harvest, following 21,000 acres that were removed the previous year, said Nat DiBuduo, president of Allied Grape Growers, a Fresno wine marketing cooperative representing nearly 600 growers across the state.