(Wines&Vines) - Wines Vines Analytics released its second, annual list of the top 10 U.S. wine distributors as ranked by unique criteria chosen to emphasize the interests of wineries, such as how many and which U.S. wineries a distributor represents and the percentage of population in the states they cover. 

While the top five distributors are consistent with last year, because of mergers and acquisitions each has seen its business expand by increasing the number of states served and overall wineries represented. One major change, a proposed merger of No. 2 Republic National Distributor Co. and No. 3 Breakthru Beverage Group, has yet to be approved by federal regulators. The distribution of beer and spirits was not taken into account in creating this list.