With more than 35 million Instagram posts tagged with #wine, it can be hard to find the best vineyards or wineries to connect with on Instagram. Thankfully a travel website has done the work for you by putting together a list of the top 10 vineyards to follow on Instagram. Note, this list is different than the one I created called the Top Wineries in California on Instagram (which, I am noticing is a poorly written headline).

This morning I received a Press Release for a recent study by The Thinking Traveller—a travel website specializing in booking villas in Europe—that revealed a list of the 15 most Instagrammable vineyards in the world. They chose the 15 based on the amount of hashtags that were used from guests visiting the winery or vineyards. Normally I don’t open emails like this, but this one made me smile.

I was happy to see that 4 out of the top 10 hashtag-worthy wineries in the world were in California wine country (Napa, Sonoma, and Temecula). 

Top California Vineyards on Instagram  

#1 - Castello di Amorosa - Napa
This thirteenth-century vineyard located in the sunny Napa Valley offers a diverse range of hand-crafted wines.

Number of posts on Instagram: 83,873
Hashtag: #castellodiamorosa

#2 - Domaine Carneros - Napa
A pristine vineyard that is tended to with the detailed care and attention only smaller producers can offer.

Number of posts on Instagram: 43,950
Hashtag: #domainecarneros

#5 - Wilson Creek Winery - Temecula
This winery is a jack of all trades, hosting overnight guests, weddings, events and walk-in tastings.

Number of posts on Instagram: 35,680
Hashtag: #wilsoncreekwinery

#10 - Scribe Winery - Sonoma
With a focus on cultivating a healthy link between man and nature, Scribe produces incredible blends and unique varieties.

Number of posts on Instagram: 11,321
Hashtag: #scribewinery

Because I love data, instantly I was curious their criteria. This "study" was from a website that focuses on booking villas in Italy, Greece and Spain so I was naturally hesitant when I saw the PR email in my inbox…

The study according to their website: 

"We started with a seed list of 100 vineyards from the World’s Best Vineyards (which is according to their website), before searching for them on Instagram and recording the number of hashtags attributed to each. If the search results for a specific hashtag primarily brought up photos of wine bottles, or other random images rather than photos of the vineyard itself, said vineyard was removed from our list.

Once we’d compiled our initial list, we searched for hashtags that included both the terms [vineyard name]+vineyard and vineyard+[vineyard name], recording the number of hashtags attributed to each."

Vanity Lists Can be Fun

Okay. So this list was based on users who tag the vineyards or the wineries themselves, not just people who share bottles of Kendall Jackson on their Instagram pages. Okay... 

I am still hesitant about this method because (for example) there are several hashtags people use when visiting Iron Horse Vineyards. Visitors use the hashtag #IronHorse #IronHorseVineyards #IronHorseWine, etc. so this study is definitely one that is kinda silly.

That being said, I like silly. And I am all for more people visiting wineries in California, and sharing pictures and videos on Instagram.

Speaking of hashtags on Instagram… bah

My two cents here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbQgfNCPkY2/ (The importance of hashtags has changed more times than I can count.

But, if this app is trying to be compete with that other video app, we may see a larger emphasis on a more granular search option (keywords & sentences vs hashtags) and reach within specific communities.

This means hashtags won’t matter as much as creating content & engaging with people within your niche.)