Tag: Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute

When the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute awarded Van Ruiten Family Winery the Best Label in the World award in 2011, it was yet another affirmation of the family motto, "Make the best, and forget the rest." The motto has been practiced daily by family patriarch, John Van Ruiten Sr., who emigrated from Holland in the early 1950s and planted his vineyard in Lodi, California. His children grew up working in the fields and now three generations of the family work together to run the business, which started making its own wine in 2000.

"This is the American dream," John Sr. says. Adding that winemaker Ryan K. Leeman believes in perseverance and hard work—and since he joined Van Ruiten Family Winery in 2003, has become an extended part of the family. "He’s a perfectionist at making wine," John Sr. says.