winefeed

Federal THC limit ban upends state-legal cannabis drink retail market

• Massachusetts retailers selling THC beverages saw sales jump 25-35 percent after hemp drinks launched, but a May 2024 state ban on cannabis drinks in wine stores forced immediate pullback.
• Federal law passed in November 2025 sets a 0.3 percent total THC limit per container, effective November 12, 2026, which effectively bans hemp-derived THC beverages nationwide.
• The THC beverage market grew 135 percent year-over-year to reach $239 million in the 52 weeks prior to April 2026, but federal enforcement threatens this growth.
• States regulate hemp drinks inconsistently: Minnesota and Georgia permit them, while California, Washington, and Vermont restrict or ban them outside cannabis licensing.
• Industry groups like the Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives, chaired by Diana Eberlein, say lack of federal clarity creates a patchwork preventing legitimate growth and nationwide distribution.

World Cup boost fails to lift US beer sales as category declines persist

• Anheuser-Busch InBev spent $110 million on Michelob Ultra World Cup campaign, projecting only 0.25% volume lift for the year.
• US beer category dropped 2.1% in dollars and 3.4% in volume for the week ending July 19, worse than prior four and 26-week trends.
• Off-premise beer sales fell 0.7% in dollars and 2.3% in volume through mid-July; full-year decline runs 4.5% per Beer Institute tax data.
• On-premise draft sales rose 7.1% in dollars and 6.46% in volume during tournament, but fell back to minus 1% and minus 3% in the final week.
• Spirits outperformed beer: Cutwater rose 60% in dollars and volume in final tournament week, offsetting beer's inability to convert World Cup occasions.

Silver Scope Media bids $400k for bankrupt Rogue Ales' recipes and trademarks

• Rogue Ales parent company Oregon Brewing filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy nine months ago with $17 million in debts against $5 million in assets.
• U.K. digital marketing agency Silver Scope Media Ltd bid $400,000 for Rogue's intellectual property, including Dead Guy IPA trademark, recipes, yeast strains, and social media accounts.
• Oregon Brewing valued the IP at $2 million; competing bids must exceed Silver Scope's offer by $40,000 before U.S. Bankruptcy Court deadline of Aug. 21.
• Valley View Winery, Oregon-based, filed an objection claiming perpetual license rights to Rogue beverages under a 1997 settlement agreement with Oregon Brewing.
• Bankruptcy court hearing scheduled Aug. 26 will decide the IP sale and address Valley View's competing claim to the brand.

Soju surges past shōchū in U.S. market as Asian spirits gain ground

• Soju grew 133 percent between 2019 and 2025 in the U.S., while shōchū grew 11 percent over the same period, according to IWSR consulting director Koryn Ternes.
• Spec's wine and spirits retailer in Texas purchased under $1 million in Asian spirits in 2018; now purchases in the multi-millions, driven by younger consumers and Korean cultural interest, says fine wine manager James Barlow.
• Green bottle soju, mass-produced with lower ABV and fruity flavors since a 1965 rice ban forced producers to use alternative starches, dominates U.S. exports and retail shelves.
• Craft soju brands like Tokki Soju, founded 2016 in Brooklyn, doubled volume annually for seven years but face consumer preference for mass-market green bottle styles over premium expressions.
• Shōchū brands iichiko and Mizu target bartenders and on-premise venues with higher-proof options around 40 percent ABV to compete in cocktail applications, with 80 to 85 percent of Mizu sales from bars and restaurants.

U.S. spirits exports face tariff walls as DISCUS seeks new markets

• DISCUS, the U.S. spirits trade group, is backed by a $900,000 USDA grant to boost exports to Brazil, India, and Vietnam as domestic sales and Canadian shipments decline.
• President Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on Canadian spirits starting August 19, following Canada's removal of U.S. alcohol from provincial shelves, cutting U.S. sales there by 81 percent.
• India's tariff on U.S. spirits stands at 100 percent, while recent trade deals cut EU and UK spirit tariffs to 40 percent and 75 percent respectively, disadvantaging American competitors.
• Vietnam's cocktail bars and whiskey collectors show strong demand for spirits, though the market remains dominated by Scotch; Argentina signed a free trade agreement but has limited American whiskey interest.
• DISCUS is funding consumer education and staff training in key markets to build awareness of bourbon and Tennessee whiskey amid tariff-driven price disadvantages.

2026 World Cup drove US breweries to record on-premise sales and foot traffic

• Draft beer sales volume increased 6.46 percent during the 2026 World Cup in North America, with Monday and Tuesday games driving nearly 16 and 12 percent growth respectively, according to BeerBoard data.
• Headlands Brewing in California doubled production of Common Ground, a collaborative West Coast Mexican lager with Cabin Brewing and Rey Árbol, from 90 to 180 barrels as bars and stores rapidly depleted stock.
• Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City saw foot traffic and beer hall sales rise roughly 25 percent after installing televisions and an outdoor patio; Bitburger on-premise sales surged 130 percent in June during its sponsorship of NYC's German House of Soccer popup.
• Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling brewed 300 barrels of It's Called Soccer, an American golden ale, exceeding its 30-barrel target and reaching 315+ venues across three states; the brewery now plans year-round distribution.
• The World Cup restored casual weekday drinking occasions lost during the pandemic, with breweries pivoting taprooms into communal watch-party destinations that drew customers away from home consumption.

Scotland's 154 distilleries span five official regions plus emerging Islands category

• The Scotch Whisky Association counts 154 malt and grain distilleries as of 2026 across five official SWA-recognized regions: Highland, Lowland, Speyside, Islay, and Campbeltown.
• Speyside, technically a subregion of the Highlands, hosts over 50 distilleries and is the world's most densely populated whisky region, known for sweet, fruit-forward profiles.
• Campbeltown collapsed from roughly 30 distilleries in the late 1800s to three operating today: Springbank, Glen Scotia, and Glengyle, yet remains influential for oily, briny styles.
• The informal Islands category, including Arran, Jura, Mull, Orkney, Skye, Lewis, Harris, Raasay, and Shetland, has grown rapidly; Torabhaig opened on Skye in 2017, the first new legal distillery there in 190 years.
• The 1784 Wash Act first divided Scotland into Highland and Lowland regions with differing legal and tax requirements, creating production methods that shaped individual regional styles.

Hungary, Brazil, Balkans surge at 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards

• Hungary earned its first-ever Platinum for a red wine at DWWA 2026, Heumann's La Trinità Cabernet Franc from Villány, signalling Cabernet Franc's emergence outside Loire and Bordeaux.
• Brazil achieved record Gold and Silver medal counts, including first-ever Golds for a sparkling Moscato and a red Cabernet Franc, marking the country's strongest DWWA showing.
• Bosnia and Herzegovina won its best-ever Gold performance led by indigenous Žilavka white, with Vino Milas's example scoring 96 points despite the variety being almost unknown outside the western Balkans.
• Skin-contact orange wines expanded globally from Georgia's traditional qvevri method, with Oregon and Argentina earning first-ever orange-wine Golds in 2026, moving the style from niche to mainstream.
• Pico, Portugal's tiny Atlantic island, won its first DWWA Gold for Tarelo's Monumental Arinto 2018, grown in UNESCO-protected basalt enclosures and reflecting fine wine's shift toward unlikely terroirs.

Queens restaurant rebuilds wine program after basement fire destroys cellar

• A basement refrigerator fire at Rolo's in Ridgewood, Queens destroyed nearly the entire wine collection in early August, forcing beverage director Leo Bayless-Hall to scrap the curated list.
• Bayless-Hall's strategy of acquiring an offsite storage location earlier in the year, originally intended for premium bottles, became the lifeline to restore service within a week.
• Rolo's reopened with wines from backup inventory at dramatically reduced markups, averaging one-third to one-half typical pricing, sacrificing profit to maintain accessibility.
• The restaurant now features nightly special pours of rare bottles like 2002 Robert Ampeau Mersault and 2013 Thomas Perseval Champagne, unavailable on the standard list.
• Wine sales have increased since the reopening despite the temporary nature of the program, driven by both lower prices and staff enthusiasm for premium offerings.

Wine Buyers Champion Classical Natural Wines for Quality-Conscious Drinkers

• Wine buyers from retail, restaurants, and bars selected eight natural wines spanning established and emerging regions, all made with minimal winemaker intervention and organic farming.
• Natural wine lacks legal definition but broadly means little to no inputs added, allowing grape and terroir character to dominate; producers and sellers must clarify the term for confused consumers.
• The natural wine category is maturing: global market valued at $2.8 billion in 2025 is forecast to reach $6.1 billion by 2034, with younger generations driving growth.
• Top producers, including Bordeaux's Claire Villars-Lurton at Haut-Bages Libéral, now use natural methods to craft clean, polished wines true to regional style, rejecting the funky stereotype.
• Sommelier Jerry Chandler reports demand for natural wines surged in his Charlotte restaurant over five years, forcing him to expand dedicated natural-wine sections on retail and by-the-glass lists.

Eight Napa Cabernet producers offer quality alternatives to famous-name estates

• Napa Valley has over half its vineyard acreage planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, yet smaller estates remain overlooked despite producing high-caliber fruit.
• Rosemary Cakebread, winemaker at Gallica since 2007, makes an Oakville Cabernet around $170 that is lithe and elegant with high-tone aromas.
• Pestoni, a fifth-generation family estate on Howell Mountain, makes a Cabernet for approximately $125 with bright fruit and well-integrated tannins.
• Ashes & Diamonds uses zero-zero winemaking; its Cabernet No. 6 from Mountain Peak Vineyard sells for around $135 with intense palate concentration.
• Jay Nunez's downtown Napa tasting room offers a lighter-styled Cabernet at $75, among the most affordable Napa Cabernets on the market today.

Manhatta wine director picks five summer bottles for New York heat

• Sydney Fusto, wine director at Manhatta in Manhattan's Financial District, seeks high-acid wines to refresh the palate during hot New York summers.
• Fusto pairs Sauvignon Blanc with citrus and spiced dishes, rosé and chillable reds with grilled meats, and sparkling wines as versatile catch-alls.
• Her five picks span Sommariva Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Superiore Brut, Dog Point Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2024, Tiberio Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo 2023, Domaine de Terrebrune Bandol 2024, and Domaine Giacometti Sempre Cuntenu 2024.
• Fusto notes that darker-hued rosés deliver substance and structure without heaviness, pairing well with less rich grilled cuts.
• She recommends exploring wines from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and coastal California for value and premium producers.

Nine California winemakers gain sommelier backing for lighter, terroir-focused wines

• Nine California winemakers are gaining traction with sommeliers who see them as defining the state's future, moving away from the overextracted style that dominates current perception.
• These producers emphasize farming, minimal cellar intervention, and classic California grapes like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Carignan, reviving an ethos launched by the In Pursuit of Balance movement in 2011.
• Sommeliers at restaurants including Little Fish in Los Angeles, Wilde's in Los Feliz, HAGS in Manhattan, and Smithereens in Manhattan are now making space for these wines on lists once dominated by European bottles.
• The nine producers are Dorsal Wines, Emme Wines, Lady of the Sunshine, Llewelyn Wine, and five others, each operating small projects in coastal or inland California regions with minimal additives and hand-harvested fruit.
• Sommeliers cite a genuine commitment to low-intervention winemaking as courageous given climate pressures and land consolidation by large Napa estates that make California production increasingly difficult.

VinePair names thirty best Sauvignon Blancs across regions and price points

• VinePair's tasting staff sampled thousands of bottles and scored submitted Sauvignon Blancs on a 100-point scale assessing aroma, flavor, texture, and balance.
• Virginia emerged as a standout region this year, with Dogwood & Thistle and other producers making quality wines that exceed their price points.
• Loire Valley, Friuli, and California remain strong sources, though Loire's flinty profile now shows more texture and depth than in past years.
• Unexpected regions produced notable entries, including Colorado winemakers Steve Steese and Jayme Henderson, and Slovenia's Goriška Brda collaboration Domaine Vicomte de Noüe-Marinič.
• The curated list prioritizes quality, price, and availability to guide everyday purchasing decisions across styles from crisp and mineral to textured and tropical.

Young wine workers reshape how Gen Z approaches drinking

• Daria Volokitina, sommelier at Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, paired Austrian Furmint with grilled kebabs and pasta at a casual barbecue, rejecting formal food-wine rules for emotion and sensation.
• Alex Padilla, wine associate at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, recommends a $36 Sonoma Gamay to younger customers as flexible food wine and vin de soif over prestige bottles.
• Both workers, formerly outside wine, now aim to make wine approachable to young drinkers and counter the perception it is reserved for experts or formal dining.
• Natural wines and organic or biodynamic producers appeal to Gen Z wine workers, though younger consumers lack familiarity with what natural wine means.
• Young wine staff use social media and personal recommendation to shift perceptions that wine is exclusive, presenting it as everyday and exploratory.

English estates launch prestige cuvées at Champagne prices

• Nyetimber released England's first prestige cuvée in 2018, a white and rosé priced at £150, £175, following the Champagne model of rare vintages and extended ageing.
• Chapel Down, Gusbourne, Langham and Squerryes have since launched their own prestige sparkling lines, all priced £100 and above, each with distinct production stories.
• Extended lees ageing (seven to eight years minimum) and selection from finest vineyard parcels define these cuvées, mirroring Dom Pérignon's prestige formula.
• Producers source from chalk soils in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, positioning English terroir as capable of rivalling Champagne's structural demands for long-aged sparkling wine.
• Each estate ties its prestige bottling to heritage or innovation: Nyetimber to the Domesday Book, Gusbourne to latitude, Langham to solera technique, Squerryes to 17th-century merchant ancestors.

Ancient vine-training systems vanish as labor costs and mechanization reshape European vineyards

• Italy's alberata system, which trained vines on poplar and elm trees across Naples until the late 20th century, survives on only a handful of hectares, replaced by mechanizable methods like Guyot.
• Alberto González Plasencia, owner of Bodegas Timanfaya on Lanzarote, warns that loss of hoyos would drive away tourists and diminish wine value; local governments have begun offering subsidies to slow the decline.
• Spain's Rías Baixas region preserves pergola training for Albariño because specialized machinery reduces labor in some tasks and regional rules ban mechanized harvesting anyway, keeping the system economically viable.
• Bellussera, a 19th-century pergola hybrid in Veneto that once supported silk production and subsistence farming, covers only 9 percent of Piave DOC but may revive due to climate resilience and wine tourism potential.

Maker's Mark releases fourth Cellar Aged blend, pushing maturity to 14 years

• Maker's Mark master distiller Blake Layfield released the 2026 Cellar Aged edition on Tuesday, blending 49 percent 11-year-old, 33 percent 12-year-old, and 18 percent 14-year-old bourbons at 112.1 proof.
• The fourth Cellar Aged release marks the highest proportion of 14-year-old bourbon in the series since its 2023 debut, representing one of the distillery's most mature blends to date.
• Layfield finishes Cellar Aged expressions in a limestone cavern at the Loretto, Kentucky distillery maintained at constant 50 degrees Fahrenheit, slowing wood influence while allowing continued flavor evolution.
• Blending younger and older bourbons together amplifies the fruit and vibrancy of youth against the maturity and depth of age, Layfield says, rather than pursuing the oldest possible whiskey.
• The 2026 Cellar Aged will launch at select US retailers starting September 1 for $175 suggested retail price, with international availability beginning later in 2026 and early 2027.

Pierce's Disease Threat Expands Across Europe as Climate Warms

• Pierce's disease, caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, devastated California vineyards starting in the late 1990s, costing growers over $48 million annually and killing large blocks of Barbera, Chardonnay, and Riesling.
• A 2025 climate study shows 41.2 percent of European vineyards now face Pierce's disease risk, up from 21.8 percent in previous models, with riverside and valley microclimates especially vulnerable as winters warm.
• Xylella fastidiosa was detected in continental European grapevines in Portugal in 2023 and is now present in regulated zones across Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France affecting multiple host plants.
• European growers and researchers lack the coordinated surveillance and communication strategies California developed over decades, creating risk that infections spread silently before symptoms emerge.
• California's experience shows management shifts from eradication to containment once the pathogen becomes established, using tools like genomic surveillance and rapid diagnostics rather than vineyard destruction alone.

Disease-resistant hybrid grapes cut fungicide sprays by 80 percent in European vineyards

• PIWI grapes, bred by crossing non-vinifera American vines with European Vitis vinifera, reduce fungicide sprays from 8-15 times yearly to 2-3 times for powdery and downy mildew resistance.
• Modern genetic testing (rhAmpSeq technology) pinpoints disease-resistance genes with precision, allowing breeders to stack multiple resistance layers into new varieties containing up to 95 percent vinifera material.
• A 2026 Luxembourg study found PIWIs delivered twofold economic savings and threefold environmental benefit versus traditional varieties, mainly through lower spray costs and reduced soil and water toxicity.
• Germany leads PIWI adoption with 4,000 hectares planted in 2025, a 10 percent increase; Bordeaux University is developing ResDur hybrids crossing Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot to retain regional character.
• Direct-to-consumer sales dominate PIWI markets at 71 percent in Germany; retail expansion depends on major supermarket chains stocking the varieties and educating consumers unfamiliar with disease-resistant options.

Vineyards use netting to cool grape clusters as heat stress intensifies

• UC Davis research on Cabernet Sauvignon found shaded clusters retained 27 percent more anthocyanins than unshaded fruit during heat stress, since anthocyanin compounds degrade above 35 degrees Celsius.
• Luis Reginato, head of viticulture at Catena Zapata in Mendoza, uses hail netting to filter sunlight into brief pulses rather than continuous exposure, allowing vines to avoid heat damage while retaining phenolic development.
• Marco Simonit's 2025 field trials at Petra in Tuscany showed Merlot fruit under 90 percent shade nets reached 40-41 degrees Celsius versus 50 degrees Celsius unshaded, cutting sunburn incidence from 41 percent to three percent.
• Achille Boroli at Boroli estate in Barolo found that net color and placement matter critically: white or green nets outperformed black nets, and nets placed on south-facing sides only prevent heat-trapping that occurs when fabric touches grapes.
• The strategy requires balancing filtered light exposure against heat mitigation, since full sunlight drives phenolic development and site expression while extreme heat damages color, aroma, and acidity.

Vinography Images: On the Rocks

Some creative stonework greets visitors at the ArmAs winery in the Aragatsotn region of Armenia, carrying on a tradition of

Re-entry

• Belgian tech consultant Boris de Vloed launched Open Wine Map, a free interactive tool mapping European wine regions using INAO, French cahiers des charges, Italian disciplinare, and appellation datasets.
• Open Wine Map allows searching, sorting, and filtering by region, grape, and wine style with precision visualization enabling direct regional comparisons.
• The tool reveals scale contrasts: Barolo and Barbaresco are tiny compared to broader northern Piemonte territory; Côte de Nuits appears minuscule on the map.

Burgenland Winery Guide, Part 1

• Burgenland, Austria's warmest region, is one of the few Austrian areas with a serious red wine culture, particularly Blaufränkisch.
• Boris Kovacic produces natural wines from old vines and field blends in Sankt Margareten, with bottles costing €15, €20 and available via Vin Noord (Netherlands only).
• Georg Prieler makes terroir-focused Blaufränkisch from Marienthal and Goldberg vineyard sites, increasingly aging reds in amphora instead of oak.

The taste of stone

• Jako Andabak founded Stina winery (initially called Jako Vino) on Brač island in 2009 after purchasing an ailing cooperative in Bol.
• Stina modernized its winery and planted new vineyards as part of a major project that was underway when first tasted in 2012.
• Andabak, a hotel owner on Brač, had capital and a ready market through his hotels to support the wine business.
• Stina emerged during Croatia's 'Hrvatski Vrh' movement of well-funded, internationally-minded wineries appearing across Dalmatia ahead of EU accession in 2013.

Q&8 | Wang Yuanzhu Talks Grapes, Grain & Ancient Wine

• Coram Collective, founded in 2023 with 2024 production, co-ferments rice wine with grape varieties like Chardonnay and Merlot, and innovates huangjiu (ancient Chinese yellow wine).
• Co-founder Alex Yuanzhu Wang's huangjiu with aged Chinese tangerine peel came from a Christmas Eve 2024 experience; she now focuses on exploring complexity within rice itself rather than other ingredients.
• Chardomi blends 80% Chardonnay grapes with 20% glutinous rice through sequential processing: rice is soaked, steamed, saccharified with wild yeast, then co-fermented with fresh grape juice.
• Coram Collective products are already listed in over 100 restaurants and bistros across Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu since launching last June.

What I Learned at a Conference on Drinking

From the invention of moderation to the return of temperance