winefeed

Federal THC drink ban looms as states clash over hemp beverage rules

• Art Nergaryan's Art's Specialties in Massachusetts saw sales jump 25-35 percent after stocking THC beverages, then collapse when state regulators banned them from wine and liquor stores in May 2024.
• The US THC-infused beverage market grew 135 percent in the year to April 2026, reaching $239 million in retail sales, with Whitney Economics valuing total potential market at $9.9-14.9 billion.
• Congress passed legislation in November 2025 limiting THC to 0.4 milligrams per container, effective November 12, 2026, which effectively bans hemp-derived THC drinks under federal law.
• States regulate hemp beverages inconsistently: Minnesota and Georgia permit them; California, Washington, and Vermont restrict or ban them outside licensed cannabis systems, creating a fragmented market.
• The FDA declared interstate hemp-beverage sales unlawful under federal law in 2018, yet the industry expanded in a legal gray area while awaiting clear federal and state guidance.

English estates launch prestige cuvées at Champagne prices

• Nyetimber released England's first prestige cuvée in 2018, the 1086 white and rosé at £150 and £175, modelled on Champagne's Dom Pérignon concept and aged seven years on lees.
• Chapel Down's Kit's Coty Coeur de Cuvée (2016 vintage, £126) and Gusbourne's Fifty One Degrees North (2016 vintage, £195) followed as super-premium English sparkling wines, both with extended lees ageing.
• Langham Estate released Perpetual Blanc de Blancs (2025, £109.95), a solera-style multi-vintage cuvée inspired by grower Champagne, bottled from a dedicated Slavonian oak foudre purchased in 2020.
• Squerryes launched Patience 2014 in July 2026, its first prestige cuvée from the family-owned 2,500-acre Kent estate, with future releases under review including 2015 and 2017 vintages.
• These prestige cuvées, mostly priced £100 and above in small quantities, position English sparkling wine as a luxury category comparable to premium Champagne.

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

• The alberata system, once common around Naples, now covers only handful of hectares, replaced by efficient mechanizable methods like Guyot and vertical shoot positioning.
• Lanzarote's hoyo vine-pits shrunk by 19 percent between 2000 and 2026, from 2,326 to 1,889 hectares, as labor intensity outpaces tourism revenue and local subsidies.
• Alberto González Plasencia, owner of Bodegas Timanfaya on Lanzarote, warns that hoyo loss threatens tourist visits and wine value despite thousands of annual visitors.
• Familia Torres maintains pergola training at Pazo Torre Panelas in Rías Baixas by adopting specialized machinery for ground tasks, offsetting labor costs where harvest remains manual.
• The bellussera hybrid in Veneto covers just 9 percent of Piave DOC and continues declining, though climate resilience and wine tourism may offer economic revival.

American single malt ratification fails to lift sales amid broader whiskey downturn

• The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau ratified American single malt as an official whiskey category in December 2024 after a decade of petitioning by the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission.
• Major producers including Westland Distillery, Westward Whiskey, and Balcones Distillery have faced bankruptcy, layoffs, or theft losses rather than the sales growth distillers anticipated from ratification.
• Retail shelf separation and trade reporting have improved with official recognition, but consumer awareness remains limited outside connoisseur circles, even as Jim Beam, Bulleit, and Jack Daniel's entered the category.
• Producers are adapting by launching lower-priced cask-finished variants, blended products, and adjacent spirits like bourbon and rye to offset stalled single malt sales and reach price-sensitive drinkers.
• Distribution remains a bottleneck for small producers as shelf space consolidation and brand oversaturation intensify competition independent of category recognition.

World Cup failed to lift US beer sales despite $110 million ABI campaign

• Anheuser-Busch InBev spent $110 million on a global Michelob Ultra World Cup campaign, projecting only 0.25% US volume lift for the year.
• US beer category sales fell 2.1% in dollars and 3.4% in volume for the week ending July 19, the tournament's final day, worse than prior benchmarks.
• ABI's depletions and shipments declined 1.9% and 0.6% respectively in Q2 2026, when half the World Cup occurred, as overall US beer volume dropped 4.5% year-to-date.
• On-premise draft sales rose 7.1% in dollars and 6.46% in volume during the tournament, but package revenue growth masked flat or declining volumes by the final week.
• Spirits outperformed beer in the same period, with ready-to-drink brands like Cutwater up around 60% in dollars and volume, suggesting consumers shifted away from beer.

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

• Silver Scope Media Ltd, a U.K. digital marketing agency, bid $400,000 for Rogue Ales & Spirits' IP nine months after parent company Oregon Brewing filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Oregon.
• IP assets include Dead Guy IPA trademark, recipes, yeast strains, social media accounts, and website domain; Oregon Brewing valued the package at $2 million.
• Competing bids must exceed $400,000 by at least $40,000; U.S. Bankruptcy Court accepts offers through Aug. 21 with a hearing scheduled for Aug. 26.
• Valley View Winery objected to the sale, claiming a perpetual license to Rogue beer and wine beverages stemming from a 1997 settlement agreement.
• Oregon Brewing collapsed under $17 million debt against $5 million in assets, triggering sudden closure of distillery and taprooms and employee layoffs without proper notice.

Soju surges past shōchū in U.S. spirits market as Asian cuisine drives growth

• Soju grew 133 percent between 2019 and 2025 to under one percent of U.S. spirits volume, while shōchū grew 11 percent over the same period, says Koryn Ternes, IWSR consulting director for the Americas.
• James Barlow, fine wine and Asia portfolio manager at Spec's in Texas, reports the retailer's Asian spirits purchases jumped from under $1 million in 2018 to multi-millions today, driven by supply expansion and younger consumer demand.
• Green bottle soju, the mass-produced style mandated by a 1965 rice ban, dominates U.S. exports; Jinro has held the world's best-selling spirit title for 25 consecutive years.
• Shōchū brands like iichiko and Mizu target bartenders and on-premise venues with higher-proof expressions to compete for cocktail applications against established spirits like tequila and mezcal.

U.S. spirits exporters fight tariffs to crack India, Vietnam, and Argentina

• DISCUS, the U.S. distilled spirits trade body, is using a $900,000 USDA grant to boost exports to India, Vietnam, and Brazil, but escalating tariffs are blocking growth in Canada, the EU, and beyond.
• India cut its tariff on U.S. spirits from 150 percent to 100 percent last year, yet granted the EU and U.K. much lower rates of 40 percent and 75 percent respectively, giving Scotch and Irish whiskey a pricing advantage.
• Vietnam's cocktail bars are booming but dominated by Scotch collectors; U.S. bourbon remains largely absent despite the market's growth and high spending power.
• Argentina signed a new free trade agreement with the U.S. this year, but American whiskey faces entrenched local preferences for Fernet and perception that mixed drinks signal inferior quality.
• Tariff-driven price gaps mean luxury hotels in India can still sell high-end U.S. bourbon to enthusiasts, but broader market penetration for mid-range American whiskey requires lower duties and consumer education.

Breweries capitalize on 2026 World Cup to drive bar traffic and draft sales

• Draft beer sales volumes rose 6.46 percent during the six-week 2026 World Cup in North America, with Monday and Tuesday game days seeing gains of nearly 16 and 12 percent respectively, according to BeerBoard data.
• Headlands Brewing in California doubled production of Common Ground, a collaborative West Coast Mexican lager made with Cabin Brewing and Rey Árbol, from 90 to 180 barrels as retailers and bars rapidly depleted initial stock.
• Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City increased foot traffic and beer hall sales by roughly 25 percent since mid-June after upgrading its taproom with televisions and a new outdoor patio called the Boulevard Yard.
• Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling expanded It's Called Soccer from 30 intended barrels to 300, distributed across 315+ venues in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York, and now plans a year-round release.
• Bitburger's on-premise sales rose 130 percent in June through limited-edition labels and a 30-day German House of Soccer popup in New York City that drew 700 spectators during Germany's matches.

Wine lists shift from encyclopedic to discovery-focused after pandemic

• Bibliotheque wine bar in New York organizes its list by literary genres instead of region, aiming to welcome newcomers who lack wine knowledge.
• Beverage directors across the US report lists are now tightly edited with broader styles rather than stacked with expensive blue-chip bottles, driven by tighter budgets post-pandemic.
• Restaurants including The Morris in San Francisco and Lei in New York organize by wine style or feeling rather than appellation, making lists intuitive for all experience levels.
• Consumer surveys show 44 percent of drinkers want more variety by the glass, pushing lists toward breadth over quantity and wines from countries absent five years ago.
• Today's best lists facilitate discovery and feel like invitations rather than tests of knowledge, rewarding first-time drinkers instead of sommeliers.

Alto Adige sweeps Decanter whites awards with nine Platinums on altitude edge

• Alto Adige won nine Platinum medals at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards, all for white wines, signalling the region's arrival as a global white-wine competitor.
• Cantina Terlano, Alto Adige producer, took five Platinums across styles from age-worthy Pinot Bianco to blends, crediting quartz porphyry soils with 60-65% silica for minerality and freshness.
• Cantina Valle Isarco won the first-ever Platinum for varietal Kerner, a grape grown at 850-950 metres elevation in the narrow Valle Isarco valley near the Austrian border.
• Altitude creates the region's signature style: warm days and cold nights lock racy acidity and perfume into fruit as summers lengthen and temperatures rise across Europe.
• Producers including Cantina Tramin, Girlan and Prackfol also took Platinums, each linking their success to volcanic or quartz soils and steep mountain vineyard sites.

Virginia Sauvignon Blancs emerge as quality contenders alongside established regions

• VinePair tasted thousands of Sauvignon Blancs from established and emerging regions to compile its 2026 best-of list, evaluating quality, price, and availability.
• Virginia producers are now making expressive, balanced Sauvignon Blancs that compete on quality with established regions like Loire Valley and Friuli.
• Oregon, Colorado, and Slovenia appear alongside traditional French and Italian producers on the curated list of recommended bottles.
• Loire Valley Sauvignon Blancs have shifted toward more texture and depth while maintaining their flinty character, marking a style evolution in the region's home terroir.
• Friuli remains a benchmark for the variety, with stainless steel fermentation producing distinctive aromatic expressions that merit wider recognition among US drinkers.

Young sommeliers reshape wine culture away from formality

• Daria Volokitina, sommelier at Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, paired Austrian Furmint with grilled kebabs and tomato pasta by focusing on sensations rather than formal food-wine rules.
• Alex Padilla at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, California, recommends a $36 Gamay from Sonoma as an easygoing everyday wine, not a collector's item.
• Both report customers and younger drinkers are shedding the perception that wine requires expertise or formal settings to be enjoyed.
• Natural wine and transparent winemaking appeal to this generation, though awareness of what natural wine actually is remains low among casual drinkers.
• Young wine professionals say being visible in the industry helps counter headlines claiming young people are abandoning wine altogether.

Pierce's Disease Threatens 41% of European Vineyards as Climate Warms

• Pierce's disease, caused by Xylella fastidiosa bacterium and spread by glassy-winged sharpshooters, killed large vineyard blocks in California's Temecula Valley from the late 1990s onward, costing growers over $48 million annually.
• A 2025 high-resolution climate study found 41.2 percent of European vineyards now face climate risk from Pierce's disease, nearly double the 21.8 percent in earlier models, with river valleys and basins acting as hotspots.
• Xylella fastidiosa reached European grapevines in Mallorca, Spain in 2016 and mainland Europe in Portugal in 2023; cases persist in regulated zones across Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France.
• California's decades of experience show management shifts from eradication to slowing spread once the pathogen becomes established; genomic surveillance and rapid diagnostics offer detection tools unavailable when the disease first struck.
• European growers lack coordinated communication strategies and consistent reporting mandates, risking delayed detection and possible concealment of infections if vine destruction remains the only official response.

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

• PIWIs, fungus-resistant hybrid grapes bred from European and American vine genes, reduce fungicide applications from 8-15 sprays per season to 2-3 for powdery and downy mildew control.
• Rapid genetic testing technology rhAmpSeq, developed under the US VitisGen initiative, lets breeders identify resistance genes with precision and scan 2,000 genetic markers across 4,000 seedlings in days instead of months.
• Germany leads European adoption with 4,000 hectares of PIWI plantings in 2025, up 10 percent annually, while Luxembourg data show PIWIs deliver twofold economic savings and threefold environmental benefits versus traditional varieties.
• French breeders are developing ResDur varieties by crossing resistant hybrids with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot to maintain Bordeaux's regional signature while reducing chemical inputs.
• Direct-to-consumer sales dominate PIWI markets at 71 percent in Germany; retail expansion depends on competitive pricing and consumer awareness, since vineyard management remains unchanged from traditional vinifera.

Mosel Riesling: tasting through some of the best examples at the VDP tasting 2026

• Van Volxem's Scharzhofberg Pergentsknopp 2025 and Dr. Loosen's Wehlen Sonnenuhr 2025 and Ürzig Würzgarten 2025 each scored 96/100, the highest marks in the tasting.
• Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken's Saarburg Rausch 2025 scored 95/100 with chalky, floral notes and linear, intense palate.
• Van Volxem dominated the tasting with ten Mosel Rieslings, nine scoring 94-96/100, showing consistency across multiple vineyard sites.
• The 2025 vintage Mosel Rieslings tasted were predominantly dry, high-acid, citrus-driven wines with mineral and chalky characters.

Napa’s Royal Reds: The Taste of Oakville 2026

There aren’t many tastings in California where the wine trade lines up more than an hour in advance of the

Re-entry

• Belgian tech consultant Boris de Vloed launched Open Wine Map, a free interactive tool for exploring European wine regions with searchable, sortable data.
• Open Wine Map sources published data from INAO, French cahiers des charges, Italian disciplinare, and other appellation datasets, coupled with mapping data using Claude.
• The tool enables filtering by region, grape, and wine style, allowing direct comparisons like viewing Barolo and Barbaresco relative to broader Piemonte territory.

Burgenland Winery Guide, Part 1

• Burgenland is one of Austria's warmest regions and one of few with a serious red wine culture, famed for progressive viticulture.
• Leithaberg's limestone and chalk soils suit Blaufränkisch, Chardonnay, and Weissburgunder; Eisenstadt is 45 minutes from Vienna by car or train.
• Boris Kovacic relocated to Sankt Margareten in 2021 after stem cell research and works 12 plots with old vines, using no additives.
• Georg Priester produces terroir-oriented Blaufränkisch from Marienthal and Goldberg sites, increasingly aging reds in amphora instead of oak.

The taste of stone

• Jako Andabak founded Stina (initially called Jako Vino) in 2009 on the island of Brač, Croatia, after purchasing an ailing cooperative in the village of Bol.
• Stina produced big, bold wines and undertook massive modernization and new vineyard planting when Andabak acquired the cooperative.
• Andabak, a hotel owner on Brač, had both capital backing and a ready market through his hotels to support the winery project.
• A wave of well-capitalized 'Hrvatski Vrh' (high Croatian) wineries emerged across Croatia around 2012, partly ahead of Croatia's 2013 EU ascension.

Michelin And The Death Of The Wine Guide

• Michelin's Wine Selection Burgundy 2026 awarded nine producers three grapes, 20 two grapes, 33 one grape, and 32 were "selected.".
• Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux publicly demanded removal from Michelin's guide after receiving only one grape despite being a celebrated Vosne-Romanée house.
• Michelin rates producers based on vineyard management and consistency rather than individual wines, unlike competitor Guide Hachette des Vins which rates specific cuvées.
• Michelin owns Wine Advocate entirely since 2019 after purchasing 40% in 2017, raising suspicion about the publication's influence on Michelin's ratings.
• Consumer wine guides emerged in the 1970s-1980s but have declined due to print obsolescence and internet availability; Michelin's venture marks the genre's end.

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

• Coram Collective, founded in 2023 with 2024 production, co-ferments rice wine with Chardonnay and Merlot grapes while innovating huangjiu, an ancient Chinese fermented beverage.
• Co-founder Alex Yuanzhu Wang's Chardomi blends 80% Chardonnay grapes with 20% glutinous rice through co-fermentation; a similar 80-20 Merlot-rice rosé also exists.
• Coram's products are already stocked in over 100 restaurants and bistros across Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu since launching last June.
• Common huangjiu misconceptions: it is not cooking wine, peak aging is three to eight years (not longer), and modern styles are fresher and cleaner than older, sweeter versions.
• Coram produces a tangerine peel huangjiu co-fermentation using aged Chinese tangerine peel, inspired by a warm December 2024 evening in Shaoxing.

What I Learned at a Conference on Drinking

From the invention of moderation to the return of temperance