winefeed

Federal THC limit set to crush hemp-beverage retailers nationwide

• Massachusetts retailers like Art Nergaryan at Art's Specialties saw THC-beverage sales jump 25-35 percent until state regulators banned them from wine shops in May 2024.
• The US hemp-beverage market reached $239 million in the 52 weeks prior to April 2026, with potential market value between $9.9 billion and $14.9 billion.
• Congress enacted a provision in November 2025 limiting hemp-derived THC to 0.4 milligrams per container, effective November 12, 2026, with enforcement by December 11, 2026.
• Federal law under the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp but left cannabinoid products in legal limbo; states created conflicting rules, with some approving and others banning hemp beverages.
• Retailers, distributors, and manufacturers now face an impossible choice: comply with federal law and exit the market, or operate in the legal gray area.

English estates launch prestige cuvées to rival premium Champagne

• Nyetimber released England's first prestige cuvée in 2018, the 1086 range at £150, £175, modelled on Champagne's Dom Pérignon concept and aged seven years on lees.
• Chapel Down's Kit's Coty Coeur de Cuvée (2013 vintage, £126) and Gusbourne's Fifty One Degrees North (2016 vintage, £195) followed, both sourced from single premium vineyard sites in Kent and Sussex.
• Langham's Tommy Grimshaw created Perpetual Blanc de Blancs using a solera method inspired by grower Champagne, bottled at £109.95 in June 2025 with just 650 bottles released.
• Squerryes launched Patience 2014 in July 2026, a prestige cuvée from the family's 21-hectare chalk vineyard on the North Downs, completing a tier of super-premium English sparkling wines.
• All five producers emphasise extended ageing on lees, single-estate sourcing, and small production volumes as markers of prestige comparable to luxury Champagne positioning.

American single malt ratification fails to lift sales as distilleries struggle

• The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau ratified American single malt as an official whiskey category in December 2024, ending a decade-long push by the American Single Malt Whiskey Commission.
• Retailers have created dedicated shelf space for American single malt following ratification, and export tracking has improved since the category is no longer lumped into 'other', but mainstream consumer awareness remains limited outside enthusiast circles.
• Distribution remains a major obstacle for small producers amid retail oversaturation and consolidation at the wholesale level, with founders reporting modest growth despite heavy marketing investment.

World Cup failed to lift US beer sales despite $110 million marketing push

• Anheuser-Busch InBev spent $110 million on a global Michelob Ultra World Cup campaign, projecting only 0.25% volume growth from the effort.
• US beer sales fell 2.1% in dollars and 3.4% in volume for the week ending July 19, the tournament's final day, worse than pre-tournament trends.
• ABI's US portfolio declined 2.3% in volume and 0.7% in dollars for the four weeks through July 12, according to Circana scan data.
• On-premise draft beer sales rose 6.46% in volume during the tournament across BeerBoard's network, but off-premise declines outweighed the gains.
• Spirits products gained 8.4% in volume year-over-year in the final tournament week, with ready-to-drink brands like Cutwater up roughly 60%.

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

• Rogue Ales & Spirits' parent company Oregon Brewing filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy nine months ago after citing $17 million in debts against $5 million in assets.
• Silver Scope Media Ltd, a U.K.-based digital marketing agency, bid $400,000 for Rogue's intellectual property including recipes, trademarks, yeast strains, and the Dead Guy IPA brand.
• Oregon Brewing valued Rogue's IP at $2 million; competing bids must exceed Silver Scope's offer by at least $40,000 before the Aug. 21 deadline.
• The IP sale includes the website, social media accounts, proprietary yeast propagation rights, and all manufacturing specifications and quality control documents.
• Valley View Winery filed an objection claiming a perpetual license to Rogue beer products under a 1997 settlement agreement; a hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26.

Soju surges in U.S. market as soju and shōchū establish separate trajectories

• Soju grew 133 percent between 2019 and 2025 to less than one percent of U.S. spirits volume, while shōchū expanded only 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, says the retailer's Asian spirits purchases climbed from under $1 million in 2018 to multi-millions today, driven by soju demand and younger consumer interest.
• Mass-produced green bottle soju dominates U.S. exports after a 1965 rice ban forced Korean producers to switch to starches and sweeteners, creating the sweeter, lower-alcohol style that now defines the category.
• Craft soju makers like Tokki Soju, founded in 2016 in Brooklyn, face an uphill battle against entrenched green bottle brands; co-founder Douglas Park reports explosive early growth but now plateauing volume as the company restructures.
• Shōchū brands iichiko and Mizu focus on bars and bartenders rather than retail, with 80 to 85 percent of sales on-premise, using higher-proof expressions to compete with tequila and mezcal drinkers seeking cocktail complexity.

Chandon launches three ready-to-serve spritz flavors targeting aperitivo drinkers

• Chandon released Orange Peel & Spices, Lemon & Verbena, and Berries & Hibiscus spritzes, replacing its former Garden Spritz line with sharper flavor focus.
• Lemon and Berries variants use naturally low-alcohol sparkling wine at 6% ABV, avoiding dealcoholization, with layered botanicals including gentian, rosemary, and artichoke.
• IWSR 2025 research shows premium-plus light aperitifs gaining traction in top 20 markets, with spritz popularity rising at early-evening drinking occasions.
• Ana Paula Bartolucci, chef de caves at Chandon Argentina, and Pauline Lhote, winemaking director at Chandon California, led development with mixologist Inés de los Santos.
• Bottles feature lighter weight, FSC-certified labels, and removed foil to reduce waste, positioning the collection for bars, restaurants, and home consumption.

Seven volcanic regions beyond Etna produce distinctive mineral-driven wines

• Volcanic soils create wines marked by high acidity, salinity, and savory flavors rather than fruit-forward profiles across multiple regions worldwide.
• Santorini's Assyrtiko white, made from vines over 200 years old in mineral-rich volcanic soil, achieves depth and concentration unmatched elsewhere in Greece.
• Canary Islands winemakers revived native grapes Listán Blanco and Listán Negro in the 1980s-1990s after phylloxera never reached the isolated archipelago.
• Hungarian Tokaji Aszú gains mineral-driven saline edge from volcanic soils that protect botrytized grapes, distinguishing it from other sweet wines.
• Oregon's Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs from volcanic Jory soil in Dundee Hills and Chehalem Mountains express red fruit differently than those from marine sedimentary terroirs.

Virginia and alternative regions challenge Loire's Sauvignon Blanc dominance

• VinePair's tasting panel ranked 30 Sauvignon Blancs across traditional and emerging regions, scoring each on aromas, flavors, structure, balance, and typicity.
• Virginia Sauvignon Blancs showed exceptional quality in 2026, with Dogwood & Thistle and Emily Hodson's wines cited as standouts punching above price.
• Unexpected regions including Colorado, Oregon, Slovenia, and Alto Adige now produce expressive Sauvignon Blancs worthy of consideration alongside Loire Valley benchmarks.
• Loire Valley's style has evolved from purely flinty and angular toward wines with greater texture and depth, signaling broader shift in the variety's profile.
• Friuli, Italy's early adopter of stainless steel tanks, continues producing mineral-driven Sauvignon Blancs that rank among the world's best expressions of the grape.

Sommelier uses natural wine to break beer drinker's food pairing rules

• Daria Volokitina, sommelier at Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, paired Austrian Furmint with grilled kebabs to challenge her brother's beer-only preference at a barbecue.
• She chose sensory experience over traditional pairing rules: seeking freshness to complement rich meat and acidity to balance tomato and salad.
• Liszt's Minimaliszt 2022, a natural wine from Burgenland, Austria, is hand-harvested Furmint fermented in amphora with no added sulphur, bottled unfiltered.
• Young wine drinkers embrace natural wine and casual occasions, yet many peers lack basic understanding of what natural wine actually is.
• Wine is shedding its elite image, no longer confined to fine dining or knowledgeable drinkers, but education gaps remain among younger generations.

Wildfires destroy 200 hectares in Spain's emerging Gredos wine region

• Fires burning July 22-26 destroyed 77,000 hectares across Ávila and Madrid provinces, with approximately 200 hectares of vineyards in Cebreros DO suffering fire, smoke, or both damage.
• Comando G's Las Iruelas single-vineyard wine was heavily smoke-exposed and likely lost; Bodega El Reventón's San Gregorio parcel burned but owners expect to recover 80 to 90 percent of vines.
• Juan Diez Bulnes of Bodegas Bernabeleva lost vineyard land, his office, and winery infrastructure including tanks and windows; grape quality and yield remain unknown.
• Producers including Comando G and Juanan Martín of Rico Nuevo have proposed firebreak subsidies, forest clearance funding, and dry-stone wall restoration to regional authorities as prevention measures.
• Gredos, revived since 2000s by Comando G's Garnacha success, hosts growing international investment but faces recurring fire risk; producers argue active land management and vineyard presence reduce fuel load.

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

• Pierce's disease, caused by Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, has infected grapevines in Mallorca since 2016 and mainland Europe since 2023, with cases now in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France.
• A 2025 study using high-resolution climate data found 41.2 percent of European vineyards now face climate risk from Pierce's disease, up from 21.8 percent in previous models.
• Vineyard microclimates in river basins and valleys are especially vulnerable because warming winters no longer suppress the bacterium in these topographically complex areas.
• California's decades of experience show eradication works early but shifts to slowing spread once the pathogen becomes established; European countries lack coordinated communication strategies to enable early detection.
• Olakunle Olawole, assistant professor at University of California Riverside, says genomic surveillance and rapid diagnostics can detect the bacterium faster than visual symptoms appear.

Disease-resistant hybrid grapes cut fungicide sprays by 80 percent across Europe

• PIWIs are hybrid grape varieties bred to resist powdery and downy mildew by crossing disease-resistant American vines with European Vitis vinifera, now containing up to 95 percent vinifera genetic material.
• Jérémy Ducourt, technical director at Famille Ducourt in Bordeaux, reduced fungicide sprays from eight to 15 per season for traditional varieties down to two to three for PIWIs over a decade of planting.
• Rapid genetic testing technology rhAmpSeq, pioneered by the US VitisGen initiative in 2019, identifies disease-resistance genes with precision and enables marker-assisted selection across 2,000 genetic markers, reducing breeding time from months to days.
• French breeders are developing ResDur varieties crossed with Bordeaux signature grapes like Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot for experimental plots starting in 2026, balancing disease resistance with regional identity.

Highlights: Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs 2020 Robertson, South Africa

• Graham Beck is South Africa's leading traditional method sparkling wine producer, known as Cap Classiques.
• Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs 2020 Robertson: 100% Chardonnay, 46% oak-fermented, 60 months on lees, 5 g/litre residual sugar.
• 2020 vintage scores 93/100 with linear acidity, bright citrus, baked bread notes, and bitter finish.
• Available at Majestic for £21 per bottle in mix-six purchases.

Why South Africa Is the Most Exciting Wine Region on the Planet, Part II

This is Part II of a lengthy piece on South African wine. Read Part I here. In Part I, I

Wine Gets a Category

• Substack launched a dedicated Wine & Spirits category on Monday, splitting it from the broader Food & Drink section to improve discoverability for wine writers and readers.
• The 9th edition of The World Atlas of Wine, first published in 1971 by Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson, and Julia Harding, adds 18 new maps and covers climate change and emerging regions; ships October 6th for $75.
• Smith-Madrone Vineyard in Napa's Spring Mountain District implemented Hügelkultur, burying rather than burning forest debris from the 2020 Glass Fire, to sequester carbon and manage runoff on the steep site.
• Sommelier Bodhi Landa argues in his new book that authentic margaritas require sugar to balance spirit and citrus; a skinless version without sweetness is "bitter acid and alcohol in a staring contest.".

Burgenland Winery Guide, Part 1

• Burgenland is one of Austria's warmest regions and one of few Austrian regions with serious red wine culture, known for progressive viticulture.
• Blaufränkisch, Chardonnay, and Weissburgunder thrive in Leithaberg's predominantly limestone and chalk soils.
• Boris Kovacic relocated to Sankt Margareten in 2021 and rents 12 plots with old vines and field blends, making wines without additives; prices €15, €20.
• Georg Prieler makes terroir-focused Blaufränkisch from Marienthal and Goldberg sites, increasingly aging reds in amphora; entry-level wines start €12, €15, top wines €70+.

The taste of stone

• Jako Andabak purchased an ailing cooperative in Bol, Brač island in 2009 and founded Stina winery, modernizing facilities and planting new vineyards.
• Stina produced big, bold wines that impressed at Zagreb Wine Gourmet Weekend in April 2012, establishing the project's credibility.
• Andabak, a hotel owner on Brač, had both capital and ready market access through his hotels to support the winery venture.
• Croatian wine experienced a wave of new "Hrvatski Vrh" (high Croatian) wineries in the early 2010s, many backed by financially strong entrepreneurs who looked beyond local traditions.

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 a 'selected' designation.
• Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux publicly demanded removal from Michelin's guide after receiving 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.
• Consumer wine guides emerged in the 1970s-80s with publications like Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book (1977) and Parker's Wine Advocate, but internet access from mid-1990s onward undermined print guides' relevance.
• Michelin acquired 40% of Wine Advocate in 2017 and fully owned it by 2019, potentially influencing its Burgundy guide selections.

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, ancient Chinese yellow wine.
• Co-founder Alex Yuanzhu Wang's products are already listed in over 100 restaurants and bistros across Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengdu since launching last June.
• Huangjiu peaks between three and eight years of aging; older doesn't always mean better, as many examples lose freshness after 10 years.
• Coram's Chardomi blends 80% Chardonnay grapes with 20% glutinous rice through a multi-step process: rice saccharification, wild yeast fermentation, then co-fermentation with fresh grape juice.

What I Learned at a Conference on Drinking

From the invention of moderation to the return of temperance