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Wildfires destroy 200 hectares in Sierra de Gredos vineyard region

• Between July 22 and 26, multiple fires destroyed 77,000 hectares across Ávila and Madrid provinces, which contain 85 percent of Sierra de Gredos's 2,000 vineyard hectares.
• About 200 hectares of vineyards in Cebreros DO, roughly 40 percent of registered vineyard area, suffered fire, smoke, or both damage.
• Bodegas Bernabeleva lost office space, winery facade, tanks, and equipment; Bodega El Reventón expects 10 to 20 percent vine loss; Comando G's Las Iruelas single-vineyard parcel suffered heavy smoke exposure.
• Producers including Comando G and Rico Nuevo have submitted proposals to regional authorities requesting firebreak subsidies, vineyard replanting support, and dry-stone wall restoration.
• Local winemakers argue land abandonment increased fire fuel; they contend viticulture integrated with grazing and forestry management is essential for regional fire prevention.

Federal THC limit threatens US hemp beverage retailers mid-boom

• THC-infused beverage sales rose 135 percent in 52 weeks to April 2026, reaching $239 million, but face federal ban under November 2025 legislation limiting THC to 0.4 milligrams per container, effective November 12, 2026.
• Massachusetts retailer Art Nergaryan saw Art's Specialties sales jump 25-35 percent after stocking hemp-derived THC drinks, then plummeted when state regulators banned cannabis beverages from wine and liquor stores in May 2024.
• Hemp-derived THC exists in a legal gray zone: federally illegal under FDA food law since 2018, but legalized as an agricultural product by the same Farm Bill, leaving states to set conflicting rules.
• States including Minnesota, Georgia, and Tennessee have legalized hemp beverages, while California, Washington, and Vermont banned them outside licensed cannabis systems, creating a patchwork that blocks national distribution.
• The Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives warns that without federal clarity, retailers, distributors, and manufacturers face constant regulatory reversals; the upcoming federal THC cap will force compliance or market exit.

American single malt ratification fails to lift sales as distillers struggle

• The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved American single malt as an official whiskey category in December 2024 after a decade of petitioning by distillers, but sales have not improved as hoped.
• Westland Distillery in Seattle lost $1 million to theft and laid off staff; Diageo-owned Balcones in Waco stopped production in August 2025 and cut 17 jobs; Westward Whiskey in Portland filed for bankruptcy after its parent Distill Ventures wound down.
• The official standard has helped retailers create dedicated shelf space and improved export tracking, but most consumers remain unaware of American single malt or confuse it with bourbon and Scotch.
• Small and mid-sized producers face oversaturated retail shelves and consolidated distribution networks; Virginia Distillery saw single malt sales fall from two-thirds to one-third of revenue as consumers prefer lower-priced cask-finished variants.
• Distillers are adapting by launching lower-priced products, blends with bourbon, and diversifying into rye, tequila and vodka seltzer rather than waiting for category-wide demand to grow.

World Cup sponsorship fails to lift declining US beer sales

• Anheuser-Busch InBev spent $110 million on Michelob Ultra World Cup campaign, projecting only 0.25 percent annual volume lift, per CEO Michel Doukeris in July earnings call.
• US beer category fell 2.1 percent in dollars and 3.4 percent in volume year-over-year the week ending July 19, the tournament's final day, outpacing prior declines.
• ABI's US depletions and shipments during Q2 2026, which contained half the World Cup, declined 1.9 and 0.6 percent respectively; scan data showed portfolio down 2.3 percent in volume through July 12.
• On-premise draft beer sales rose 6.46 percent in volume across BeerBoard's account network during the tournament, but off-premise declines in grocery and convenience stores offset gains.
• Spirits category grew 8.4 percent in volume year-over-year that final week, with ready-to-drink cocktails like Cutwater up 60 percent, while beer's structural decline of 4.5 percent year-to-date persisted.

UK firm bids $400k for bankrupt Rogue Ales' recipes and Dead Guy brand

• Silver Scope Media Ltd, a UK digital marketing agency, offered $400,000 for Rogue Ales & Spirits' intellectual property nine months after parent company Oregon Brewing filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
• Rogue's IP includes recipes, proprietary yeast strains, trademarks, and the Dead Guy IPA brand; Oregon Brewing valued the total IP at $2 million.
• US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon is accepting competing bids through August 21, with minimum increment of $40,000 over Silver Scope's offer.
• Valley View Winery filed an objection, claiming a perpetual license to Rogue's wine and wine-based beverage rights dating to a 1997 settlement agreement.
• Oregon Brewing cited $17 million in debts against $5 million in assets before shuttering its distillery and taprooms in 2024.

New York sommeliers reveal unexpected high-low wine pairings

• Seventeen New York City sommeliers shared unconventional food-and-wine pairings that match budget casual food with premium bottles.
• Most elevated wines chosen were Champagne, Burgundy, and aged Bordeaux paired with everyday items like french fries, sardines, and dino nuggets.
• The pairings work by either highlighting wine complexity through simple food or creating surprising flavour combinations neither ingredient achieves alone.
• High-low pairing is an established concept in wine culture that makes fine-wine enjoyment accessible beyond Michelin-starred restaurants and formal dining.
• Unexpected matches included Taittinger Champagne with canned sardines and Julian Haart Piesporter Riesling with Spam musubi.

Early harvests shift wine tourism and challenge logistics across regions

• Domaine Lafage in Roussillon began picking grapes July 23, weeks earlier than historical norms; California Central Coast harvests started six to eight weeks ahead of traditional schedules.
• Aaron Jackson, winemaker at Aaron Wines in Paso Robles, reports July visitation drops sharply as temperatures rise; heat deters visitors and makes shipping full-bodied reds unsafe during summer.
• Šárka Betke, co-founder of Lacery vineyard in Moravia, Czech Republic, saw summer wine tourism decline and shipping delays that pushed revenue collection into fall.
• Wine-region travel is shifting later into fall as warming temperatures improve October-November conditions; Mark Hallett at Grape Escapes reports Champagne bookings surge for November.
• Earlier harvests strain logistics: refrigeration costs spike when peak cooling demand hits August instead of October; bottling crews, custom crush facilities, and glass suppliers face compressed timelines.

Sommelier challenges beer stereotype with Austrian natural wine pairing

• Daria Volokitina, sommelier at Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris, paired Austrian Furmint Liszt's Minimaliszt 2022 with grilled kebabs to challenge her brother's beer preference at a barbecue.
• She chose the wine not by traditional food rules but by sensations: a chilled, fresh white to cleanse the palate against rich meat and bright tomato acidity.
• The estate, Weingut Liszt in Burgenland, converted to organic farming in 2003 and is Demeter-certified biodynamic; the wine uses hand-harvested grapes, amphora ageing, no added sulphur, gravity bottling.
• Volokitina notes natural wine appeals to her generation but most young drinkers she asked could not define it, signalling a gap between wine's evolution and consumer understanding.
• Wine is shedding its formal image and exclusivity, yet younger drinkers still lack familiarity with the styles and terms gaining ground among peers in the trade.

Seven volcanic wine regions beyond Mount Etna offer complex terroir and distinctive styles

• Volcanic soils from ancient eruptions create complex, layered earth that produces wines marked by high acidity, salinity, and savory flavors rather than fruit-forward profiles.
• Soave in Italy, dormant for 25 million years, still expresses volcanic terroir through Garganega wines with orchard fruit and mineral-driven acidity.
• Santorini, in one of the world's most volcanically active zones, grows 200-year-old Assyrtiko vines trained low in basket shapes to protect against wind and debris; the wine shows mineral depth unmatched elsewhere in Greece.
• The Canary Islands' isolation from volcanic closures and phylloxera allowed old-vine varieties like Listán Blanco and Listán Negro to survive; Lanzarote producers hand-dig individual vine holes called hoyos to combat heat and wind.

Pierce's Disease Detected in Continental Europe; 41% of Vineyards at Climate Risk

• Pierce's disease, caused by Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, was first detected on continental European grapevines in Portugal in 2023 after infecting olives and Spanish vineyards since 2013.
• A 2025 study using high-resolution climate data found 41.2 percent of European vineyards now at climate risk, up from 21.8 percent in previous models, with river valleys especially vulnerable.
• California's decades-long battle with Pierce's disease offers Europe lessons in early detection and vector management, though infected vines typically require destruction once established.
• European countries lack unified reporting mandates and communication strategies, risking concealment of infections; California's collaborative culture and early self-reporting slowed but did not stop spread.
• Warming winters no longer suppress the bacterium's survival, allowing silent expansion through complex topography before visible epidemics emerge.

Disease-resistant hybrids cut fungicide sprays 80 percent, gain European vineyard foothold

• PIWIs (fungus-resistant hybrid grapes) require two to three fungicide sprays per season versus eight to 15 for traditional Vitis vinifera varieties, cutting chemical use by up to 80 percent.
• Modern backcrossing techniques now produce PIWIs containing 95 percent vinifera genetic material, preserving wine quality while retaining disease resistance from American vine species.
• Rapid genetic testing technology rhAmpSeq, pioneered by the US VitisGen initiative in 2019, identifies precise locations of resistance genes in 2,000 genetic markers, accelerating breeding precision.
• Germany leads PIWI plantings at 4,000 hectares in 2025, up 10 percent annually; France is developing ResDur varieties crossed with Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot for regional expression.
• A 2026 Luxembourg study showed PIWIs delivered twofold economic savings and up to threefold environmental benefits versus traditional varieties, mainly through reduced spraying costs and improved soil ecology.

Remembering Branko Čotar

• Branko Čotar, pioneering natural winemaker from Slovenia's Karst region, died aged 78 on 27 August following a short illness.
• Čotar started with 500 vines for his restaurant in 1974, began commercial bottling in 1990, and built a winery producing around 30,000 bottles annually.
• He pioneered orange wines with no added sulphites in the 1980s, two decades before Radikon and Gravner went public with the concept in the late 1990s.
• Čotar signed with US importer Louis Dressner in 2003 and became one of the first members of Luca Gargano's Triple A portfolio that year.
• Grapes were grown organically with traditional skin-fermentation of white grapes for around a week; no additives, corrections, or sulphites used during vinification.

Highlights: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Oregon winery Ponzi

• Ponzi Vineyards, Oregon's third winery founded in 1970, has been owned by Champagne house Bollinger since 2021.
• Ponzi Laurelwood District Chardonnay 2021 scores 94/100: white pepper, pear, peach, and savoury spice with 13.1% alcohol and 14% new oak.
• Ponzi Laurelwood District Pinot Noir 2022 scores 93/100: elegant with sweet cherry, raspberry, subtle spicy oak, and good acidity at 13.8% alcohol.
• Both wines originate from Chehalem Mountains in Willamette Valley, Oregon, with the Chardonnay sourced from Avellana, Aurora, and Paloma Vineyards.

M is for Method

• Traditional method sparkling wines undergo second fermentation in bottle with sugar and yeast, creating nutty and complex wines through bottle conditioning and aging.
• Ancestral method sparkling wines ferment in bottle before reaching dryness, retain lees, and remain fully dry and savory without disgorgement.
• Tank-method sparkling wines ferment in pressurized tanks with added sugar and yeast, producing clean and direct styles with minimal lees contact.
• Skin-contact wines macerate white grapes with skins during fermentation, developing color, tannin, and flavor; the tradition originated in the Caucasus and has resurged in the last two decades.
• Wine method, the production technique, determines finished style: traditional, ancestral, and tank methods always produce sparkling wines; passito always produces sweet wines; sur lie always produces rounded and savory wines.

Wine News: What I’m Reading the Week of 8/30/26

Hello and welcome to my weekly roundup of the wine stories that I find of interest on the web. I

The taste of stone

• Jako Andabak purchased an ailing cooperative in Bol, Brač island in 2009, founding Stina (formerly Jako Vino) and modernizing the winery with new vineyards.
• Stina's early wines were bold, full-bodied expressions that signaled serious ambition when presented at Zagreb Wine Gourmet Weekend in April 2012.
• Andabak, a hotel owner on Brač, possessed both capital and an established sales channel through his hotels to support the winery project.
• Stina was part of a wave of 'Hrvatski Vrh' wineries that emerged across Croatia's Dalmatian coast, backed by owners with outside experience and significant funding.

Michelin And The Death Of The Wine Guide

• Michelin's Wine Selection Burgundy 2026 awarded nine producers three grapes, 20 vignerons two grapes, 33 one grape, and 32 'selected' status.
• Domaine Arnoux-Lachaux publicly demanded removal from Michelin's guide after receiving one grape rating 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 100% of Wine Advocate (acquired entirely in 2019 after purchasing 40% in 2017), raising questions about editorial influence on selections.
• Consumer wine guides emerged in the 1970s-1980s but declined due to internet availability and the wine market's vast expansion making comprehensive coverage impossible.

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

• Coram Collective, founded in 2023 with production from 2024, co-ferments rice wine with grape varieties like Chardonnay and Merlot, and innovates huangjiu (yellow wine).
• Co-founder Alex Yuanzhu Wang's huangjiu with aged Chinese tangerine peel came from an unexpected moment on Christmas Eve 2024 when the citrus combination inspired experimentation.
• Coram's products are already listed in over 100 restaurants and bistros across Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Chengdu within one year of launch.
• Common misconceptions about huangjiu include that it is cooking wine, older is better (optimal aging is 3-8 years), and that it causes hangovers more than modern fresher styles.
• 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