winefeed

California and Pacific Northwest vineyards idle acres to weather weak grape demand

• A 2025 study of 19 northern Willamette Valley vineyards found idling reduced management costs by an average of 38 percent per acre, with some sites cutting costs in half.
• Vineyard idling, a temporary pause in production lasting one to three years, allows owners to avoid bulldozing vines while preserving capital and waiting for demand to recover.
• Viticulturists emphasize proper maintenance during idling, including consistent irrigation, aggressive pruning, and disease monitoring, as inadequate care can cause long-term vine damage.

Early harvests shift wine tourism and logistics challenges across regions

• Domaine Lafage in Roussillon began harvest on July 23, and California Central Coast growers harvested six to eight weeks early, the earliest in 27 years for some, driven by record heat.
• Aaron Jackson, winemaker at Aaron Wines in Paso Robles, reports July tasting-room visits drop sharply as heat rises, and shipping blackout periods have lengthened because wine spoils in transit during warmer months.
• Heat-driven costs are mounting across production: Napa water fees, peak-season electricity demand during August instead of October, label adhesion failures, and bottling-line strain as harvest compresses multiple varieties into shorter windows.

Federal THC limit ban upends U.S. hemp beverage retailers in November 2026

• Congress passed legislation in November 2025 capping total THC at 0.3 milligrams per container, effective November 12, 2026, banning most hemp-derived THC beverages nationally despite current $239 million annual retail sales.
• Art Nergaryan's four Massachusetts wine shops saw revenue jump 25 to 35 percent after stocking THC drinks, then plummeted when state regulators banned cannabis beverages from wine and liquor stores in May 2024.
• Hemp beverage market operates under conflicting state and federal rules; Minnesota, Georgia, and Tennessee permit sales while California, Washington, and Vermont ban them, with FDA declaring interstate THC commerce unlawful under federal food law.

Southern Glazer's pays $12.5M to settle DOJ bribery investigation

• Southern Glazer's reached a non-prosecution agreement with the US Department of Justice and agreed to pay $12.5 million to resolve a bribery investigation spanning 2016 to 2024.
• Former employees allegedly gave cash, gift cards, luxury goods, and trips to California retailers to secure better shelf placement and falsified invoices to hide the payments.
• The distributor committed to reinforcing internal compliance, including expanded staff and proactive auditing, with undisclosed obligations extending two years under the settlement.

US tariff lift and India trade deal reshape Scotch whisky market in 2026

• US lifted 15-month tariff on Scotch in July 2025, reversing a 15 percent export decline to one of Scotland's largest markets.
• July 2025 UK-India free trade agreement aims to open the world's largest whisky market to more affordable Scotch imports.
• Post-pandemic oversupply has forced major distilleries including Diageo and Brown-Forman to pause production; Clynelish closed its visitor centre due to weak tourism.

Trump bans Canadian alcohol imports, escalating U.S.-Canada tariff war

• President Donald Trump announced a ban on Canadian wine, spirits, and beer imports effective September 29, escalating ongoing tariff disputes.
• The ban follows Canada's retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of U.S. goods that began Tuesday, itself a response to U.S. tariffs imposed August 22.
• Canada's April 2024 alcohol ban cost U.S. wine, beer, and spirits industries significant export revenue in 2025; both nations say negotiations remain possible.

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

• The US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau approved American single malt's standard of identity in December 2024 after a decade-long campaign by distillers, but hoped-for sales gains have not materialized.
• Major producers including Westland Distillery, Balcones Distillery, and Westward Whiskey have laid off staff or ceased operations entirely; the broader whiskey market downturn has blunted the category's momentum.
• Distillers are adapting by diversifying into other spirits, creating lower-priced product lines, and blending single malt with bourbon to attract consumers hesitant about the unfamiliar category.

Campania's volcanic white wines gain attention among lighter-drinking consumers

• Campania's white varieties, grown in Mount Vesuvius volcanic soils with cooling hills, produce high-acidity stainless-steel aged wines suited to seafood and lighter foods.
• Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo, and Falanghina are the region's notable whites, marked by crisp acidity, minerality, and freshness that appeal to consumers seeking lower-alcohol options.
• Many Campania whites, including organic examples from estates near Mount Taburno and Benevento province, offer value under 20 dollars and age better than conventional wisdom suggests.

AriZona Iced Tea launches artist residency at New York headquarters

• AriZona hosted three cohorts of up to four artists each in six-week residencies at its Woodbury, New York headquarters starting July 2025, providing stipends, housing, materials, and studio access.
• Artists including Eleanor Dexter and Lucas Carlo Monasterio created new work inspired by AriZona's Southwest aesthetic and the brand's visual identity, with finished pieces exhibited and added to the company's permanent collection.
• The residency extends AriZona's decades-long strategy of building brand identity through in-house design and personal creativity rather than commercial focus groups, mirroring founder Don Vultaggio's 1992 approach to can design.

Ten brewers name their guilty-pleasure beers, mostly mass-market brands.

• Ten US brewers were asked to name beers they love despite craft-beer convention dismissing them as mass-produced, overly sweet, or trend-chasing.
• Respondents named Abita Strawberry, Coronita, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Shipyard Pumpkin Head, Busch Light Apple, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Miller High Life, Wrench IPA, Miller Lite, and Bud Heavy.
• Most cited nostalgia, college memories, childhood, specific places, as the reason these beers held emotional weight despite their low status in craft circles.

Spanish wildfires destroy 200 hectares of Gredos vineyards during region's revival

• Fires between July 22-26 destroyed 77,000 hectares across Ávila and Madrid provinces; approximately 200 hectares of Cebreros DO vineyards damaged by fire or smoke, roughly 40 percent of registered area.
• Comando G's Las Iruelas slate parcel in Cebreros suffered heavy smoke exposure, likely losing the vintage; Bodega El Reventón's San Gregorio parcel lost vines though owners estimate 80-90 percent recovery.
• Daniel Landi and Fernando García of Comando G, alongside Juanan Martín of Rico Nuevo, drafted proposals to regional authorities requesting firebreak subsidies and support for vineyard restoration and livestock farming to prevent future fires.

Seven volcanic wine regions beyond Mount Etna show terroir's fiery foundation

• Volcanic soils create complex, layered terroirs hostile to pests and disease, enabling organic farming and preservation of old vine varieties across regions from Santorini to Oregon's Willamette Valley.
• Wines from volcanic regions share trademark high acidity, salinity, and savory flavors; Santorini's Assyrtiko, Tokaji Aszú, and Willamette Valley Pinot Noir exemplify how lava composition influences taste.
• The Canary Islands retained phylloxera-free native varieties like Listán Blanco and Listán Negro after volcanic eruptions isolated ports in the 1700s, allowing winemakers to revive them from the 1980s onward.

Pierce's disease bacteria detected in European vineyards; 41% at climate risk

• Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, which causes Pierce's disease in grapevines, was first detected in continental European vineyards in Portugal in 2023 and now persists across Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France.
• A 2025 study using high-resolution climate data found 41.2 percent of European vineyards face climate risk from Pierce's disease, up from 21.8 percent in previous models, with river valleys and basins especially vulnerable.

Polish wine exploration: Winnica Moderna (updated with fresh notes, 2026)

• Winnica Moderna, owned by Nestor Kościański, produces wines in Poland's Lower Silesian region, specifically the Trzebnickie Hills.
• A spring frost reduced Winnica Moderna's 2024 harvest to just 20% of normal output.
• The estate grows 3.1 hectares of vines on sandy clay soils, focusing on vinifera varieties including Riesling and Pinot Noir alongside resistant varieties.

Vinography Images: Growing The Shire

A spring-green view of the home vineyard at William Downie’s Guendulain Farm in the Gippsland sub-region of Victoria, Australia, where

Raising Standards

• Montpeyroux became France's 369th AOC last week, with stricter red grape controls and 45 hectolitres per hectare maximum yields.
• Muscadet rebuilt its reputation through site-specific crus created from 2011, better winemaking, and vineyard attrition that reduced producers from 700 to fewer than 300 since the early 1990s.
• Soave created 33 named crus (UGAs) in 2020 and a new DOCG tier in 2001, but producers remain confused about designations and consumer perception is uncertain.

Of Substack & wine

• Substack created a Wine & Spirits subsection separate from Food & Drink, improving discovery for wine writers on the platform.
• Natural wine publications dominate Substack's top earners, though recent entries in this category struggle to match established publications' numbers.
• Some wine writers earn living wages on Substack, though success appears tied to niche specialization rather than broad coverage.

Remembering Branko Čotar

• Branko Čotar, a pioneering natural winemaker from Slovenia's Karst region, died aged 78 on 27 August following a short illness.
• Čotar began with 500 vines for his restaurant in 1974, bottled commercially from 1990, and built a winery producing around 30,000 bottles annually by 2002.
• He pioneered orange wines with no added sulphites in the 1980s, two decades before Radikon and Gravner went public with the style in the late 1990s.

M is for Method

• Traditional method sparkling wines undergo bottle conditioning with sugar and yeast for second fermentation, then disgorgement and dosage, creating nutty and complex styles.
• Tank method (Charmat/Martinotti) uses pressurized tanks for second fermentation, producing cleaner and fresher sparkling wines than traditional method.
• Skin-contact wines macerate white grapes with skins during fermentation, creating color, tannin, and texture; the tradition originated in the Caucasus and has been reinvigorated in the last two decades.

What I Learned at a Conference on Drinking

From the invention of moderation to the return of temperance