Winefeed

Seven US regions seek AVA status to establish wine identity

• Seven proposed AVAs span California, Oregon, New Jersey, and New York; approval by the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau typically takes several years.
• Annapolis-Sea Ranch in Sonoma County will cover 26,637 acres with 651 acres planted, known for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay shaped by coastal fog and Ohlson Ranch soil.
• Deschutes River in central Oregon will be the state's first recognized winegrowing region at 723,760 acres, with growers testing both traditional European varieties and cold-hardy hybrids.

Airlines upgrade wine service as premiumization strategy takes flight

• Major carriers including Delta are expanding wine offerings in premium cabins and lounges as part of broader premiumization strategies to drive profit from higher-fare seats.
• The timing favors wine suppliers: airlines can source quality wines at favorable prices while positioning wine as central to aspirational lifestyle offerings.
• Chateau Ste. Michelle's new ownership by the Wyckoff family signals investment confidence in Washington wine, while the Auction of Washington Wines raised over four million dollars this year.

Cruise lines emerge as experiential sales channel for US wineries

• Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant chartered Virgin Voyages' Valiant Lady for its wine club in 2026, integrating wines across bars and restaurants; the cruise sold out and 30 percent of members signed up for a second sailing in February 2027.
• Four Feathers Wine Services of Washington state developed a custom Columbia Valley brut for Holland America's fleet launched in 2024, now the most-served adult beverage across the cruise line and a significant revenue driver for their sparkling wine business.
• Eleven Eleven Wines of Napa hosted 60 guests aboard Scenic Eclipse II in a seven-day Mediterranean cruise and achieved 33 percent conversion of non-members to wine club or repeat purchasers, measured through tastings, dinners, and onboard bar availability.

Costco stocks boutique wines as producers struggle to sell

• Costco, the largest US wine retailer, now carries boutique producer wines alongside its Kirkland Signature label despite carrying only 100-120 wines at any given time.
• Producers struggling to sell wine in a surplus market are accepting placement at Costco, allowing the chain to source inventory that would rarely appear in traditional retail.
• Costco's house brand model mirrors British supermarket strategy, using retailer reputation to sell unfamiliar global wines rather than relying on producer brands like US competitors do.

Grape growers idle vineyards to cut costs as market demand stalls

• Randy Heinzen, president of Vineyard Professional Services in Paso Robles, California, notes idling is attractive because it preserves capital investment and emotional attachment to land that removal would destroy.
• Proper idling requires sustained minimal irrigation, aggressive pruning, weed control, and selective pest management; inadequate care can damage vines for years, making preparation critical before returning to production.

Food-focused wine bars become James Beard, winning restaurant format globally

• Lei, a New York wine bar that opened mid-2025, won the James Beard Foundation's best new restaurant award, marking the format's highest US honour to date.
• Wine bar branding signals casual, social dining without formal pressure, allowing operators to sell wine by the glass at higher margins and serve smaller shareable plates.
• The trend now spans Europe and Asia, with venues emphasizing natural and low-intervention wines, high-quality small portions, and accessible service designed to fill seats multiple times daily.

Planeta and Italian winemakers publish manifesto framing wine as contemporary culture

• Planeta, founded 30 years ago by Alessio, Francesca, and Santi Planeta in Sicily, co-authored the 2025 Manifesto di Noto with Italian winemakers, defining wine as cultural expression and common good.
• The manifesto's eight principles emphasize agriculture, culture, economy, and society while centering inclusiveness, diversity, sustainability, and adaptability in wine's future.
• Planeta operates five Sicilian estates and has hosted immersive experiences and art installations, positioning hospitality and storytelling as integral to contemporary wine culture.

Pink Chardonnay mutation gains traction among natural winemakers and sommeliers

• Pink Chardonnay, a pink-skinned Chardonnay mutation first documented in Burgundy in the early 1900s, is produced by a handful of winemakers including Stéphane Tissot in Jura and Rajat Parr on California's Central Coast.
• Champagne approved Pink Chardonnay as a permissible variety last year, and sommeliers including Tira Johnson at New York City restaurants Chez Fifi and Sushi Noz now offer single varietal expressions to diners.
• Production remains tiny: Tissot yields 2,000 to 4,000 bottles annually of his Rose Massale cuvée, while Parr produces only 20 to 50 cases per vintage, limiting availability largely to direct-to-consumer sales.

Moldova is an important wine country, and increasingly it’s making some really good wines

• Moldova has 109,700 hectares of vineyards spanning 45-49 degrees North, with 80% planted to international varieties and 20% to Caucasian and local varieties.
• A tasting of recent Moldovan wines showed strong quality across producers like Château Purcari, Castel Mimi, and Vinăria Sărcuță, with multiple wines scoring 90-93 points.
• Moldovan white wines emphasize local varieties (Fetească Regală, Viorica) and sparkling wines, while reds increasingly feature Fetească Neagră and Saperavi blends alongside international grapes.

Meet Your Robo-Somm

• Tim Atkin tested AI wine-pairing apps and found most recommend generic brands, confuse rosés with reds, and struggle with ingredient nuances and vintage variation.
• SommPal, a new food and wine pairing app, ranks multiple pairings per dish with explanatory notes and identifies potential clashing factors, per developer Marc Lewin.
• Atkin distinguishes between poorly-trained AI and programs developed by food and wine professionals, concluding AI pairing tools can support novice drinkers where sommeliers unavailable.

Wine News: What I’m Reading the Week of 9/27/26

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

Boycott Wines Grown With Herbicides

• Adam Huss launched a boycott campaign in August against all wines produced with herbicides, arguing they degrade soil health and decrease wine quality.
• Luís Patrão from Vadio in Bairrada, Portugal reported his parents' generation's herbicide use turned vineyards into barren wastelands and eliminated local ladybird, eel, and salamander populations.
• The author attended Austria's Single Vineyard Summit in Grafenegg and used producer certifications (Organic, Biodynamic, Sustainable Austria) to select only non-herbicide wines from 556 offerings.

Heading Out

• Meg Maker travels to Piemonte next week to tour Roero and taste wines alongside handmade foods on a press trip with seven other American journalists.
• Press tours operate with EU subsidies offsetting costs, positioning journalists as acquired product for desired media coverage rather than independent guests.
• Sarah Marsh MW argues old vines aren't universally superior to young vines, noting many old vines carry viruses affecting scion and rootstock health.

Of Substack & wine

• Substack created a Wine & Spirits subsection separate from Food & Drink in its Rising and Top lists to improve discovery for wine writing.
• Miquel Hudin updated the Wine Substack List (WineStack) with stricter curation criteria: publications must actively use paid subscriptions and contain only human-written text.
• "Thirst Behavior" by Bodhi Landa was removed from WineStack after Substack's AI detection tools showed the majority of its text was not human-generated.

What I Learned at a Conference on Drinking

From the invention of moderation to the return of temperance