Winefeed

Cruise lines emerge as sales and loyalty channel for US wineries

• Cooper's Hawk Winery & Restaurant chartered Virgin Voyages' Valiant Lady for a four-night Caribbean cruise, integrating their wines across bars and restaurants; the sailing sold out and 30 percent of members signed up for a second cruise in February 2027.
• Holland America partnered with Four Feathers Wine Services to develop a custom brut using Columbia Valley fruit; launched fleetwide in 2024, it became the most-served adult beverage across the cruise line's fleet.
• Eleven Eleven Wines, a Napa boutique, hosted 60 guests on a seven-day Mediterranean sailing aboard Scenic Eclipse II and achieved a 33 percent conversion rate among non-wine club passengers, with winery visits and club memberships as primary value metrics.

Southern Glazer's pays $12.5 million to resolve DOJ bribery probe

• Southern Glazer's, the US alcohol distributor, reached a non-prosecution agreement with the DOJ and TTB on Thursday, paying $12.5 million to close a bribery investigation.
• From 2016 to 2024, former employees allegedly gave cash, gift cards, luxury goods, and trips to California retailers for better shelf placement; false invoices concealed the payments.
• Southern Glazer's agreed to strengthen compliance oversight and comply with undisclosed obligations over two years to resolve the case.

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

• US lifted 15-month tariff on Scotch in July 2026, reversing a 15 percent export decline to one of Scotland's largest markets.
• July 2026 UK-India free trade agreement could open the world's largest whisky market to more affordable Scotch imports.
• Post-pandemic oversupply persists as Diageo and Brown-Forman remain paused; distilleries shift focus from premium luxury releases toward affordable, quality sub-$100 bottlings.

Jameson releases single pot still whiskey reviving 1826 recipe

• Jameson distiller Kevin O'Gorman at Midleton released Distiller's Batch, a single pot still Irish whiskey bottled at 46% ABV, drawing on a mash bill handwritten by John Jameson II in 1826.
• The whiskey matures in five cask types: ex-bourbon, oloroso sherry, and virgin Irish, European, and American oak, yielding dark chocolate, spice, and silky texture.
• Distiller's Batch won gold at the 2025 International Spirits Challenge and double gold at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, launching at $49.99 SRP this fall.

Coastal Brilliance: Recent Releases from Hirsch Vineyards

• David Hirsch, pioneering California winegrower, died on July 28th.

Restaurants: an amazing tasting menu at AngloThai, London

• AngloThai, a Michelin-starred London restaurant owned by John and Desiree Chantarasak, opened in November 2024 after nine years as a pop-up, offering tasting menus at £115 per head.
• The wine list emphasizes English wines and Austrian producers, featuring selections like Langham Culver Classic sparkling and Claus Preisinger's Bonsai from Burgenland.

How Can You Train to Recognise Wine Faults?

• Sietze Wijma founded The Art of Tasting in 2021 to teach wine lovers and professionals to recognize faults using synthesized flavor compounds mimicking real-world defects.
• Wijma launched an Online Tasting Course in wine faults and flavours after studying sensory science and working for a UK laboratory producing aroma compounds.
• ATHP is the dominant compound causing mousy taint; it becomes undetectable at normal wine pH but produces a foul aftertaste when pH lowers in the mouth.

Red and White and Roero All Over

• Roero, north of Alba in Piemonte, produces Nebbiolo reds ($25, $45) and Arneis whites (under $25) with more approachable tannins and higher acidity than southern counterparts.
• Roero growers cultivate 1,000 planted hectares of Arneis versus 360 of Nebbiolo, giving white wine a market advantage over red in the region.
• Some Roero producers label reds as Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba to exploit laxer production rules and more recognizable trade names.

Meet Your Robo-Somm

• SommPal, a new food and wine pairing app developed by Marc Lewin, allows users to photograph menus and wine lists to receive ranked pairing recommendations with explanatory notes.
• Tim Atkin tested multiple AI wine pairing programs and found most fail to account for ingredient variations, vintage differences, rosé identification, and often default to generic widely-known brands.
• Atkin argues AI wine tools can benefit novice drinkers in restaurants without sommelier service, provided they are developed by wine industry professionals rather than tech entrepreneurs without expertise.

Of Substack & wine

• Substack created a Wine & Spirits subsection separate from Food & Drink in its Rising and Top lists, improving wine content discovery on the platform.
• Miquel Hudin curated an updated Wine Substack List (WineStack) requiring paid subscriptions and human-written text only, excluding AI-generated content like 'Thirst Behavior' by Bodhi Landa.
• Matthew Jukes, a traditional wine media writer, died last month.

What I Learned at a Conference on Drinking

From the invention of moderation to the return of temperance