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01Wine Australia·

Australian wine exports fall 7% as US and China weaken, Canada and Southeast Asia rise

  • Australian wine exports fell 7% in value to $2.25 billion in the 12 months to September 2026, with volume down 5%.
  • Exports to the US dropped 28% in value to $219 million, the biggest driver of the volume decline.
  • Canada grew 12% in value to $185 million as American wines were pulled from shelves in the trade dispute, while Southeast Asia rose 16% to $291 million.
Reported byWine Australia: Australian wine exports fall 7% as US and China weaken, Canada and Southeast Asia rise
02Liv-ex·

Bordeaux leads fine wine trade at 39.6% of value, Lafite top

  • Bordeaux held the lead in fine wine trade with 39.6% of traded value, with Lafite accounting for over a quarter of it.
  • Burgundy fell from 24.8% to 18.4% of traded value, while Tuscany rose from 5.2% to 8.9%.
  • Bollinger overtook Dom Perignon and Louis Roeder as the top-traded Champagne producer by value.
Reported byLiv-ex: Bordeaux leads fine wine trade at 39.6% of value, Lafite top
03VinePair·

VinePair's weekly roundup covers Supreme Court case, Uncle Nearest sale, and more

  • The Supreme Court will review a home distilling case, according to VinePair's weekly roundup.
  • Fawn Weaver has moved to block a sale of Uncle Nearest, with potential buyers also reported.
  • Southern Glazer's faces a bribery snafu, and OpenTable published a 2026 restaurant report.
Reported byVinePair: VinePair's weekly roundup covers Supreme Court case, Uncle Nearest sale, and more
01Vineyard Magazine·

Navarra's demanding rosé methods become a premium signal, a model for English wine

  • Navarra rosado has moved from cheap everyday wine to a premium category, with the region producing rosé alongside Provence.
  • Producers use the Saignée method, which can need up to three times more grapes than standard red wine production.
  • The D.O. Navarra Regulatory Council introduced a Rosado Tradition designation requiring Saignée and exclusive Garnacha use.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: Navarra's demanding rosé methods become a premium signal, a model for English wine
02PUNCH·

Real Housewives drink mass-market, sweet wines, shaped by Parker-era taste

  • Real Housewives cast members mostly drink mass-market, high-alcohol, sweet California cabernets, according to essayist Cake Zine contributor.
  • Essayist links this taste to Robert Parker's 100-point system, which rewarded fruit-forward, higher-alcohol wines from 1978 onward.
  • Mary Cosby of Salt Lake City praised the 2003 Dom Pérignon, a vintage ripened sweet by a heatwave that killed 5,600 people.
Reported byPUNCH: Real Housewives drink mass-market, sweet wines, shaped by Parker-era taste
03The Guardian·

Cloudy, unfiltered pét nat wines gain ground on UK supermarket shelves

  • Marks & Spencer's Trouble, a cloudy organic rosé, is the first cloudy still wine sold in a British supermarket, per the column.
  • Pét nat is bottled before fermentation finishes and usually left undisgorged, which gives it a cloudy look.
  • Ottolenghi's house wines are unfiltered and cloudy, with Zainab Majerikova saying the haze adds texture and suits big-flavoured food.
Reported byThe Guardian: Cloudy, unfiltered pét nat wines gain ground on UK supermarket shelves
01Vineyard Magazine·

UK vineyards navigate early, hot, dry 2026 harvest after frosts

  • 2026 began with a series of extraordinary frost events, then turned warm, dry and rapidly ripening across English and Welsh vineyards.
  • Harvest arrived several weeks early at some sites, while dry weather kept disease pressure manageable and fruit arrived clean.
  • Growers now face heat stress and water availability alongside traditional cool-climate problems, pushing decisions toward fruit monitoring rather than the calendar.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: UK vineyards navigate early, hot, dry 2026 harvest after frosts
02Sustainable Wine Roundtable·

Domaine Bousquet details organic and water-saving practices at its Mendoza winery

  • SWR membership manager Ilva Fridenberga visited Domaine Bousquet's Mendoza winery at the foot of the Andes in February.
  • The winery is trialling biodiversity and garden vineyard corridors, harvesting from outside the rows where natural vegetation is left undisturbed.
  • It switched to high-pressure hoses for cleaning harvest boxes after comparing water use, and is a signatory of the Bottle Weight Accord, targeting still bottles under 420g.
Reported bySustainable Wine Roundtable: Domaine Bousquet details organic and water-saving practices at its Mendoza winery
03IVES Open Science·

MODIS satellite data estimates vineyard water use in Italy's Veneto region

  • Padova University researchers developed a Remote Sensing method using MODIS satellite data to map vineyard evapotranspiration regionally.
  • The model was calibrated on two years of eddy-covariance measurements from a 25-hectare vineyard in northeastern Italy and tested on two independent years.
  • Estimates showed good consistency with in situ observations, suggesting MODIS could monitor vineyard water use at regional scale.
Reported byIVES Open Science: MODIS satellite data estimates vineyard water use in Italy's Veneto region
04Vineyard Magazine·

Newick Wine Estate in East Sussex hit by 2026 frost, despite planting 37,000 vines

  • Jonathan and Charlotte Sharpe planted 37,000 vines on half of their 16-hectare East Sussex farm at Newick Wine Estate in 2023.
  • Ten frost events hit the vineyard in 2026, four causing significant damage, with the final one on 10 May.
  • The team is using monitoring traps, dead-end hosts and bio-diversity measures to control spotted wing drosophila (SWD) pests.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: Newick Wine Estate in East Sussex hit by 2026 frost, despite planting 37,000 vines
05IVES Open Science·

Portuguese trial cuts vine yields with Ethephon and manual thinning in two grapes

  • A 2007 trial in Vinhos Verdes tested Ethephon, Prohexadione-calcium and manual bunch thinning on Loureiro and Borraçal vines.
  • Manual bunch thinning cut Borraçal yield by about 41% and Loureiro yield by about 26% against control.
  • Ethephon applied at berry buck-shot size cut Loureiro yield 35%, while earlier application cut Borraçal yield 70%.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Portuguese trial cuts vine yields with Ethephon and manual thinning in two grapes
06IVES Open Science·

Grenache rootstocks and irrigation shape water use and stomatal control in Spain

  • Irrigation trial in a three-year-old Spanish Grenache vineyard compared three rootstocks, 110-R, 41-B and 161-49C, under irrigated and non-irrigated regimes.
  • Water use efficiency was higher in non-irrigated vines, and higher on 110-R and 41-B than on 161-49C.
  • Stomatal conductance differences from irrigation persisted through the season, and the authors suggest hormonal signals matter more than hydraulic ones.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Grenache rootstocks and irrigation shape water use and stomatal control in Spain
07IVES Open Science·

Italian researchers propose climate-adaptive grape breeding and local variety conservation strategies

  • Authors argue grapevines will need genotypes more resistant to biotic and environmental stress as growing areas shift.
  • Italian regions have started safeguard projects to recover abandoned local grape varieties and preserve genetic biodiversity.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Italian researchers propose climate-adaptive grape breeding and local variety conservation strategies
08IVES Open Science·

Conegliano pruning trials on Lazio grape varieties assess yield, quality and marketing

  • CRA Conegliano and Lazio research bodies trialled Cordon Spur of Conegliano on Malvasia di Lazio, Cesanese d'Affile and Cabernet Sauvignon.
  • Researchers compared Vertical Tridimensional Minimal Pruning of Conegliano with and without DMRC double maturation to raise gross saleable product.
  • Work aims to limit overcropping and conserve water, a growing concern for Mediterranean vineyards under climate change.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Conegliano pruning trials on Lazio grape varieties assess yield, quality and marketing
09Vineyard Magazine·

Growers Use Specialist Machinery to Cut Winter Vineyard Labour

  • Winter vineyard jobs include pruning and soil care, which growers can make less labour-intensive with specialist tools.
  • Cordless battery secateurs and a tractor-mounted pre-pruner speed up pruning, the latter cutting away tendrils to ease cane removal.
  • Mechanical sweepers gather canes into a row so a flail mower can mulch prunings in the same pass, while frost tools include wind machines and Ventigel.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: Growers Use Specialist Machinery to Cut Winter Vineyard Labour
10Vineyard Magazine·

English and Welsh vineyards report earliest harvests on record in 2026

  • Gusbourne in Kent began picking Pinot Noir on 26 August 2026, two weeks ahead of 2025.
  • Nyetimber in West Sussex began its earliest ever harvest on 14 September, five days ahead of its 2018 record.
  • Spring frosts in Hampshire cut yields at The Grange and Black Chalk, though fruit quality was reported as high.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: English and Welsh vineyards report earliest harvests on record in 2026
11IVES Open Science·

Vine balance: how growth and fruiting trade off across the season

  • Vine balance describes the proportion of vegetative growth to reproductive growth in grapevines, a concept hard to quantify directly.
  • A balanced vine ripens its crop, develops fruitful buds for next year, and builds reserves without excessive canopy growth.
  • Simulation models of carbohydrate production can track seasonal growth demands against canopy carbon supply.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Vine balance: how growth and fruiting trade off across the season
01wineanorak·Jamie Goode·

Cantina Terlarno and Produttori del Barbaresco: an amazing dinner with two of the world’s great cooperative wineries, tasting back to the 1960s

  • Fine + Rare hosted a dinner at Wiltons featuring 25 wines from Cantina Terlano and Produttori del Barbaresco, with bottles going back to the 1960s.
  • Cantina Terlano, founded in 1893 in Alto Adige, sources from about 200 families across 1,500 parcels, with average yields of 49 hl/ha.
  • Produttori del Barbaresco is a small cooperative of 53 farmers farming 120 hectares solely with Nebbiolo, and began making single-cru Barbaresco in 1967.
Read the full story: Cantina Terlarno and Produttori del Barbaresco: an amazing dinner with two of the world’s great cooperative wineries, tasting back to the 1960s
03The Morning Claret·Simon J. Woolf·

Visiting the Vineyard in the Sky

  • Marion Granges-Faiss runs Domaine de Beudon, a six-hectare vineyard at 890 metres in Valais, Switzerland, reachable only by cable car or a steep hike.
  • Jacky Granges-Faiss bought the estate in 1971; after his death in June 2016, Marion became the de facto winemaker.
  • Beudon's wines ferment on the mountain but are aged and bottled at Pierre-Antoine Crettenand's winery in Saillon, and most contain added sulphites.
Read the full story: Visiting the Vineyard in the Sky
04Tim Atkin·Tim Atkin MW·

Nasty Not Nice

  • Tim Atkin argues wine is too pleasant and reassuring, and that the trade should inject insecurity and difficulty to attract buyers.
  • He notes that wine sales rose when cork taint affected one in four or five bottles, and are now declining.
  • He suggests bottling each barrel separately and running Bordeaux en primeur sales like Smithfield's unsold-meat auction, to create excitement.
Read the full story: Nasty Not Nice
05Cab Franc Chronicles·Cab Franc Chronicles·

Inside Chinon’s Lieux-Dits Project

  • Chinon's lieux-dits project, begun by the Chinon Syndicat in 2014, aims to promote vineyard heritage without a formal hierarchy or INAO classification.
  • Seven lieux-dits have been officially recognized so far, starting with La Croix Boissée in Cravant-les-Côteaux in 2018.
  • Each recognized lieu-dit is documented in a monograph and marked by an engraved stone, with Matthieu Baudry of Domaine Bernard Baudry on the working group.
Read the full story: Inside Chinon’s Lieux-Dits Project
07Maker's Table·Meg Maker·

N is for Noirien

  • Noirien is an old French word for Pinot noir, derived from Latin niger, meaning black or dark.
  • The Noirien group includes Pinot noir and its color mutants, plus Chardonnay, Gamay noir, Auxerrois, Melon and Troyen.
  • Noirien's zone runs from Champagne through the Côte d'Or to Beaujolais, and from the central Loire east to Alsace and the Jura.
Read the full story: N is for Noirien
09Be Wine Curious·Miquel Hudin·

Telling a mountain to move

  • DO Montsant, in Catalunya's Priorat area, has revised its bylaws to add certification for vi brisat, its orange-style wine.
  • Montsant's revised bylaws also create a classification for 'minimal intervention' wines, including mandatory hand-harvesting and organic certification.
  • The minimal intervention rules require spontaneous fermentation, no oenological additives except gentle filtration, and a sulfur dioxide limit far below conventional levels.
Read the full story: Telling a mountain to move
10shades of grape·Eveline Chartier·

400 Montepulciano Bottles for Thomas Jefferson circa 1805

  • A 1350 trade contract between the Del Pecora family and merchant Jacopo di Vanni is the oldest known document for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
  • A 2024 document from the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano dates the first known use of the term 'Vino Nobile' to 1766, by the Jesuits.
  • Thomas Jefferson received 473 bottles of Montepulciano in November 1805 and requested 400 more bottles annually, per his April 1806 letter to Thomas Appleton.
Read the full story: 400 Montepulciano Bottles for Thomas Jefferson circa 1805