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01Liv-ex·

Bordeaux leads Liv-ex trade as Lynch-Bages 2005 becomes top-traded wine

  • Bordeaux held the lead with a 37.4% share of purchases on the Liv-ex trading platform this week.
  • Lynch-Bages 2005 was the top-traded wine overall, while Burgundy's share fell to 15.4% from 18.4%.
  • US buyers claimed over half of Bordeaux's purchased value, with their overall share rising to 9.6% from 7.0%.
Reported byLiv-ex: Bordeaux leads Liv-ex trade as Lynch-Bages 2005 becomes top-traded wine
02Vineyard Magazine·

Surrey funds 17 rural projects, including a vineyard bird-repelling laser

  • Surrey County Council's Farming Innovation Accelerator is funding 17 rural projects from a £500,000 pot.
  • Each recipient receives a grant of up to £35,000 plus bespoke expert support, drawn from UK Shared Prosperity Funding.
  • Albury Vineyard will install an automated bird-repellent laser to protect 18 acres of grapevines, adding over 1,700 bottles a year.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: Surrey funds 17 rural projects, including a vineyard bird-repelling laser
04Wine Australia·

Australian wine exports fall 7% as US losses outweigh Asian and Canadian gains

  • 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 drag, while Canada rose 12% to $185 million.
  • Southeast Asia grew 16% in value to $291 million, led by Thailand's 57% rise to a record $73 million.
Reported byWine Australia: Australian wine exports fall 7% as US losses outweigh Asian and Canadian gains
05Liv-ex·

Bordeaux leads fine wine trade at 39.6%, with Lafite 2005 top-traded

  • Bordeaux claimed 39.6% of traded value this week, with Lafite accounting for over a quarter of the region's value.
  • Burgundy fell to 18.4% from 24.8% last week, while Tuscany rose to 8.9% from 5.2%.
  • Bollinger overtook Dom Perignon and Louis Roeder as the top-traded producer by value, with R.D. 2008 the leading wine.
Reported byLiv-ex: Bordeaux leads fine wine trade at 39.6%, with Lafite 2005 top-traded
06VinePair·

VinePair weekly roundup covers SCOTUS home distilling case and Uncle Nearest sale

  • The Supreme Court agreed to review a case challenging home distilling restrictions.
  • Fawn Weaver moved to block a potential sale of Uncle Nearest, the whiskey brand she co-founded.
  • Mark Zuckerberg's Guinness publicity effort was reported as a flop, and Southern Glazer's faces a bribery snafu.
Reported byVinePair: VinePair weekly roundup covers SCOTUS home distilling case and Uncle Nearest sale
01VinePair·

Ohio buyer uncovers 1930s-and-earlier wine and spirits cellar sealed since 1939

  • John Smith bought the 1925 Sherman Estate in Dayton, Ohio, and found its cellar sealed since John Q. Sherman died in 1939.
  • The roughly 400 bottles he found were all from the 1930s or earlier, including 1895 Niersteiner and 1934 Chanson sparkling Burgundy.
  • Smith sold one opened, half-full pre-Revolution Cuban Ron Bacardi bottle, dating to about 1919, to Bacardi's heritage curator for $1,000.
Reported byVinePair: Ohio buyer uncovers 1930s-and-earlier wine and spirits cellar sealed since 1939
02Vineyard Magazine·

Plumpton College recruits Level 3 viticulture apprentices for November 9 cohort

  • Plumpton College is recruiting for its next Level 3 Viticulture Apprenticeship cohort, starting 9 November, with late joiners possibly accepted in January.
  • The apprenticeship combines workplace experience with college block weeks and is endorsed by WineGB and land-based sector bodies.
  • For eligible non-levy-paying SMEs, government funds 100% of training costs for apprentices aged 16 to 24, subject to funding rules.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: Plumpton College recruits Level 3 viticulture apprentices for November 9 cohort
03PUNCH·

Real Housewives shows reveal the sweet, mass-market wines their cast prefers

  • Cake Zine's essay, co-published here, argues Real Housewives cast members favour mass-market, high-alcohol, sweet wines, mostly Californian cabernet.
  • The author cites Mary Cosby's praise of 2003 Dom Pérignon, which she called the best because the heatwave made the grapes sweeter.
  • The essay links this taste to Robert Parker's 100-point system and 'Parkerization', which encouraged riper, fruit-forward wines.
Reported byPUNCH: Real Housewives shows reveal the sweet, mass-market wines their cast prefers
01Vineyard Magazine·

English vines hit by 2026 heatwaves; Bacchus struggled, Sauvignon Blanc thrived

  • Heatwaves in 2026 pushed 54 Met Office stations to all-time daily maximum records, peaking at 38.2°C in Gloucestershire in August.
  • Harvest ran 10-14 days earlier than normal, with Sauvignon Blanc showing high alcohol and phenolic ripeness while Bacchus struggled.
  • Viticulturist Markus Keller says photosynthesis stalls above 35°C, and brief extreme heat is worse than longer moderate heat.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: English vines hit by 2026 heatwaves; Bacchus struggled, Sauvignon Blanc thrived
02Vineyard Magazine·

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

  • 2026 began with a series of extraordinary frost events in UK vineyards before a warm, dry season developed.
  • Rapid ripening pushed harvest several weeks early at many English and Welsh vineyards, while dry weather kept disease pressure manageable.
  • Growers are now told to base picking decisions on fruit maturity monitoring rather than the calendar, as heat and drought become concerns.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: UK vineyards navigate early, hot, dry 2026 harvest after frost
03Sustainable Wine Roundtable·

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

  • SWR Membership Manager Ilva Fridenberga visited Domaine Bousquet, a winery at the foot of the Andes in Mendoza, in February.
  • The winery is trialling biodiversity and garden vineyard corridors, harvesting from outside the vine rows in the biodiversity sections.
  • 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 Mendoza winery
04IVES Open Science·

MODIS satellite data validated for mapping vineyard water use in Italy

  • Researchers at the University of Padova used MODIS satellite data to estimate evapotranspiration across a 25-hectare Italian vineyard.
  • Estimates were calibrated on two years of eddy-covariance measurements and independently validated on the other two years.
  • The results matched in situ observations well, suggesting MODIS can monitor vineyard evapotranspiration at regional scale.
Reported byIVES Open Science: MODIS satellite data validated for mapping vineyard water use in Italy
05IVES Open Science·

Portuguese trial cuts Loureiro and Borraçal yields with ethephon and thinning

  • A 2007 experiment in Vinhos Verdes vineyards tested chemical and manual methods to reduce yields of Loureiro and Borraçal vines.
  • Ethephon and manual bunch thinning significantly cut crop, with manual thinning reducing Borraçal yield by about 41% against control.
  • Ethephon at berries buck-shot size raised sugar and lowered acidity in Loureiro, while Borraçal gained no quality benefit.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Portuguese trial cuts Loureiro and Borraçal yields with ethephon and thinning
06IVES Open Science·

Grenache rootstocks and irrigation trials show lower water use under drought in Spain

  • Spanish researchers at IRTA-Torre Marimon grew three-year-old Grenache on rootstocks 110-R, 41-B and 161-49C, irrigated or non-irrigated.
  • Water use efficiency was higher in non-irrigated vines, and higher on 110-R and 41-B than on 161-49C.
  • Stomatal conductance stayed linked to leaf water potential in non-irrigated vines, but not in irrigated ones.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Grenache rootstocks and irrigation trials show lower water use under drought in Spain
07IVES Open Science·

Italian researchers outline viticulture strategies for climate, water and biodiversity challenges

  • Climate change may extend vineyard areas to higher altitudes and latitudes, requiring more stress-resistant grapevine genotypes.
  • Italian regions have launched projects to recover local grape varieties at risk of abandonment, preserving genetic biodiversity.
  • Researchers at the University of Pisa studied Malvasia of Lazio, Cesanese d'Affile and Cabernet Sauvignon under Conegliano cordon spur training.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Italian researchers outline viticulture strategies for climate, water and biodiversity challenges
08IVES Open Science·

Conegliano pruning trials on Lazio grapes aim to raise saleable product value

  • Italian researchers from CRA, ARSIAL, and several universities tested the Cordon Spur of Conegliano growing system on Lazio varieties.
  • They compared Vertical Tridimensional Minimal Pruning of Conegliano with and without DMRC double maturation.
  • The stated aim is to raise Gross Saleable Product and exploit vineyard area for quality and originality.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Conegliano pruning trials on Lazio grapes aim to raise saleable product value
09Vineyard Magazine·

Winter vineyard jobs eased by pruning, soil and frost-protection tools

  • Vineyard Magazine describes winter tasks including pruning and soil care, which tools can make less demanding and costly.
  • Zanon cordless battery secateurs are popular for hand pruning, and the Provitis tractor-mounted pre-pruner cuts time and effort further.
  • Late spring frost protection options include candles, wind machines and the Ventigel, which combines heat and wind.
Reported byVineyard Magazine: Winter vineyard jobs eased by pruning, soil and frost-protection tools
10IVES Open Science·

Vine balance concept and how it shifts over the growing season

  • Vine balance describes an appropriate balance between vegetative growth and reproductive growth in a grapevine.
  • A balanced vine has enough growth to ripen its crop, form fruitful buds for next year, and build reserves.
  • Common indirect measures such as yield-to-pruning-weight ratio do not capture how growth balances shift during the season.
Reported byIVES Open Science: Vine balance concept and how it shifts over the growing season
01wineanorak·Jamie Goode·

Rabasco: beautiful natural wines from Abruzzo, Italy

  • Iole Rabasco, a former lawyer, runs the family estate Rabasco in Pianella, Pescara, Abruzzo, farming 11 hectares biodynamically since 2006.
  • Rabasco makes zero-sulfite, natural wines from vineyards over 40 years old, some aged in demijohns, with Iole owning 120 of them.
  • The author tasted the Rabasco range at the VinNatur tasting in Paris in November 2025, scoring the wines 93 to 94 out of 100.
Read the full story: Rabasco: beautiful natural wines from Abruzzo, Italy
02Tim Atkin·Tim Atkin MW·

A New White Zin

  • Tim Atkin argues the US wine industry is due a successor to White Zinfandel, which he says still sold 49.2 million bottles in the US in 2024.
  • White Zinfandel originated with Bob Trinchero at Sutter Home, whose sweet, unintentionally off-dry rosé became a hit with American consumers from the 1980s.
  • Atkin proposes a new category called "Relevé": a field blend of red and white grapes from an entire estate or region, citing Will Marengo's Mrs. Crabtree's field blend from The Feudal Project as a model.
Read the full story: A New White Zin
04Be Wine Curious·Miquel Hudin·

A deeper look at underwater wine aging

  • Attis, a winery owned by the Fariña family near O Grove, Galicia, ages its Albariño 'Mar' underwater in magnums in the estuary.
  • The 2025 Attis Albariño 'Mar' is aged five months underwater at 13-16C and is the same wine as its 'Standard' bottling, which makes about 120,000 bottles annually.
  • The author's experience of underwater-aged wines is that they generally taste more advanced in age and less fresh than landbound counterparts.
Read the full story: A deeper look at underwater wine aging
06Maker's Table·Meg Maker·

Owendee

  • Wine-related search queries slump in July but rise sharply through October, peaking on December 31, according to the author's search trend evidence.
  • The author notes the October-December wine-buying period coincides with the Northern Hemisphere harvest.
  • The author links the season's holidays, from Samhain and Halloween to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, to the wheel of the year.
Read the full story: Owendee
07The Morning Claret·Simon J. Woolf·

Visiting the Vineyard in the Sky

  • Domaine de Beudon, a six-hectare Valais estate at 890 metres, is farmed by the Granges-Faiss family, reachable only by hiking or cable car.
  • Jacky Granges-Faiss bought the estate in 1971; Marion Granges-Faiss became Valais's first Demeter-certified estate in 1992.
  • Wines ferment at Beudon but are aged and bottled at Pierre-Antoine Crettenand's winery in Saillon, with sulphites the only additive since 2003.
Read the full story: Visiting the Vineyard in the Sky
08Cab Franc Chronicles·Cab Franc Chronicles·

Inside Chinon’s Lieux-Dits Project

  • Chinon's Syndicat launched a collective lieux-dits project in 2014 to promote vineyard sites without a formal classification or official hierarchy.
  • Seven lieux-dits have been officially recognized so far, starting with La Croix Boissée in Cravant-les-Côteaux in 2018.
  • Each recognized lieu-dit gets a detailed monograph and an engraved stone marker in the vineyard, and requires proposal by at least two vignerons.
Read the full story: Inside Chinon’s Lieux-Dits Project
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 of Santa Fiora is the oldest known document for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
  • Thomas Jefferson received 473 bottles of Montepulciano in November 1805 and requested 400 bottles annually, confined to crop from Jesuit vineyards.
  • A 2024 document unveiled by the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulciano dates the first known use of the term Vino Nobile to 1766 by the Jesuits.
Read the full story: 400 Montepulciano Bottles for Thomas Jefferson circa 1805