Wine Industry Advisor reports that Asti Rosé has now been formally approved, while Montenapo Daily says the new wine will be made from 70 to 90 per cent Moscato grapes destined for Asti DOCG and 10 to 30 per cent Brachetto grapes destined for Brachetto d’Acqui DOCG. The new style adds a notable category to one of Italy’s best known sparkling denominations, and producers will be able to position it across styles from sweet to extra brut, with an inaugural toast planned at Vinitaly.
Simon Judge
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Medieval Grape Seed Reveals 600-Year Lineage of Pinot Noir
The Drinks Business reports that a 600-year-old grape seed found in a 15th-century hospital latrine in Valenciennes has been identified as genetically identical to modern Pinot Noir, with the underlying Nature Communications study describing it as evidence of clonal continuity over nearly 600 years. The finding strengthens the case that Pinot Noir was already being cultivated in France in the 1400s and adds to broader evidence that sophisticated vine propagation techniques were in use much earlier than many non-specialists might assume.
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China’s Policy Shift Is Adding to Global Wine Pressure
The Wall Street Journal reports that China’s tighter official stance on alcohol, including restrictions on drinking at official events, is becoming another serious drag on the global wine trade. The paper says imported wine demand has weakened sharply, Treasury Wine Estates is sitting on about $150 million of unsold stock in Chinese warehouses, and the knock-on effects are feeding oversupply in places such as Bordeaux and Australia, which makes this less a single market story than a broader warning for producers already coping with weak demand.
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Court Warns of Lengthy Process Winding up Oenofuture’s Liquidation
The Drinks Business reports that the High Court has appointed joint liquidators for Oenofuture Limited, the wine investment arm tied to the Oeno Group, and warned that the compulsory winding up is likely to be a long and complicated process. The article says around 2,600 investors paid money into the company, that an estimated 80% of client wine was held by Oenofuture Limited, and that customers have already been cautioned they may not recover all their money.
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English and Welsh Winemakers Report Sharp Rise in Production in 2025
The Guardian reports that English and Welsh wine production rose sharply in 2025, reaching about 16.5 million bottles, up 55% on 2024 after a hot, dry summer and continued vineyard expansion. The paper says white wine output more than doubled, although some leading producers still came in below their own averages, and the figures underline how quickly the UK sector is scaling even if it remains small by global standards.
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EU Enters ‘Last Mile’ of Trade Deal Negotiations With Australia
Reuters reports that the EU is in the final phase of negotiating a trade deal with Australia, and wine and spirits are explicitly among the sectors expected to benefit if tariffs are reduced. For the wine trade, the significance is clear, Brussels says the agreement could lift EU exports to Australia by a third over 10 years and remove up to €1 billion in duties, making this one of the more consequential policy developments for European producers and exporters today.
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Fortress Prepares Sale of Majestic Wine
The Drinks Business reports that Fortress Investment Group is exploring a sale of Majestic Wine, with advisers being lined up and any formal process potentially starting next year. This matters because Majestic remains the UK’s largest specialist wine retailer, with more than 200 stores and over 1,000 employees, and the possible sale follows a strong Christmas period in which the business posted growth in premium wine categories, including fine wine, Champagne, rosé and English wine.
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Cava Sales Are Hit Again By Drought
Just Drinks reports that Cava sales fell again in 2025 as drought continued to squeeze supply, with international volumes down 18.7% to 113.9 million bottles and domestic sales also slipping. Total sales dropped to 190 million bottles, down 12.88% year on year, showing that Spain’s sparkling wine sector is still being shaped more by production limits than by a collapse in demand, even as producers try to protect value and premium positioning.
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Marlborough Wine Industry Faces ‘Dire’ Years
Radio New Zealand is reporting on how an accountant has warned that Marlborough’s wine industry faces several “dire” years due to a persistent oversupply of wine and weakening global demand, which are driving down export values and forcing grape growers to cut production, reduce spending, and potentially mothball vines. He predicts many growers will make losses for several years, meaning no tax payments and wider economic impacts across the region, especially if property values fall without corresponding reductions in council rates. While industry representatives agree the sector is under pressure and must rebalance supply and demand, they remain cautiously optimistic about long-term prospects, noting continued international demand for New Zealand wine and a focus on harvesting only the highest-quality grapes to restore profitability over time.
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Italy About to Start Making Domestically Dealcoholised Wine
The Drinks Business reports that Italian producers are on the verge of being able to dealcoholise wine inside Italy, a notable shift after years in which they had to send wine to countries such as Germany and Belgium for processing. The change matters because producers quoted at ProWein said the old system added cost and unnecessary transport, so the reform could make Italy more competitive in low and no alcohol wine while also reducing the environmental burden of shipping wine abroad for treatment.
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Tokaj Appellation Rules Revised in Hungary
The Drinks Business reports that Hungary has formally revised the Tokaj PDO rulebook, removing several little used categories, splitting Szamorodni into separate dry and sweet wines, tightening sparkling wine rules and updating ageing, bottling and vineyard requirements. The stated aim is to simplify the appellation while clarifying production standards, with hand harvesting still preserved for speciality wines such as Aszú.
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Argentina’s Wine Consumption Hits a Record Low
Associated Press reports that Argentina’s wine industry is in its worst crisis for more than 15 years, with 2025 consumption down to 15.7 litres per person, 1,100 vineyards closed and exports down 6.8 per cent to their lowest volume since 2004. The report says producers are being squeezed by weaker household spending, inflation and tariffs, and are trying to respond with fresher, lighter styles and a stronger export push, even as Mendoza continues to celebrate wine’s cultural importance through its harvest festival.
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California Grape Crush Hits 30-Year Low
Wine-Searcher reports that California’s 2025 grape crush fell to 2.76 million tons, including 2.62 million tons of wine grapes, making it the smallest wine grape harvest since 1999 and the smallest overall grape harvest since 1994. The report frames that as unexpectedly good news for drinkers because lower grape prices may push better coastal fruit into more affordable wines, while also stressing the more worrying backdrop for agriculture, including acreage removals, climate strain, rising costs and a structural shift towards white grapes, which overtook red grapes in the 2025 harvest.
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Tesco Named Top UK Supermarket for Wine Selection
Food & Wine reports that Tesco has been named Outstanding Supermarket Wine Range at the 2026 IWSC National Drinks Retail Awards, after posting the highest press tasting scores among major supermarkets for a second straight year. The report says Tesco’s range runs to roughly 800 own-label wines, with nearly 100 in the premium Tesco Finest tier, and credits a buying team that includes Master of Wine Elizabeth Kelly plus long-running winery partnerships. For the UK trade and shoppers alike, it is another sign that supermarket wine remains a serious quality battleground, not just a volume game.
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Wine-Making Waste Helps Recycle Battery Metals
Chemical & Engineering News reports that researchers have found a way to use tartaric acid, a grape derived, wine industry by product, to separate cobalt and nickel during lithium ion battery recycling. The research matters beyond the cellar because the method is presented as simpler and more sustainable than conventional solvent based extraction, and the team says it recovered metals at high purity while cutting energy and chemical costs by roughly an order of magnitude.