Wine Industry Advisor reports that the California Department of Food and Agriculture is working with Costco and county officials after glassy-winged sharpshooter insects were found on grapevines sold at selected Northern California Costco stores between 21 April and 19 May. The pest spreads the bacterium that causes Pierce’s disease, a fatal grapevine disease, and officials have begun containment efforts, customer notifications and inspection guidance across affected counties.
USA
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Napa Valley Warned Over Unsustainable Water Use
New York Post reports that Napa Valley wineries are facing renewed concern over groundwater use, after county data showed 2025 pumping above the level considered sustainable. The report says officials are looking at conservation incentives, irrigation checks and updated water analysis, while producers are also dealing with weaker wine demand and high regulatory costs.
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American Wine Labelling Bill Faces Vote
Wine Industry Advisor reports that California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee is due to consider AB 1585, a bill requiring wine labelled “American” and sold or bottled in California to be made from 100% American-grown grapes. If approved, it will move to a full Assembly vote within the next two weeks, making it a potentially important moment for US origin labelling rules.
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Viña Concha y Toro Hit By US Weakness
Global Drinks Intel reports that Viña Concha y Toro’s first quarter sales fell 7.8% to CLP192.61bn, while quarterly wine volumes dropped 6.8%. The decline was led by the US, where sales fell 32.2% and volumes dropped 30.1%, although the company said it had made progress on premiumisation and portfolio rationalisation.
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Restaurant Wine Sales Fall As Value Leads US Growth
The Drinks Business reports that US on-trade wine sales have fallen by about 26% since 2019, but growth is still appearing in value-driven, white and sparkling wine categories. The report says restaurants and sommeliers are responding to tighter consumer budgets by offering more accessible pricing, flexible pour sizes and less familiar regions, with examples including Loire Sauvignon Blanc, Mendoza Malbec, Rías Baixas, Baga and Graciano.
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Wine Tariff Refunds on the Way
Wine-Searcher reports that the US administration has opened applications for more than US$166 billion in tariff refunds, giving wine importers a long-awaited financial reprieve after months of absorbing trade costs. The article argues that shoppers are unlikely to see dramatic price cuts, but the refunds could help prevent further rises and ease pressure on businesses that kept prices steady by taking the hit themselves. In effect, this is one of the first concrete pieces of good news for wine importers caught in tariff disruption, even if the benefit reaches consumers only indirectly.
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Robert Mondavi Winery Reopens Oakville Estate After Major Transformation
Wine Industry Advisor reports that Robert Mondavi Winery is reopening its Oakville estate on 20 April, timed to the brand’s 60th anniversary, after a three-year overhaul that adds a new hospitality wing, expanded tasting and culinary spaces, and a limited-edition commemorative Cabernet Sauvignon. The story is bigger than a simple reopening, because Constellation Brands has put more than US$200 million into the project, with new cellar technology, a stronger focus on site-driven winemaking, and a clearly more premium visitor offer aimed at restoring the estate’s status as one of Napa’s signature destinations.
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Trump Tariffs Keep Pushing Up EU Wine Prices
Bloomberg says EU wine is still feeling the after effects of US tariffs, with duties having moved from 10% to 15% last year and price rises now feeding through at different speeds depending on region, grape and label. The broader significance is that this is no longer just a trade policy story, it is now a pricing and availability story for importers, merchants and drinkers, with retailers also experimenting with ways to source European bottles already inside the US in order to soften the blow.
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New York Retailer Turns to Wine Auctions to Avoid US Tariffs
Reuters reports that Brooklyn merchant Chris Leon is trying to soften the impact of US tariffs on European wine by buying bottles that are already sitting in American cellars, then reselling them through online auctions. The idea is to avoid new import costs on wines from France, Italy and Spain, while also giving consumers access to older and sometimes discontinued bottles. The report says Leon & Son makes about 90% of its revenue from imported wine, which shows how sharply tariff policy is reshaping the trade and encouraging more creative retail models.
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There Are Plenty of Bright Sides in the Wine Industry Right Now
Wine Enthusiast reports that new Wine Market Council findings point to some encouraging signs for wine despite persistent worries about falling sales and weaker engagement among older drinkers. Its summary says millennials are now the largest wine drinking cohort in the United States, Gen Z wine spend has risen 109% between 2020 and 2026, and younger consumers are showing more frequent drinking patterns, even if their total spend remains well below that of boomers.
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US Tariffs Push Restaurants to Rework Wine Lists
Reuters reports that US restaurants, bars and retailers are increasingly swapping out imported Champagne, crémant and other European wines as tariffs bite harder, with one New York buyer seeing some bottles rise by about $3 to $5 and other suppliers warning of increases of up to 20 per cent this year. The agency says many firms held prices down in 2025 by shipping stock early or absorbing costs, but wholesalers now expect those tactics to run out. That is pushing more wine lists towards lower-cost and domestic alternatives, and giving some California brands a relative boost.
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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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US Doubles Down on Bordeaux
Wine-Searcher reports that Bordeaux has strengthened its hold on US wine searches, led by Château Lafite Rothschild, whose annual search volume rose from just under 400,000 to almost 900,000. The article suggests that, despite tariff fears and trade uncertainty, American fine-wine attention is concentrating even more heavily on top Bordeaux labels, with four of the five most-searched wines now coming from the region.
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Canadian Provincial Bans Drive Sharp Drop in U.S. Wine Exports
Wine Institute reports that a year after Canadian provinces pulled U.S. wines from shelves in response to tariff retaliation, full-year 2025 data shows U.S. wine exports to Canada fell 78% year on year, equating to a $357 million loss in export value. The press release says the shift flipped a $254 million U.S. wine trade surplus in 2024 into a $90 million deficit in 2025, and it argues Canada’s importance as a destination fell sharply, from 36% of U.S. wine exports in 2024 to 12% in 2025. Wine Institute is calling for an immediate resolution, noting knock-on impacts for growers, distributors, hospitality and communities on both sides of the border.
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Southern Glazer’s Executives Indicted Over Alleged California Wine Bribery Scheme
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that federal prosecutors have unsealed an indictment accusing senior figures at Southern Glazer’s, the largest alcohol distributor in the US, of running a long-running bribery scheme tied to supermarket wine placements in California. Prosecutors allege the scheme, said to span 2016 to 2024, involved bribes to an Albertsons wine buyer, including luxury trips, cash, gift cards and electronics, with false paperwork used to disguise payments as legitimate marketing spend. Five Southern Glazer’s executives and a Napa winery salesman were indicted, and the retailer’s buyer has reportedly already pleaded guilty.