Before I get to the news, I’d like to congratulate the winners of our wine writing competition! Out of an unprecedented 309 entries, 25 were chosen for our shortlist. The judges could not decide between Shishir Baxi’s Monsoon diaries with Riesling and Raquel Jones’ A vestige to Tempranillo so we awarded them both first place! Our runner-up was Steven Norton’s Ode to Romorantin and we had two highly commended entries – Dr Monique Bell’s Daughter of Scuppanon’ and Anneleen Straetemans’ I am not bitter. The readers’ choice winner was Maryna Revkova’s Odessa Black: the grape that waited. The readers’ runner-up was Cat Fitzpatrick’s Gewürztraminer: the most transsexual grape. And finally, the readers’ highly commended was Daria Antonenko’s Telti-kuruk: Fox’s Tail and smell of sea. Congratulations to all who won and all who were shortlisted, and thank you to the Académie du Vin Library and glassware maker Richard Brendon for sponsoring the competition and donating the prizes!
I also want to mention that next month, on 30 October at The Morris in San Francisco, we are hosting a dinner to celebrate the site’s 25th anniversary featuring more than a dozen wines – many of them old and rare – that Jancis has hand-selected. Jancis, Alder and I will be dining with you. I’ll link to where you can find tickets in the transcript of this video.
Austria harvest 2025 – back to normal
On 9 September, Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Austrian Winegrowers’ Association, told attendees of a press conference that Austria’s harvest is expected to yield 2.5 million hl – a 34% increase over last year’s minuscule harvest and a return to near-average levels. Quality is expected to be good.
Harvest 2025 in Savoie, France
On 12 September, Vitisphere reported that the Savoie region of France expects 105,000–110,000 hl this vintage – an average level. This is a relief to growers who struggled with tiny yields in the difficult 2024 vintage.
California reacts to lack of demand
While Austria and Savoie are celebrating a return to average yields, Wine-Searcher reported on 18 September that California growers are leaving fruit on the vine due to an oversupply of wine and a lack of demand from consumers. While quality is reportedly good, Jeff Bitter, president of Allied Grape Growers, questioned whether California would pick 2 million tons this year. To put that in perspective, California hasn’t harvested less than 2.5 million tons since 1987. W Blake Gray points out that in 1987 California had 80% less vineyard acreage. As if to corroborate the lack of demand, KSBY news station reported on 18 September that between 2023 and 2024, San Luis Obispo County in California saw sales of wine grapes decline by 40% – from nearly $324 million to just under $195 million. San Joaquin County – where Lodi is – reported a 19% drop in sales during the same period.
Douro unveils drastic oversupply plan
Thank you to news listener Denise Rousseau for making me aware of the following. On 9 September the Diário da República, the official gazette of Portugal, published a decree recognising an oversupply of 4.4 million hl of wine – 280% of annual production – in the Douro and setting out measures to help winegrowers. This decree created a short-term emergency distillation fund of €15 million from the state budget which allows producers to collect €0.5 per kilo of grapes destined for distillation. It also proposed the possibility of voluntary uprooting of vineyards in DOP Porto, halting all planting authorisations, converting vineyards to alternative crops, imposing penalties on anyone misusing the DOP Porto designation, and increasing controls on any wine entering the Douro.
Gallo acquires Whiny Baby
Despite the fact that Gallo has closed two large winery production facilities in the last year and laid off dozens of employees, on 17 September it was announced that they have acquired the brand Whiny Baby. Whiny Baby is a California-based wine brand launched by Jess Druey in 2022 with the goal of making wine more attractive to Gen Z. Druey will stay on as the head of Whiny Baby as well as assume a consulting role for Gallo.
Wine imports surge in India
On 13 September Vino Joy News reported that data released by India’s Ministry of Commerce shows that in the six months between January and June 2025 India imported 2,585,127 litres of wine valued at US$12.55 million. This represents a 50.3% growth in volume and a 20.91% growth in value year-on-year.
The AIV’s appeal to the UN
A press release I received on 18 September informed me that the Académie International du Vin – an organisation founded in 1971 made up of around 100 of the world’s most respected wine personalities from 20 wine-producing countries – has written an open letter to the heads of government of all United Nations member states urging against the ‘denormalisation’ of wine initiated by the World Health Organization’s ‘no safe level’ message.
They have chosen this moment to send their letter because on 25 September at the 80th United Nations General Assembly, world leaders will be asked to vote to ‘reduce the harmful use of alcohol by’, I quote, ‘(i) banning or comprehensively restricting exposure to alcohol advertising; (ii) restricting the physical availability of retailed alcohol; and (iii) enacting and enforcing drink-driving laws.’ (Full document for download available here.) The AIV states in its letter that it would welcome an independent, randomised long-term study on the effects of alcohol rather than the insufficient observational data currently in use.
France severely limits copper fungicides
I’ve been avoiding this topic as it’s complicated and I keep hoping that there will be more resolution. However, it’s gained quite a bit of steam in the last week so it’s probably time to talk about it.
Back on 12 June, ANSES, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, published a report on the socio-economic impacts of limiting or withdrawing copper-based fungicides in agriculture.
Copper, which builds up in soil and is very toxic to the soil microbiome, remains the most widely used, effective and least costly treatment for downy mildew, and it is one of the only treatments approved for organic viticulture.
In this report ANSES estimated that if the allowable limit for copper were halved to 2 kg/ha/year, grape yields per hectare would drop by 25% in the Mediterranean region and 34% in the Atlantic region. If copper were eliminated, yields would be reduced by 50%. In the event of severe disease pressure, ANSES estimated that there could be 70% crop losses in the Atlantic region and 90% in the south of France. Those numbers make halving or eliminating copper an unsustainable option for viticulture – especially organic viticulture.
And yet, on 15 July ANSES declined to renew marketing authorisation for 20 out of 22 copper-containing fungicides that had applied this year. A report on 17 September in Vitisphere adds that ANSES has also cut the allowable limit for the two remaining products, instituted a seven-day minimum spray interval (meaning you can spray only once every 7 days), prohibited the use of these products within 10 m of a house and within 50 m of a waterway, and banned their use during flowering.
For 2026 harvest vinegrowers still have access to 17 copper-based fungicides which have yet to come up for renewal. However, producers wonder if these products will be subject to the same restrictions when they do. Julien Franclet, president of SudVinBio, was quoted by Vitisphere as saying, ‘We knew that copper was in the hot seat. But when ANSES released its report on the cost of its ban, we thought it would stall while viable alternatives were found. But that’s not the case. If these rules become widespread, organic producers will revert to conventional production, and conventional producers will use even more synthetic products.’
That’s all for this episode of the wine news. If you enjoy this newscast and would like to see it continue, please become a member of JancisRobinson.com. And if you have breaking news in your area, please email [email protected].
Photo at top of the village of Apremont in Savoie via Coueur de Savoie.
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