Before I get to global news, a reminder that Jancis, Alder Yarrow and I will be in California next week for two events: a panel discussion in Napa at CIA Copia and a dinner in San Francisco at The Morris. On 16 November Jancis, Julia, Richard, Tara and I will all be in London for a walk-around tasting of 25 champagnes and 25 English sparklings. We still have a handful of tickets left to all of these events. If you’re interested, please do head to our site, find ‘25th anniversary events’ in the green bar and get your tickets!
On to global news.
Germany’s smallest vintage in 15 years
On 21 October Wines of Germany announced that the German Wine Institute (DWI) has received final harvest estimates from Germany’s 13 winegrowing regions. When totalled, only 7.3 million hectolitres of wine are expected to have been produced in 2025. This is 7% lower than actual harvest amounts in 2024 and 16% lower than the 10-year-average. If the estimates are correct, 2025 is the smallest vintage for Germany since 2010. The largest drop in yield was seen in Rheinhessen, where smaller berry size, low must yields and heavy rainfall in mid September resulted in an estimated crop reduction of 23%. Pfalz, Baden, Württemberg, Nahe, Rheingau and Hessische Bergstrasse also saw double-digit declines. In contrast, the regions of Sachsen, Ahr, Mosel and Franken are all expected to have yields slightly above the 10-year-average. Quality is expected to be very good across all regions.
Fortified wine considered for UNESCO status
Thank you to Louise Hurren for bringing this to my attention.
In January of this year, the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB, an international wine competition that takes an active interest in the cultural importance of wine), the consortiums of marsala and sherry and the United Winemaking Agricultural Cooperative of Samos (one of the oldest co-operative wineries in Greece) signed a memorandum of understanding stating that they would collaborate to secure UNESCO (ICH) status for fortified-wine production.
During the sweet and fortified wines session at the CMB last month, 17–19 September, France’s Institut Régional de la Sommellerie (a wine school) and 12 French vin doux naturel appellations signed the memorandum. All parties are expected to contribute to the documents that will be submitted to UNESCO in spring of 2026.
If this contingent of fortified-wine producers are successful in securing ICH status, it will serve as a tool to promote the history and cultural significance of all fortified wine at a time that the category is struggling due to consumers turning away from sweet and high-alcohol wines. More than 180 countries currently recognise UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Countries whose crafts, oral traditions, performance arts, rituals or social customs are documented often create days of recognition, festivals or fairs.
A $99-million wine-fraud case
On 7 October in New York, two British men, Stephen Burton and James Wellesley (also known as Andrew Fuller), pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. The two conducted a $99-million fraud in which they posed as executives of London- and Hong Kong-registered Bordeaux Cellars and told investors that their money would provide high-interest loans to wealthy wine collectors who were willing to use their cellars as collateral for quick cash. Lenders were told that they would see regular interest payments and in the case of a borrower defaulting on a loan, that borrower’s cellar would be sold to pay off the loan. Burton and Wellesley claimed to have an inventory of 25,000 bottles backing investor loans. In reality, they had fewer than 300 bottles. They used the $99 million collected for personal expenses and to pay ‘interest payments’ from 2017 to 2019. When the duo stopped being able to pay interest payments, the scheme collapsed.
Now, setting aside for a second that this was complete and utter fraud that was in no way backed by wealthy individuals with wine collections, I, an ardent wine lover, would never recommend investing in anything backed by wine as collateral. The best-performing investment-grade wine, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, has performed at around the same rate as the S&P 500 for the last decade. While that’s decent, that wine is one of one. If you’re asking me, any investment in wine should be for drinking pleasure.
PacifiCorp payout to Oregon wineries
If you are a long-time news listener, you may remember this case from January 2024. But, seeing as that was nearly two years ago, allow me to recap.
In 2020, wildfires on the west coast of the United States cost the wine industry $3.7 billion. Some of that damage was in Washington and California but most of it was in Oregon. It was later found that the majority of Oregon’s wildfires were caused by downed Pacific Power lines. Pacific Power, owned by PacifiCorp, had failed to turn off these power lines despite severe-high-wind advisories. It was later found that Pacific Power had been negligent in clearing away brush and branches around their power lines. The icing on the cake was that, once fires started, the company was found to have sent internal messages acknowledging that they were the cause of the fire. They then deleted those messages.
In June 2024, 93 wineries in Oregon’s Willamette Valley filed a lawsuit against PacifiCorp for $100 million in damages. On 21 October they were awarded a $125 million settlement.
Regenerative Organic Certified list grows
On 20 October Ram’s Gate Winery in the Sonoma section of Carneros AVA in California announced that they had achieved Regenerative Organic Certification for their 28 acres (11 ha) of estate vineyard. Regenerative Organic Certification, ROC, is the most comprehensive sustainability certification available. Using organic certification as a baseline and building on requirements for animal welfare, social fairness and improving soil health, ROC is available for food, textiles and body care products globally.
While reading about Ram’s Gate, I realised that I haven’t released an updated list of ROC wineries since January 2024. Since then, at least eight wineries have successfully certified. I will include a full list of producers in the transcript of this video.
ROC wineries as of October 2025:
- Ambar Estate – US
- Vignoble de la Bauge – Canada
- Bonterra Vineyard – US
- Booker Vineyard – US
- Domaine Bousquet – Argentina
- Bodega Chandon SA – Argentina
- Vigna Cunial – Italy
- The Donum Estate – US
- Vinedos Emiliana SA – Chile
- Estelbrook Farms and Vineyard – US
- Weingut Georg Toifl – Austria
- Grgich Hills Estate – US
- Gundlach Bundschu Winery – US
- Halter Ranch – US
- Inkwell Wines – Australia
- Jonive – US
- MAHA Estate – US
- Medlock Ames – US
- Neal Family Vineyards – US
- Ram’s Gate Winery – US
- Solminer Wine – US
- Spottswoode Estate Vineyard & Winery – US
- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars – US
- Tablas Creek Vineyard – US
- Terrazas de los Andes – Argentina
- Chateau Trians – France
- Troon Vineyard – US
- Weingut Winkler-Hermaden – Austria
- Weingut Zahel – Austria
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 Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma, CA courtesy of the winery.
This is a transcript of our weekly five-minute news broadcast, which you can watch below. You can also listen to it on The Wine News in 5 Podcast. If you enjoy this content and would like to see more like it, please become a member of our site and subscribe to our weekly newsletter
