A bit of site news this week: we’ve just announced an event in Tokyo! Richard Hemming MW will be hosting a tasting of mature wines from Margaret River on 22 March. If you’re curious, you can find the full list of wines Richard is presenting and a link to sign up on our site.
A call for transparency in US wine labelling
On 14 January California put forward an assembly bill that, if passed, would require that wine labelled with ‘American’ or ‘United States’ be made from 100% grapes grown within the United States. This might seem obvious, but in fact the law currently allows 25% imported wine in wines that use the country designation.
This isn’t the first time such a bill has been put forward: in 2008 a coalition of wine producers sent a petition to the federal government for a 100% US grape requirement for US or American wine. That petition was unsuccessful. This seems ridiculous considering that the bill is not limiting the use of imported bulk wine in domestic wine blends – it’s simply proposing that we require labelling transparency. If you’re a California resident, I’d suggest giving your rep a nudge just to say that you support label transparency and they should vote yes on AB1585. The bill goes to committee on 14 February.
EU–India trade deal inked
It may have taken almost two decades, but on 27 January the EU and India finally reached a free-trade agreement. The agreement covers almost all goods as well as lays out a framework for deeper defence and security cooperation. It is expected that this will cut €4 billion in tariffs for exporters. As far as wine is concerned, tariffs on EU wine entering India will be cut from 150% to 20–30%, depending on if the wine is mid-range or premium. Spirits will see tariffs cut from 150% to 40% and beer from 110% to 50%.
EU–Mercosur trade deal stalled
On 17 January the EU and Mercosur (just Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – Bolivia was not a part of the bloc at the time of negotiations) signed a free-trade agreement that slashed 90% of the tariffs between the 31 countries. This deal was set to eliminate or substantially reduce 27% tariffs on wine and 35% tariffs on spirits. However, on 21 January the European Parliament voted to refer the deal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a legal opinion. The EU’s wine-trade body, Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV), has expressed disappointment – expecting this will delay implementation of the deal for 18–20 months.
While this delay may be upsetting for wine producers, the reason for the referral was largely due to France’s agriculture lobby raising the case that the deal has the potential to flood the market with cheap imported beef, sugar and poultry. As the French publication Le Monde rightly points out, the EU’s agriculture sector is already suffering. EU farmers shoulder some of the strictest regulations in the world on pesticide use and animal welfare. To allow imports to undercut them will further weaken the sector.
US wine market update
A couple of new reports on the US wine market were released this week. In the Gomberg Fredrickson Report, editor Jon Moramarco shared that the US wine market value in 2025 was 0.1% higher than in 2024, at 366 million cases. While sales are holding steady, the make-up of sales has shifted massively. Domestic sparkling wine sales grew 33% and domestic flavoured wine sales grew 24%. 56% of total sales were domestic still wines, down from 64% in 2018.
Accounting for the tiny 2025 harvest in California (source of more than 80% of US wine), the year-end inventory would be expected to last 18 months at current rates of depletion. Moramarco is quoted as saying, ‘With the short 2025 crush, we may be in balance, which is good news.’
On the other hand, the annual Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report from Sovos ShipCompliant and WineBusiness Analytics shows a 967,000 case, $230 million contraction in DtC sales in 2025. This is a 15% volume decline and 6% value decline over 2024.
South Africa and Australia export reports
Wines of South Africa and South Africa Wine released their export report on 26 January. The report shows a 4.7% contraction in value of exports last year to 9.8 billion rand and a 13.8% contraction in volume to 264 million litres.
Wine Australia released their export report on 28 January. The report shows an 8% contraction in value of exports to AU$2.34 billion and a 6% contraction in volume to 613 million litres.
Douro snow and California water
Two very odd but welcome things have happened in the last month.
On 26 January, Paul Symington emailed Jancis with the news that it had snowed in the Douro Valley in Portugal! He noted that there hasn’t been a snow like this since the 1960s but that this is a very positive development as the cold weather assists in shutting vines down and makes for healthier vineyards. He also sent along a photo of his grandfather Maurice’s car driving through snow in the Douro in 1924 – when snow on the ground wasn’t unusual.
Even more welcome news, the US Drought Monitor shows that California is officially drought-free for the first time in 25 years. I wish the same could be said about the rest of the US.
New signatories to the Bottle Weight Accord
The Sustainable Wine Roundtable has added five new signatories to the Bottle Weight Accord. The UK distributors Ellis Wines and Guy Anderson Wines, the Rioja producer Bodega Beronia and Argentine Domaine Bousquet and the alcohol monopoly of Quebec – Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) – have all committed to reducing the average weight of the 750-ml still-wine bottles they sell from the current average of approximately 550 g to an average bottle weight below 420 g.
In just two years, the SWR has managed to draw together 20 wine companies that account for approximately 9% of global wine sales to mitigate an estimated 440,000 tonnes of CO₂.
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].
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Photos above courtesy Paul Symington.
