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Before I get to global news, a couple bits from us. First and foremost, a huge congratulations to our Australia correspondent Max Allen for being named the 2025 Wine Communicator of the Year by Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA). Max previously won this award in 2018. He is the only communicator to have won twice. This is a massive accomplishment. Cheers to Max!
Next, a reminder to join us on Sunday 16 November for our 25th anniversary event in London! We’d love it if you’d come drink champagne and English fizz with us! A few days before, on 13 November, Jancis will be hosting a masterclass at Berry Bros & Rudd with some very smart wines to raise funds for The Drinks Trust, a charity supporting people in the drinks trade. You’ll find links to both these events in the transcript of this newscast on our website. You will also find a link to a recording of last week’s panel discussion at CIA Copia where Josh, Jancis, Alder and I discussed the beginnings of JancisRobinson.com and the current state of the wine industry.
Trump tariffs go to Supreme Court
A quick recap: on 14 April, New York wine importer VOS and four other small businesses sued Trump for overstepping his authority by imposing global tariffs. On 28 May the US Court of International Trade unanimously ruled that the tariffs were illegal. Trump appealed. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled 7–4 that the tariffs were illegal. Trump appealed. The US Supreme Court fast-tracked a hearing for this case and heard oral arguments for Trump v VOS Selections on 5 November.
While we don’t know when the US Supreme Court will issue a ruling, even Fox News – a site that has been credibly accused of false reporting in favour of Republican politicians – has a subhead saying, ‘oral arguments reveal deep scepticism in tariffs’. Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett is quoted in the transcript of the hearing pointedly asking Trump’s lawyer D John Sauer, ‘Can you point to any other place in the code or any other time in history where the phrase “regulate importation” has been used to confer tariff-imposing authority?’ Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch is quoted, saying, ‘So Congress, as a practical matter, can’t get this power [to impose tariffs] back once it’s handed it over to the President. It’s a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from people’s elected representatives.’ Chief Justice John Roberts also pushed back on Sauer’s arguments.
While nothing is clear, our team is watching this case with intense curiosity.
Government closures affect wine industry
On 1 October the US government shut down when Democrats and Republicans were unable to reach an agreement to pass a bill funding government services. On 5 November, this became the longest government shutdown on record. This has widespread ramifications of course, but for the wine industry it means that the TTB, which approves wine labels and processes permits, has now been closed for over a month. As wine labels must be approved before wine can be bottled or sold by wineries, this is hampering US producers’ ability to sell their wines.
New vine-pull data in California and France
The wine industry is in a state of global oversupply driven by plummeting consumer demand. In order to balance this, many producers are removing vines or are seeking government aid to do so.
On 5 November the San Francisco Chronicle reported that from 1 October 2024 to 1 August 2025, California removed more than 38,000 acres (15,378 hectares) or 7% of its vineyards. Lodi farmer Aaron Lange told the Chronicle that thousands more acres had been abandoned and would likely be pulled once money allowed.
On 6 November Vitisphere reported that, in a survey conducted by FranceAgriMer, 37% of growers supported government funding to reduce land under vine and 14% expressed interest in uprooting, depending on eligibility criteria. Those who expressed interest in utilising this support were asked for an estimated number of hectares they’d want to pull. Totalled this number came to 34,428 ha (85,073 acres). Jérôme Despey, President of FranceAgriMer’s specialised wine council, estimates this number is likely higher – around 50,000 hectares. The French government is currently asking Brussels for at least €200 million in aid to uproot.
While there is no target number for how many hectares would need to be removed to balance global oversupply, it is clear that the current rate of vine-pull is not quick enough. In 2003 the world’s area under vine was 7.8 million hectares. In 2024 that number was at 7.1 million hectares. We will see what next year holds in store.
Alcohol sales value holding steady
On 6 November, drinks-market analyst IWSR published new data showing that, despite a 1% decline in volume of alcohol consumed within the 20 major markets surveyed, the value of alcohol sales has held steady year on year. India was the largest growth market at 7%, followed by South Africa at 4% and Mexico at 2%. The largest reductions in sales were seen in Germany, the US and China. Wine as a category was down 5% with only Prosecco seeing growth in sales.
Lighter bottles for Côtes de Provence
On 1 November Vitisphere reported that the Côtes de Provence wine union has lightweighted its signature bottles by 25% – or 80 g per bottle. With projected production at 6 million bottles, they estimate that this will reduce overall carbon emissions by 353 tons per year.
The importance of old vines
On 1 November two recent studies on old-vine Grenache were presented at the Old Vine Conference in California. One, led by Professor Luis Gonzaga Santesteban at the University of Navarra, established a scientific method for dating a vineyard without planting records. The other, led by Professor Vicente Ferreira at the University of Zaragoza, examined how vine age affects the ageing capacity and flavour development of wines. Utilising six plots of 30- to 90-year-old vines and six plots of neighbouring vines between 8 and 13 years old, Ferreira’s team discovered that, across all plots, wines from older vines had higher levels of phenolics – pointing to increased ageability. Wines from older vines also displayed higher levels of certain aromatic compounds that were linked to different planting locations – making a strong argument for old vines being better able to express terroir.
It is not only exciting to see research that confirms impressions long thought to be true, but it’s also important to the health of the industry. This information comes as thousands of hectares of vines are being uprooted worldwide. The best way to ensure that old-vine vineyards aren’t part of uprooting campaigns is to recognise their importance in the hope that it will create increased demand for the wines they produce – another topic discussed at the Old Vine Conference.
A worthy wine auction
While the wine world is abuzz about the 13 November auction of the personal cellar of Alexandre de Lur-Saluces at Drouot Paris, with all of its Yquem, the auction we’re most excited about is Salud! Salud is an Oregon-based programme dedicated to providing affordable and accessible healthcare for the state’s vineyard workers. Oregon wineries (and some Burgundians) donate incredible wines and experiences for the world to bid on. The online auction opens on 12 November. I’ll link the catalogue of auction lots in the transcript of this newscast.
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 an 84-year-old Garnacha vine in Magallón, Campo de Borja, Spain, courtesy of the Old Vine Conference.
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.
