Before I get to global news, a bit of site news: we published two harvest reports this week. The first was Gavin Quinney’s detailed report on the 2024 harvest in Bordeaux, which as I mentioned last week was the smallest since 1991. Gavin breaks down why that is, where vine-pull schemes are concentrated, and how the small crop plays into the current market. He includes myriad useful charts. The second harvest report is from our own Walter Speller and details Barolo’s challenging 2024 vintage. He interviews nine producers on their approach to the incredibly wet and fairly cool season. Both of these are must-reads for students of wine.
We also continued our re-release of Vintners’ Tales yesterday with an episode featuring Steve Daniel, who was, at the time, the buying director for Oddbins, a retail chain which was owned by Seagram. Jancis dives right in with pointed questions about the hypocrisy of having a passionate, underpaid and idiosyncratic staff employed by a large multinational seeking to promote its own brands. Daniel, for his part, handles her questions with aplomb.
On to the news!
Trump’s tariff war
The US tariff situation is so volatile that by the time I sent this to my editor last night the info I’d typed earlier in the day was out of date. Hopefully nothing has changed in the last few hours.
On 4 March Trump’s promised tariffs of 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports went into effect as well as the doubling of tariffs on Chinese goods to 20%. Canada immediately responded with identical customs duties on US products. Canada’s liquor control boards in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, began the process of pulling all US products from their shelves and websites on 4 March. The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) said that they would reinstate their previous plan (paused when the Trump Administration initially postponed tariffs) to remove all products produced in ‘red’ states – aka states that voted Republican in the 2024 election. Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said she would wait to implement tariffs until she had spoken with Trump. China responded by levying 10–15% tariffs on various US agricultural goods effective 10 March.
Yesterday, 6 March Trump suspended tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods shipped under North America's free trade agreement, the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), until 2 April. This affects around half of goods from Mexico and one-third from Canada. In response Canada said they would postpone a second round of retaliatory tariffs – they have not removed the first and this morning they announced a C$5 billion program to help Canadian exporters reach new markets. Mexico has postponed issuing any retaliatory tariffs.
Until now, Canada was the single most important export market for US wines. A report published by the USDA on 5 March states, ‘In 2024, the United States exported $435 million worth of wine, $221 million in distilled spirits, and $41 million in beer to Canada, making it the United States’ top alcohol export market.’
Trump has promised to impose tariffs on the EU on 2 April – specifically tariffs that target agricultural goods. If these go into effect, it will be yet another blow for the US wine industry – specifically to importers, distributors and retailers. Weakening distributors and retailers weakens their ability to serve their domestic producers. In the end, nobody wins.
Constellation Brands in sales talks
To be clear, there are no quoted sources for this news; it seems to have been leaked by an anonymous source. But WineBusiness published an article on 4 March detailing a potential sale of Constellation’s wine business to Duckhorn – which would acquire their coastal brands and assets – and Delicato – who would acquire their Central Valley assets. Constellation, Delicato and Duckhorn have refused to comment.
Constellation owns more than 100 wine brands and, according to the WineBusiness Analytics database, produces around 15 million cases of wine a year. If rumours of the sale are true, this would be one of the biggest and most disruptive sales in the last few years – and that’s saying something.
Austria’s tiny 2024 harvest
Hail, frost, summer heat and torrential rains in 2024 resulted in the smallest harvest in Austria since 2010. The 1.87 million hectolitres of wine produced in 2024 is 22% below the five-year average. Despite the tiny crop the country still has ample wine stocks of 3.04 million hectolitres – around the same as last year.
South Africa’s first winery to receive Ecological Outcome Verification
On 5 March I received news that Hartenberg Estate in South Africa had received Ecological Outcome Verification and is only the second vineyard in the world (after Mariah Vineyards in California) to do so. Which begs the question – what is Ecological Outcome Verification?
Apparently, it’s a system of verification overseen by the Savory Institute, a non-profit organisation whose mission is (quote)‘to facilitate the large-scale regeneration of the world’s grasslands and the livelihoods of their inhabitants, through Holistic Management.’ The institute has created a data-collection protocol that measures aspects of biodiversity, water, soil health and ecosystem function. They verify growers who meet the baseline that they’ve established for a given region.
As an example, having living plant roots in soil is one of the most important requirements of any organisation promoting regenerative farming – bare soil is a no-no. But clearly it is more difficult to have covered ground in arid Eastern Washington than it is in verdant Willamette Valley. For Ecological Outcome Verification there is a baseline established for each region. If you meet or exceed the baseline of all monitored aspects, then you can be verified. The verification process does not require that you use specific practices but rather that you achieve certain outcomes.
Regenerative viticulture certifications – a handy guide
Ecological Outcome Verification seems really cool and I highly recommend that you check it out. However, I also think that the multitude of certifications and/or verifications that are cropping up do make consumer comprehension more complicated. The Regenerative Viticulture Foundation has a handy list of all the regenerative certifications already in play, with explanations of each.
RISE Climate & Wine Symposium
While I’m on the subject of regeneration, the RISE Climate & Wine Symposium – at which Jancis spoke last year – will be taking place 29 April to 1 May and from 6 to 8 May at Charles Krug Winery in Napa and is a wonderful way to connect with other sustainably minded producers. If you can’t make it, sessions will be recorded and posted for subsequent viewing.
Gérard Basset Foundation’s Laurent-Perrier Champagne Scholarships now open
On 4 March the Gérard Basset Foundation announced that they had partnered with Champagne Laurent-Perrier to offer 10 UK-based individuals the opportunity to take the Wine Scholar Guild Champagne Masters course as well as participate in two days of masterclasses covering negotiation and sales. Applications are now open and will close on 25 April. You can find more details at gerardbassetfoundation.org.
That’s all for this episode of the Wine News. If you enjoy this newscast and would like to see it continue, please subscribe to JancisRobinson.com. And if you have breaking news in your area, please email [email protected].
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 subscribe to our site and our weekly newsletter.
Photo at top courtesy Hartenberg Estate.
