The Week in Wine

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Montepulciano and the wonder of southern Italian red wines. Calvados and the flavour (or otherwise) of fruits in spirits. This week, Don and Olly discuss the California wineries for sale (and why it appears no-one is buying them). RTDs surge in the US drinks market. Is wine's answer to RTDs Vermouth? Olly talks a bit about his story on West Bank wineries. Footballing great Sergio Ramos opens a number of top wines for dinner with friends (and lands in hot water for his choice of dish); Norton bankruptcy under way; and a Bordeaux vine nursery and vineyard branches out into asparagus and Kosher wine. We touch on the Four Roses sale and the sea of Bourbon about to wash over consumers (with some hopefully lower prices on the bottles!); Merlot – and Zinfandel – as unsung heroes of California wine; and small mention of English sparkling wine. 

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Don waxes lyrical about the beauties of Chenin Blanc while Olly has a whiskey, distilled in Scotland and aged in Burgundy in Sherry barrels. Despite the 2024 Burgundy harvest report, this is a generally bad news week where we ask if we're maybe halfway there yet? Bad news for California and the US wine trade in particular. People are still asking if wine is for them while a story on storytelling is also catching some of our readers' attention. We also ask if you can get excited about Spanish sparkling wine? We mark the passing of Daniel Cathiard of Château Smith Haut Lafitte and James Healey of Cloudy Bay and Dog Point. Château de Beaucastel hosts the Drops of God television series once again. More Argentinian wineries are in trouble; Mâcon wines are banned from using "Vin de Bourgogne" on their labels; Italian wineries look to the Indian market for growth; French glass bottle producer mothballs another furnace. More wineries for sale in California (with a lack of interested buyers) rounds off the woe.

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Don drinks a spectacular Champagne and Olly has a delicious Pinot Noir. This week's podcast covers the 2024 vintage in Burgundy and asks whether winemakers are especially honest about the weather and the struggles when their wines are good. They also ask whether most people actually like the taste of wine and other drinks, and whether or not wine really does need food. Can aged, average wine fool the pros? A big theme of this episode is protectionism: should nations uphold their own production against cheaper, imported goods? Or is free trade simply the exploitation of cheaper labor or lower production standards? Also up for discussion is the California grape shortage as well as the oversupply issues facing Bourbon – primarily in the export market. There is more anger and smashed bottles in the south of France. Cognac begins to wonder if French politicians really care about it anymore and the Jura's semi-annual wine fair launches an app – could this be a sign of things to come?

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Don drinks an Elijah Craig Rye while Olly celebrates a birthday with grower Champagne. The suicide in Bordeaux and Silicon Valley Bank's bleak prognosis top the most-read wine news stories in what has been a relatively bleak week. Only Oregon Chardonnay looks to buck the trend, while both Don and Olly ask when, if ever, the time will come that Burgundy comparisons are not thrown at any Chardonnay or Pinot Noir made, globally – even in Burgundy, perhaps? Leonardo di Capro has a cameo in the vines of Champagne, promoting an organic push from Telmont but it's mostly bad news this week with US wine exports nosediving 30 percent, protestors baring their buttocks outside Rhône producer Chapoutier (Don also asks what is the correct past tense of the "ess haitch eye tee" word), the demise of another cooperative in southern France has Olly wondering if wine production wont take us back 150 years, and they ask who the current global wine scene is really helping. There's likely more bad news to come, but we'll find out if that's really the case next week.

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

To kick off 2026, Don rediscovers his love of Mosel Riesling and Olly loves a California Chardonnay that's not your regular California Chardonnay. Meanwhile, a look over the top stories of the festive season proves that the big-name wines aren't always what people want and that Irish whiskey is getting a lot of attention lately. Other big stories include Napa dropping prices on its cellar doors, US dietary guidelines sidestepping wine, the continued interest in the Chateau Ste Michelle handover, and the word 'bankruptcy' being touted around both Argentina's Bodega Norton and France's Bordeaux wine region. Olly reviews the main headlines of the last seven days, including Taylor's Swift's endorsement of a Sancerre, a third winegrower suicide in Bordeaux, Lionel Messi's favorite drink (wine and Sprite), a Florida priest's wine and life podcast, a Spanish university looking for people to drink red wine for four years (as part of a study) and a solar-powered vineyard shade. This week's up-and-coming stories include the possibility of a Supreme Court ruling on Trump's trade tariffs and a deeper dive into RFK's dietary guidelines from a wine perspective.

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Don returns to an old favourite – oaked Chardonnay; the multi-faceted beauty of Albariño; and varietal labeling – are we past that stage yet? This week's big stories spanned an interview with Napa winemaking power couple Philippe and Cherie Melka as well as last week's wine news roundup headed by the news of the so-called "Grand Cru Gang" trial. Don has high hopes for his top ten Irish Whiskey story, which is already doing well, and fans of the spirit from across the world (including, apparently, Irish expats in the UAE). This week, we also look at the news that the Michelin guide is getting into wine; the benefits/pitfalls of individual ratings versus panel tastings and Wine-Searcher's own aggregated critic score. Antonio Banderas drinks 18th Century Sherry; Italy and France wine exports to the US struggling as 2025 draws to a close; Champagne sales hit the doldrums (despite a raft of good news coming out of the region); Chianti Classico "a reliably affordable luxury"; French Bloom non-alcoholic sparkling brand buys Limoux wine estate; the "Sud de France" moniker finally (and definitively) outlawed; more bad news for wine tourism in Burgundy and we look towards the world's best Spanish wines and – drum roll – the world's best Single Malts. [note: there was an issue with Olly's microphone that we didn't pick up during the podcast] 

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Don drinks Rioja Gran Reserva and gin while Olly enjoys skin-fermented Semillion from Sonoma. We look over a stunning run of vintages in Barolo and talk about wine being aged (and made) in space. Don is slightly unimpressed with the ice and whiskey debate and wonders if writers shouldn't take more of a position on their subjects. We talk about the "Grand Cru Gang" theft trial in Bordeaux; look at murmurs in Burgundy (that things might not be so rosy and that wine tourism in the region might not be doing so well); the Georgian Prime Minister's gift of wine to the Pope (and we ask if the Swiss Guard is the most wine-savvy military force in the world); another wine destination in Pauillac; Spain exports on a slow downward trend; still more on Argentina's deregulation of the wine industry; and a politician caught drink-driving in Mendoza. We also touch on Chardonnay Rose being admitted into Champagne, Gaza being the centre of the ancient wine trade, uprooting in the Loire and the state of wine news in December.

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Old (wine) favourites (Australian Shiraz joins California Chardonnay in Don's glass this weekend); why on earth should you/you should drink non-alcoholic beer; chucking it all in to make wine; US spirits hit doldrums overseas (is the current administration to blame?); the best Sauvignon Blancs of 2025 – and the small country with a surprising six entries in the top ten (and no, it's not France, New Zealand or the USA). Male wine critic has a go at superstar singer Rosalía's pronunciation of Sauvignon Blanc; fall vineyard land values in Bordeaux hit the big-name appellations; Abruzzo's Casauria is officially Italy's newest DOCG; Spain leads bulk wine market (with Italy and New Zealand vying for second place); and more on Argentina's push to deregulate their wine industry.

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Don rediscovers an old friend; unmemorable wines; has wine reached rock-bottom; Elon Musk, trillionaires, and would the wine world be better with a more affluent middle class (is the wine market a reflection of a shrinking middle class?). Are South African wines overlooked? Is the wine industry itself the main consumer of its own news (and not the wine consumer)? Cognac producer billed for duty on Cognac stolen from its premises. Chapoutier planting agave in the Rhône (with a view to Tequila production). Argentina's slashing of red tape in wine production (off the back of Milei's neoliberal reforms). Alsace celebrates a great 2025 vintage. Ungrafted vines. The beauty and charms of Oporto.

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Natural wine summed up by Konstantin Baum MW; is Natural Wine now just a facet of wine?; people really love Rum; the beauty of a Dark and Stormy cocktail; the Supreme Court's ongoing look at Trump's wine tariffs; is the concept of Old Vines overrated for the consumer?; what does sustainable mean?; Copper sprays banned in France, the impact on Organic Viticulture in the country; the Greeks as the true origin of wine in France; smoke taint in northwestern Spain; viticulturist electrocuted in the vineyard; more doom and gloom for the wine trade's economic outlooke; but....is Ireland our only hope?

ABOUT THE WEEK IN WINE

The Week in Wine goes out every Monday morning so that you can turn up to work with great talking points from the latest news across the world of wine.

Hosted by wine-searcher editor Don Kavanagh with wine writer Olly Styles – who also produces the podcast – nearly all of the stories we discuss can be found on https://www.wine-searcher.com/magazine

You can get in touch with us at [email protected]