This week, the big news was that the so-called "UN of wine", the OIV (the International Organisation of Wine and Vine) announced global wine consumption was still on the downward slope, with wine drinkers down 2.7 percent in 2025.
Representing a 14 percent drop on 2018, wine consumption is now down to its lowest point, globally, since 1957.
| Related stories: |
| Letting AI Choose the Coronation Wines |
| The Dawn of the AI Wine Writers |
| Wine Industry Finally Gets Some Good News |
Meanwhile, in Rioja, things aren't as bad as one might be otherwise forgiven for thinking (see "Rioja sales drop" in Frost Hammers Hungary's Vineyards), with the news this week that the Rioja wine region welcomed more than a million tourists in 2025 – a record that saw direct-to-customer sales jump by 9 percent that year. Regional newspaper La Rioja says the visitors accounted for €71 million in sales.
Meanwhile, here are some other headlines you might have missed in the last seven days:
Supermarkets adopt AI wine merchant
Three separate supermarkets in France's eastern Savoie and Haute-Savoie departments have installed an AI wine merchant kiosk in their wine departments in a bid to help customers choose wines.
According to regional radio station Franceinfo, the Super U in alpine Magland, the Intermarché in Lugrin on the shores of Lake Geneva and the Leclerc in tourist destination Chambéry have all installed the Etinsy AI Advisor (dubbed "Elio") which is the "first AI-powered humanoid advisor dedicated to the wine and spirits aisles in supermarkets".
Although appearing in a kiosk similar to those seen in many fast-food restaurants, Elio is designed to respond to vocal prompts.
"Elio is a true virtual wine merchant with whom the customer interacts naturally, verbally, just as they would with a professional in a specialized shop," said the Etinsy company, not exactly flattering the global wine merchant community with that comment.
Indeed, while they admitted it was "innovative", the move did not land well with France's wine merchants' union.
"It's not exactly our definition of the term 'wine merchant'," said professional wine merchants' union (Syndicat des Cavistes Professionels) president Johannes Marcon.
As well as asking – pointedly – whether supermarkets might like to do the same for the cheese aisle or the book and magazine section, Marcon also asked why "large retailers have just realized that [customer] advice is important, and instead of making it human, they're virtualizing it".
"The true added value is having a real person who can convey their passion and their connection with the winemaker," he added. "It's totally subjective and sometimes disingenuous, but at least it's not impersonal."
For their part, Etinsy tried to reassure those who want a more human (but perhaps less disingenuous) touch that the kiosks were "not intended to replace staff, but to complement their work when availability is limited".
The kiosks are expected to rollout across selected stores in the rest of France.
Winemaking game released
Ever fancied tasting through a bench trial of successive minute additions of polyvinylpolypyrrolidone to competently made Merlot to settle on the least offensive but still relatively characterful end result? Ever wanted to tell the winery origin story to vacant-eyed punters thrusting goblets under your nose and asking incomprehendingly why your Chardonnay is unoaked?
Now's your chance, with the release of the Winemaker Simulator computer game, released in public demo form on the Steam computer game platform Friday, May 15. According to video game news and reviews website Kotaku, the game combines a number of currently popular trends in independent video games, including "cozy elements, simulation progression, a historical setting, and management systems that are accessible yet deep enough to maintain interest for many hours".
However, if you're looking for a real taste of the role of the modern winemaker, from PVPP additions to keeping an eye on employee overtime during harvest, you may have to wait a while, as the setting for the game is described as "medieval".
This may cause students of history to gripe given a number of anachronistic touches within the initial gameplay representation video, including ready-labeled green glass bottles, a perfectly-constructed (and very modern-looking) 15-bottle crate and what appears to be volumes in liters.
Still, the game may not lack for willing, less action-focused, participants.
"There aren't many games specifically focused on medieval wine production, which automatically gives it a unique identity, even compared to other relaxing simulators," said the website. "Furthermore, the combination of economic management, leisurely exploration, and historical aesthetics could appeal to both fans of 'cozy games' and players interested in more relaxed strategic experiences."
"Visually, the project also opts for warm landscapes and rural settings that constantly reinforce that feeling of calm and slow progression," it added.
The game is reportedly looking for players wanting to "enjoy the process more than the speed". Although this might not sound like your average gamer's cup of tea, it is possible, medieval winemaking could be the niche we were all looking for.
"It also helps that the game combines several very popular trends on Steam right now," said Kotaku. "It has cozy elements, simulation progression, a historical setting, and management systems that are accessible yet deep enough to maintain interest for many hours."
"[...] And turning medieval wine production into a relaxing experience could be much more appealing than it seemed a few years ago," it said, in closing.
Barrel maker moves into home decor
Vicard cooperage – one of the major barrelmakers both in France and globally – has branched out into furniture production in a bid to counter the slump in wine barrel sales.
The cooperage reportedly hired cabinetmaker Simon Besnard to design a range of tables to be produced from the offcuts of the barrelmaking process. The range is dubbed Vicard Home and, in keeping with the world of home décor, each product line has a name derived, primarily, from a grape variety.
For instance, there is the Chenin nesting tables set, produced in solid oak with the tabletop resembling a barrelhead, sitting on three tapered legs (clearly mid-century Scandinavian-influenced). The tables retail at €420 each, or €1260 for all three.
The Riesling console is a chunkier effort while the Merrain (not a grape, but the French word for "stave") standing table clearly resembles a cluster of staves prior to being formed as a barrel. The Syrah table is a relatively straightforward, rectanglar affair with dark-stained, thin, cylindrical legs (€950).
Vicard company president Jean-Charles Vicard admitted that, while the move into home décor was part of the company's circular economy approach (which includes the We Oak range of oak adjuncts for winemaking as well as wood pellets, 680 tons of which are used annually to fuel the company's furnace), the new venture was unlikely to take off overnight.
“Let's be honest – this project won't compensate for the lost volume in the wine, cognac, and spirits areas," he told regional newspaper Sud-Ouest earlier this week. "From oak to barrel, two-thirds of the tree is wasted on barrel making. We wanted to make better use of this noble material."
With the range doubtless appealling to winelovers and those already in the wine industry, Vicard also wanted people to know their furniture atelier was open to custom-made objects.
“All the furniture in the range can be customized," he said. "Even better: bespoke creations are possible, such as headboards or bookcases."
US market expected to turn around
Despite the latest OIV report on global wine sales throwing a heavy amount of shade in the direction of the US administration over the impact of its import tariffs, a recent report claims the US wine market is likely to bounce back in the next two to three years.
This was a reading from the latest BMO Commercial Bank report on the state of the US wine industry (for a more in-depth look at this, see W. Blake Gray's Too Many Wineries, Not Enough Consumers from Thursday) by Italian wine news website Winenews.It which highlighted the relatively positive hopes for the future of the wine business in North America.
"The majority of American wineries, which account for approximately 70 percent of US wine consumption, anticipate a positive turnaround within three years," said the website this week.
It also added that the survey shows 38 percent of wineries think recovery will come sooner.
"This sentiment also gives hope to major exporting countries to the US, led by Italy and France," it said.
France looks at drone approval
Heavy rains and mildew threats in the south of France recently have renewed calls on the French authorities to formally adopt drone-friendly legislation allowing winegrowers to use the technology to spray vines otherwise inaccessible to tractors.
According to French wine news website Vitisphere, while a new law dated April 9, 2025, potentially allows for the use of new technology in vineyard spraying, it has yet to be ratified. This leaves winegrowers waiting on "derogations" – an official green light to go beyond what is formally allowed.
While such derogations were passed last week, the time taken to obtain them often means winegrowers cannot get in to their vines to treat them against the likes of mildew until it is too late.
With the publication of the official derogation, Jérôme Despey, the president of the Hérault Chamber of Agriculture said on social media that "we must now work towards simplifying the procedure once we get the law to allow the protection of our vines by drone".
While still relatively new to the vineyard, drones remain one of the few viable options to treat vines whose soils are waterlogged (and thus too risky for tractor or wheeled access). The excess moisture has the futher effect of increasing the risk of disease pressure now rearing its head in the south.
"After the heavy rains of the May Day weekend and before the further downpours of the May 8 weekend, the first symptoms of mildew that appeared on vines [...] are causing concern in vineyards where access is impossible without risking tractor breakdowns, but where doing nothing would doom the harvest (particularly in organic sites with no spray coverage after the rain)," said Vitisphere the previous week.
The derogation for drone treatment is tightly-regulated, with operators expected to justify their use, not fly more than three meters above the topmost vegetation, provide spray plans, including drone filling locations, pilot licences and public notices.
Clairette de Die to return to rosé
Eight years after stopping the production of Clairette de Die rosé in 2018 (only two years after the style was introduced), producers in the appellation are hoping the wine will return following a rejigged production protocol submitted to France's appellations body, the INAO, on Monday, April 11.
Clairette de Die rosé was shelved in 2018 after nearby producers in the Bugey Cerdon region (one of only handful of appellations, along with Clairette de Die, that lays claim to the Méthode Ancestral form of sparkling production) complained the wine was too close to their light red. Furthermore, both iterations leaned on the Gamay grape (although this was limited to 10 percent in Clairette de Die rosé).
The complaint was upheld in the courts. However, Clairette de Die producers are now taking a second bite at the cherry, this time dropping Gamay in favor of the – perhaps more locally on-brand – Syrah to sit alongside the regional workhorse, Muscat.
According to regional radio station Ici Drôme Ardèche (Radio France), the application is due to be reviewed by the INAO in June prior to ministerial approval.
"If the specifications are approved, Clairette rosé could be on the market as early as spring 2027," it said.
Winemakers in Cerdon were not invited to comment.
Marsala to adopt subregions
The western Sicilian wine region of Marsala looks set to officially embrace four subregional designations. According to wine industry blogger and educator, Francesco Saverio Russo, the region's organizing body has identified four subzones in the appellation and hopes to use the move to increase the region's profile.
A study commissioned by the Marsala Wine Consortium (which ratified the move last month) identified four distinct subregions: Stagnone (on the coast, just north of Marsala town center); Altopiano dei Bagli (the largest zone, inland from Stagnone and due east from Marsala town center); Triglia (another sizeable zone that borders the coast and loops around the hamlet of Triglia Scaletta, southeast of Marsala); and San Nicola (still on the coast, further southeast from Triglia).
"These four homogeneous areas were defined through a multifactorial analysis that integrated georeferencing of the vineyards, climate, soil, and orographic data," said Russo on his website, WineBlogRoll.
It is hoped the adoption of these subzones will help to push Marsala's reputation beyond what has effectively become a staple in the kitchen for those looking to do imaginative and tasty dishes with chicken.
Although even Russo admitted the new geographical push would not solve all the region's challanges, it was a start.
"Marsala is no longer just 'a' Marsala," said Russo. "It can become a combination of places, landscapes, and interpretations. It can once again be interpreted not only by color, sugar content, category, and aging time, but also by provenance."
"In this sense, [the subregions] represent a form of restitution: of the wine, the land, the producers, and a story that deserves to be told more precisely," he added.
While the Marsala Wine Consortium has ratified the move, it is not yet known how long this will take to be officially adopted both in Italy and the EU.
