Independent Champagne producer Maison Bruno Paillard has announced that it is ending its use of transparent glass bottles in an effort to cut carbon emissions.
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International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA) has announced the election of Anne Bousquet, the co-founder and co-CEO of Domaine Bousquet, and Enrique Valero, the CEO of Abadía Retuerta, to its Board of Directors.
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Wines of Roussillon has described the 2026 growing season as bringing “renewed hope” to the region’s winemakers, after several vintages affected by severe drought.
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Familia Torres has announced the release of Mas La Plana’s 2020 vintage, which celebrates 50 years of winemaking history – spanning the leadership of both the fourth and fifth generations of the Torres family.
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Italy’s 2026 vintage was overall marked by intense heat and prolonged dry periods, with careful vineyard management proving crucial to preserving freshness and balance, according to initial reports from wineries across the country.
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The Centre-Loire has described 2026 as an “extraordinary vintage” as it releases its annual report, detailing a harvest which began in Reuilly on 12 August, and finished around 11 September.
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This year has been described by some in British media as “the moment climate change felt real”. And it’s no wonder – the dry, hot weather over the past few months was most likely the warmest summer on record, breaking the previous record set just the year before. According to the Met Office, such weather has become 130 times more likely than in the pre-industrial period. Yet, for English and Welsh wine producers, climate change has felt real for quite some time.
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Sustainability in Drinks (SID) has confirmed its lineup of speakers for 2026, with more than 60 experts from both the sustainability and drinks worlds coming together for a day of discussion, ideas and action.
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Leading Romanian wine producer Cramele Recaș has finished its earliest-ever harvest, with picking this year beginning a full month early.
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Trade body Comité Champagne (or CIVC) has detailed its assessment of the grape harvest in the famous region.
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Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Languedoc (CIVL) – the trade body representing the region’s AOP and IGP wines – recently relaunched the Viti-Incendie programme which aims to help the region’s producers tackle the risk of smoke taint due to wildfires.
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Since Laurent-Perrier pioneered the modern zero dosage style of champagne with the launch of its Ultra Brut in 1981, the practice has been adopted by many Champagne houses, thanks in no small part to the effects of climate change. As there is no addition of sugar in the creation of non-dosage, winemakers must rely on greater ripening of the grapes to achieve balance and the correct acidity, and progressively warmer growing seasons mean producers are now achieving phenolic ripeness and higher natural sugar levels at harvest, as sommelier and wine consultant Jonathan Kleeman explains.
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Champagne Drappier has reported the earliest-ever harvest in its over-200-year-old history, after growing conditions it described as “remarkably warm and dry”.
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The EU first recognised Ireland as a winemaking country in the year 2000, but the industry is still very much in its early stages. Harpers speaks to David Dennison (pictured), founder of Viking Irish Drinks, who – hoping to nurture the budding industry – is working on setting up an Irish wine association.
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Nyetimber is expecting 2026 to be another vintage year – following 2025 – suggesting that its grapes will be of ‘distinctive quality’ despite some challanges along the way.
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As harvest approaches, Rathfinny Wine Estate has reported encouraging signs of quality in its vineyards, with yields expected to be 30% higher than last year, and the fruit showing ‘exceptional promise’.
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Rowan Hooper’s new book, Togetherness, is a fascinating study of symbiosis, what he calls a “neglected silo” of scientific research. The subject might sound a bit geeky and pointy headed, but it’s central to the way that nature works.
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Wine GB has said that it is “optimistic” about the size and quality of the UK harvest, in response to speculation about this year’s crop.
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Rooted as it is in a long history of tradition, governed by strict production rules and regarded as a timeless symbol of wealth and luxury, Champagne’s relationship to innovation is probably not the first thing that springs to mind when the corks are popping. But the reality is that the region has been a pioneering force over the centuries in both the vineyards and the wineries, and probably never more so than now as it battles its worst enemy since phylloxera – climate change.
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There is an assumption embedded deep within the wine trade, self-evident to many, that Europe teaches and everyone else learns. In the 20th century, techniques, philosophies, and, of course, grape varieties, radiated outward from Europe's historic heartlands to newer wine-producing regions seeking legitimacy and guidance. The New World innovated, certainly, but Europe remained the reference point. It was a largely one-way flow of knowledge. And the hierarchy was seldom questioned.
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