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Don has a delicious Douro red from Niepoort to discuss before we talk about the top story this week: an impressive selection of best value California wines that cover a range of regions, varieties, styles and labels. We also discuss stories on Brittany's nascent wine industry, how weight-loss drugs (Ozempic, Wegovy, etc.) are affecting wine consumption, appreciation and sales, the South African wine scene and a great couple of podcast interviews with grape DNA guru José Vouillamoz.

Olly talks about the recent controversy surrounding the Michelin ratings in Burgundy, with (as Jamie Goode recently pointed out) Arnaud-Lachaux asking to be removed from the ratings after only getting one "grape". Sour grapes? There's also a quick look at the fires in Burgundy (including a Mercedes garage that caught fire over the road from vines in Nuits-Saint-Georges).

Heatwaves could mean the Bordeaux harvest is even smaller than last year; a Champagne enologist finds spoilage yeast Brettanomyces in 75% of base wines; Argentina's exports are on the up but Uco Valley winegrowers are struggling to make any money from their endeavors.

There's also a deep-dive on a neighborly dispute involving one of the world's greatest private collectors of wine – himself a controversial figure. Michel-Jack Chasseuil has a huge collection worth $50 million of top-end wine (think, DRC, Petrus, Screaming Eagle, Penfolds' Grange, Harlan, etc.) housed in his four cellars in rural France, but he keeps getting in arguments over boundaries and access roads which see the local police regularly called to the tiny, 7-house hamlet of Fonfolet to diffuse the situation. Chasseuil is also controversial in that he refuses to drink his collection, which also includes wine from Hitler's cellar and a bottle taken from the wreck of the Titanic.

Finally, there's a story about a home-build company in New Zealand that has named its prospective house designs after local wineries and wine brands.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

Pinot Blanc seems to be increasing its profile of late, with Don tasting a nice example from Alsace this weekend and Olly getting asked about the grape on the fencing piste! Olly enjoyed a Hawke's Bay Albariño over the weekend.

This week, the recent 250th Champagne Roederer birthday bash gets the most eyeballs, while both the best-value Chardonnay and best-value Irish whiskey stories whet the appetites. As does, it must be said, a couple of stories on Italian white varieties. All of which surprisingly outperformed our story on Neymar Jr's foray into the world of wine.

We also look at the latest Succession-esque developments in the ongoing Castel drama; there's more wild weather in France (not only heatwaves but hail and wildfires); a Rioja bankruptcy that's "meticulously planned" and a nuns' appeal for a new tractor to tend their vines makes it into the headlines and hearts of the French public.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

Don drinks an Alsace blend from New Zealand producer Yealands while our end-of-month roundup is dominated by spirits headlines, with value Tequila and high-end Bourbon grabbing much of the attention in June. Bordeaux prices, the news that the worst is still to come for the French wine industry and a surprise show from Chile also add to the month's big stories.

There's speculation that the wine world might be getting tired of tariff talk and a brief look at a story on the evolution of style and soil in Sancerre in the light of climate change. We also touch in the ongoing crisis in Cognac and a tidbit from the tiny Pécharmant appellation of South West France which has landed itself in hot water after choosing an events company tied to Christian nationalists and with reports of far-right slogans and outright racism at previous iterations.

This week's stories are dominated by news that Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr. is launching a range of wines in his home country; a couple in a €7 million scam in northern Loire; proposed changes to the Crémant de Loire production parameters; massive Spanish producer Felix Solis posts a bumper year in 2025 and a bottle commemorating Diego Maradona's 'Goal of the Century' is re-released.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

Don has a Guinness with the rugby and Olly has a light red wine blend from a small producer in New Zealand (Halite). Don asks if winemaking nations correlate to soccer success and we look at some of the great, best-value Tequilas on the market at the moment.

The news this week revolves around more trade tariffs although some of our stories span: investment interest in Napa; why UK wines never really seem to take off; and a fascinating look at the "Bermuda Triangle of wine" in southeastern Europe.

Other news includes Languedoc winemaker Gérard Bertrand's it-will-only-get-worse outlook for the French wine industry (although there are positives); the first sparkling wine release for Marques de Riscal; climate change threats to viticulture in Chile; Miguel Torres releases his memoirs; and more on what is clearly going to be an early harvest for French winemakers.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

US soft diplomacy hits Don via a bottle of Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon while Olly is still enjoying the aftertaste of a Barolo from Rivetto. The best-value Tequilas tops our most-read stories of the week, closely followed by a fascinating story looking at why Chile isn't getting past the notion of good value.

Other top stories include: Langhe's fight against climate change: Port's recent declaration (for 2024) as well as the likelihood of a 2025 declaration; and falling prices in Napa.

But this week, it's all about soccer with French former midfielder Jean Tigana in the headlines as well as Rioja winery Marques de Murrietta announcing its 2022 red is the wine gracing the tables in VIP lounges for the FIFA World Cup! Hail hits Burgundy; there's talk of early harvests across France (particularly in Muscadet); Remy Cointreau announces a 20% drop in its Cognac production; there's Prieto Picudo for the Pope and Bodegas Bianchi in Argentina looks to be navigating a way out of its debt situation.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

Star Wars, Soundgarden and My Chemical Romance? Wine-Searcher's US Editor W. Blake Gray talks to Don and Olly about the current state of wine in the United States.

Blake looks at the state of the Californian wine industry (with a particular focus on Silicon Valley Bank's Direct to Consumer Wine Report which just came out); the state of Ohio's appeal to the US Supreme Court (which could see a ruling on interstate shipping in the not to distant future); and the struggle to get facts through in the wine and health debate.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

"Two Englishmen talking about the weather..." Wine-Searcher's editor Don Kavanaugh bravely entertains David Allen MW and Olly Styles as the pair battle it out over the effects of the weather in the 2025 Bordeaux growing season.

In the blue corner, David Allen MW defends Bordeaux estates from accusations that the weather patterns over the 2025 growing season (noteworthy as they are) actually have no bearing on the properties of the final wines produced in the region – a charge leveled by Olly Styles, in the red corner, in a recent opinion piece on the website.

Will it go the full 12 rounds?

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 editor@wine-searcher.com

Send us Fan Mail

Don lauds a pair of 'workhorse' wines (a Côtes de Rhône and a Californian Zinfandel) while Olly enjoys a steely Riesling from the Saar. Two pieces this week tickle Don's fancy: wine's reluctance to engage in a class-based discussion (all while other aspects of DEI are frequently touched-on in wine marketing); and news that Ohio will send the interstate shipping debate to the US Supreme Court.

We take a look at the Irish connections in wine as well as reviewing a recent piece about the Bordeaux wine industry looking to find new ways to bring people back to the region. Don also goes into a recent piece looking at tumbling Bordeaux (and waning Napa) prices in the US.

Meanwhile, a Moldovan winery commissions a one-off Porsche; one grower in Bordeaux's St-Julien appellation is grafting Chardonnay onto his red vines; a highly localized hailstorm hits Champagne; the bosses of the notorious wine website 1855.com are back in the courts on fraud charges; and there's a nasty case of poisoning from a refilled bottle of wine in Argentina.

We also look forward to more discussions and stories in the week ahead.

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 editor@wine-searcher.com