Top Wine Stories of 2025

Welcome to 2026. We made it! Following are some of last year's big stories relating to the U.S. alcohol industry.

In 2025 we lost Sam Sebastiani, 
founder of Viansa Winery.
Grandson of Samuele Sebastiani,
founder of their namesake winery
in Sonoma.

 

 

The Big Story is the slumping wine market. I've written on that several times, as have other people. Vines are being pulled out, wineries are for sale, and everyone has different opinions as to why this has happened, how long it will last, and what can be done.

Here are some other stories you may have missed.

 

Duckhorn Vineyards

The once prestigious Napa Valley Duckhorn Vineyards and its other brands, such as Paraduxx and Decoy, is shrinking. Various financial companies have owned the winery after the family sold it almost 20 years ago. In December 2025 a private equity firm specializing in the food business purchased Duckhorn and the cuts started. This is what private equities do. The key is what they will do with the quality of whatever is left.

 

Chateau Ste Michelle

Washington's largest winery was bought by a private equity firm in 2021. At the end of 2025 Chateau Ste Michelle was handed off to a local agribusiness family.  As in, no one is even sure if the company got any money for it. They had apparently stripped everything they could. The good news is that the winery brand is back in local hands. 

 

Lawsuits Against Alcohol Brands

You may not be familiar with these names, but they are all public companies holding multiple alcohol brands, including many familiar wineries. 

Brown-Forman is accused of misleading investors -- and presumably causing them to hold their stock rather than selling. They no longer own or market any wineries, they're a spirits company now.

Constellation Brands is accused of false and misleading statements, covering up the real state of their wine brands.  Constellation has sold off many of their wine labels, and they might not be done selling.

Diageo is being sued for calling the Don Julio and Casamigos tequilas 100% agave when, in fact, they contain sugarcane and corn syrup.

The Brown-Forman and Constellation suits could be just investors thinking the wine expansion was going to last forever. The Diageo accusation, if true, could pretty well kill these brands, especially the super-premium (aka expensive) Casamigos, a brand started by George Clooney and friends in 2013 and purchased by Diageo in 2017 for an estimated $1 billion.

 

Winery Tax for Marketing

Many in the Sonoma County wine industry believe more marketing will help alleviate the slump in wine sales. I doubt anyone is against the idea. Some are proposing a controversial way of doing the marketing. A one percent tax would be imposed on all direct-to-consumer sales in the county. This would include tasting room sales of wine, food, merchandise, even including wine club shipments. 

There are other ways to do this. A direct charge to the buying customer isn't it. This seems like a desperation move. 

The charge could be done so you won't see it on your receipt as an added fee. However, in the end, it will be the consumer paying.

There's an approval process, including a vote by wineries and approval by the county supervisors and various city councils.