The 6 biggest wine stories of 2024

Happy New Year from The Wine Fairy–and for bloggers and scrollers, a very happy List Week! This is the time of year when all of our favorite wine critics are posting lists of their top bottles of the year. We didn’t keep good enough tasting notes in 2024…so yeah, we’re not doing that.

Instead, our year-end list is focused on the biggest emerging wine stories from 2024. From tariffs to Albariño to the ubiquitous Josh Cab, these are the wine topics that made us look up from our glass and take notice.

1. Non-Alcoholic Wines

Non-alcoholic wines have been around forever, mostly relegated to the bottom row of the grocery-store shelf. (Sutter Home’s Fre has been occupying that spot since the 1980s.) But in 2024, they’re having their moment in the sun. Gone are the days of champagne flutes of Martinelli’s cider and tonic-and-limes at the bar. Along with mocktails, seltzers, and zero-proof spirits, booze-less wines are part of a broader trend toward more sophisticated, gourmet-leaning alternatives to alcohol.

Those who track wine-industry trends noticed a sharp uptick in searches for non-alcoholic wine beginning about mid-2022. Producers rushed to get their non-alcoholic entries to market, and now here we are: Zero ABV wines in every flavor and format. In August, the New York Times treated sober and sober-curious sippers to a detailed tasting review of several of the major brands. The non-alcoholic wine trend is even a minor subplot on the current season of Netflix’s “Emily in Paris.” (Spoiler: Emily didn’t like it.)

2. Josh Cab

The sudden virality of Josh Cabernet is a random development that just might destroy a perfectly quaffable red wine. Josh Cellars was founded in 2007 and is now the best-selling premium table wine in the United States. Despite what you might assume from the classy script on its minimalist parchment label, it usually retails for around 12 to 15 bucks.

Josh wines have long been a fun gag gift for people named Josh. But now that it’s spawned a thousand memes, everybody chuckles at this bottle.

The Wine Fairy isn’t on Twitter/X, but we understand that the Josh renaissance began with a widely-viewed post from a foodie influencer. Then came the memes. Then came the Saturday Night Live skits. The Stanley-tumbler spoof Big Dumb Cups has Dakota Johnson (as a “spiritually blond” Utah mom) praising the sippy cup that “holds almost an entire bottle of Josh. Get in there, Josh!” In October, Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris name-checked Josh Cabernet while serving herself massive pours in front of the television.

Once the meme fever subsides, Josh will probably be yesterday’s news and no self-respecting wine shop or restaurant will stock it. That’s too bad. We’ll have to wait and see what the next moderately-priced, respectable-but-not-showy, hostess-giftable, BBQ-friendly big red wine will be.

3. Albariño

Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio are still wildly successful staples of nearly every restaurant and bar. Thanks to their wide availability, food-friendly acidity, and good-enough quality at nearly every price point, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

But as customer preference continues to shift toward crisp, lower-alcohol, and often unoaked white wines, there are other winners emerging: Vinho Verde, Verdejo, and yes, single-varietal Albariño/Alvarinho. Young, easy-drinking wines from Portugal and Spain are popping up on wine lists of all sorts–not just at the tapas bar.

Last summer, the New York Times ran a feature entitled, “Is Albariño the Next Great White Wine? It Depends.” (With so many wine importers concentrated in New York, it seems like The Times is always a few months ahead of the rest of us in calling out wine trends.) In 2024, I began to spot glasses of Albariño on menus in the perpetually un-hip Dallas suburb of Plano, TX. And on Google, searches for “albariño” and “rías baixas” (its primary region) are way up year over year.

I’m personally thrilled to see the Albariño train picking up steam. I’m discovering it along with everyone else, enchanted by its blossomy aromas, abundance of stone and citrus fruit, and refreshing salinity. I order Albariño nearly every time I see it–it’s a beautiful apertif and the price is always right. I hope bars and restaurants will continue to take a chance on lesser-known varieties, because wine learners relish the opportunity to try them by the glass.

4. Climate Change

Not trying to be a bummer, but climate change is real and it’s coming for the wine industry. The news is making wine lovers nervous. (But not as nervous as java-heads, at least. When it comes to drastically increased prices and demand-driven shortages, the coffee apocalypse is probably first.)

In researching this post, I went down a depressing climate-change rabbit hole so you don’t have to. The takeaways: Wine grapes are already fussy about temperature and rainfall. Heat and drought–along with increasingly unpredictable severe weather events–are certain to shrink the size and yields of many heritage growing sites. Worldwide, harvests are getting earlier, which means growing seasons are getting shorter, which means quality is certain to take a hit. Warm-climate vines can be very productive, but they often fail to reach the levels of acidity and complexity that fine-wine drinkers expect.

On the plus side, positive adaptations are on the horizon. Winemakers are working to become familiar with heat-loving grapes and integrate these varieties into their vineyards and their blends. Hearty reds like Aglianico, Tempranillo, and Shiraz may become more prominent in the wines of the future.

Regulatory bodies are pro-actively responding to climate change, too. In 2019, Bordeaux’s governing body unanimously approved a list of seven “varieties of interest”–heat-tolerant grapes that will join the historically permitted varieties. Although the non-traditional grapes (including Portugal’s Touriga Nacional) can make up a only small portion of the blend, they will be an indelible part of Bordeaux’s story on a warming planet.

A lot of wine lovers–including me–like to treat wine as an escapist pleasure that’s separate from the concerns of the world. But it’s undeniably an agricultural product, and in 2024 consumers are beginning to pay attention to the harsh reality that has been confronting the industry for a while.

5. Tariffs

With Trump’s victory in 2024 came the specter of new tariffs on imports to the United States. That includes, of course, wine–with the United States being the largest importer of wine in the world.

France, especially is bracing itself for an impact on the wine industry. In 2019, then-president Trump imposed a 25% tariff on most wines from Europe during a trade dispute over Airbus subsidies. In one year, French wines endured a 40% sales drop and an estimated loss of 600 million euros as customers’ buying habits changed in response to higher U.S. prices.

This time, with a proposed 20% tariff on all imported goods, even more countries’ wine industries will suffer. It’s an annoying prospect for consumers, too, who ultimately end up paying the import tax. That holiday Veuve Cliquot splurge just got splurge-ier–and should the tariffs take effect, there will be no cheapie Mendoza sparkler to relieve the pain. Under Trump’s scheme, American wines will be the only bottles not subject to the tax. There’s plenty of delicious wines being made in California and across the United States, of course–but who wants to drink those, only?

It goes without saying that almost nobody in the wine business is applauding this move, which stands to hurt importers, retailers, and wine-focused restaurants. (Wine isn’t a basic necessity, after all–which makes sales especially price-sensitive.) If the cost of a bottle or glass rises too high, consumers will cut back, dig deeper into their cellars, or pause buying wine altogether. One silver lining? It’s possible that domestic wine producers could see a windfall as sticker shock nudges customers away from their habitual favorites from Europe, South America, New Zealand, and Australia.

6. Celebrity Wines

Who is buying these? Somebody is! Wine Searcher estimates that the celebrity wine industry is worth about $50 million annually in the US alone. Besides the famous Brangelina rosés by Château Miraval, I’ve recently tried wines by singer John Legend and the country stars Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert.

Starting a wine or a liquor brand is a tried-and-true move that stars use to burnish their image–to come across as fun-loving and cultured at the same time. And sometimes, they make the big bucks, too. Miraval’s annual profits are reportedly in the millions, and George Clooney’s Casamigos Tequila sold to Diageo in 2017 for an estimated $1 billion.

2024 was a banner year for celebrity beverages (celeberages?). Dolly Parton launched her eponymous brand wine this summer. (The two Dolly Wines that are currently available in the U.S. are a Napa Chardonnay and a California Pinot Noir.) Reese Witherspoon is expanding into the wine biz with Drops of Sunshine. Andrea Bocelli has announced Boccelli1831, due for release in the first quarter of 2025. And in a remarkable fusion of two 2024 wine trends, pop princess Kylie Minogue is hawking the alcohol-free 0% Sparkling Blanc. It’s a follow-up release to join her 0% Sparkling Rosé, which has already sold over 1 million bottles.

Who is buying one million $15 bottles of pink grape kombucha from Kylie? Again, somebody sure is! (That acidic quality you detect in my voice is the taste of sour grapes…if The Wine Fairy had unlimited money and social capital to burn, we would absolutely start a winery.)

Well, those are the handful of wine stories that cut through the noise in 2024. We’re excited to see what next year brings. (Unless it’s more celebrity wines. I’ve been reading so many press releases for celebrity wines…you might say I just can’t get them out of my head.) Wishing you a relaxing holiday season, and may your glass always be full!