THE DISPATCH
What’s moving in the wine world this week:
In Bordeaux, 28 Bakus weeding robots are now operating across more than 600 hectares — including at Smith Haut Lafitte, where the autonomous units have replaced glyphosate spraying entirely. The technology is no longer a pilot. It is a hiring decision.
In California, vineyard acreage dropped 5.6% in 2024 — the steepest single-year decline on record. The retreat is being led by inland regions where water costs have outpaced bulk grape prices.
For U.S. importers: the federal court ruling against Trump-era tariffs has triggered refund processing on duties paid since April 2025. Distributors with European inventory are recalculating margins for the first time in eighteen months.
THE FEATURE
The Winemaker and the Machine
A robot named Ted navigates Cognac vineyards without a human guide, reading soil conditions and adjusting irrigation in real time. It is the image precision viticulture’s advocates point to when explaining why this technology feels inevitable.
But the real story is more complicated. The global precision viticulture market is projected to grow from $3.24 billion in 2024 to $9.51 billion by 2032. Italian vineyards using these tools have cut water consumption by 20 percent. Australian operations have reduced irrigation by half.
Yet the gap is widening between winemakers who can afford the tools and those who cannot. And the deeper question is what these systems leave out. A sensor tells you the Grenache block is dry — but only the winemaker can decide whether that is a problem or the point.
→ Read the full article: terroirwine.org/precision-viticulture-technology-wine/
THE PICK
Catena Alta Malbec 2021, Mendoza
The Splurge
The 2021 Catena Alta is an assemblage of five historic rows, including Lot 9 of the Adrianna vineyard at 1,450 meters in Tupungato. Nicolás Catena planted it after a year at UC Berkeley in 1982, convinced Mendoza could match what he’d seen in Napa. The vineyard bears his youngest daughter’s name. Eighteen months in French oak. Decant for an hour.
At that altitude, UV thickens the skins and slows ripening; cold Andean nights preserve the acidity that lower elevations lose. The result is a Malbec with structure and lift: black plum, violet, graphite, cedar.
A wine that earns its place at the table without making a show of it. Four generations of one family choosing which rows go under their name.
→ Find it at Wine.com
Until next Thursday,
The editors of TERROIR