“I think we can draw a parallel between the Olympics and the wine world. Like those so-called proper sports, certain wine regions are deemed to be worthy of greater reverence. For all the changes that have taken place in the last 30 years – the rise and rise of the New World and the ease with which winemakers and their ideas have crossed the globe – the pinnacle of wine quality is still French to most people. Collectors feel the same way,” writes Tim Atkin on his site. “That perception needs challenging. Like the idea that terroir is historic and only occurs in certain hallowed places, such as, say, Barolo, the Médoc, the Mosel or the Côte d’Or, the notion that traditional European wine regions, most notably those in France, have no peers elsewhere is ludicrous.”

“Denigration marketing is bad for the wine industry,” says Tom Wark, who finds descriptions like “toxic” and “poisonous” as unhelpful. “It gives the impression that the wine industry can’t be trusted; that the makers of wine have no integrity; that they don’t care about the environment; that they don’t care about their customers. None of this is true. But say it over and over again like Dry Farm Wines does and people start to believe it.”

On WineBusiness.com, Kerana Todorv considers the impact of California’s drought on this year’s bulk wine market.

In Wine Spectator, Bruce Sanderson reports on the changes afoot at the Piedmont’s Massolino, including a new Barbaresco and a rebranding of its iconic Barolo Vigna Rionda.

Alder Yarrow explores the wines of Domaine Curtet from the Savoie region of France. “I’ll put it bluntly. I don’t think I’ve met 30-year-old vigneron with more promise or conviction in my life, and I can’t wait to see what Curtet and his wife will have managed to produce in 10 years, when their vineyards look more like wild orchards, and his new plantings have some more complexity that comes with maturity.”

In Meininger’s, James Lawrence details who’s who in Catalunya.