The short story of German Riesling in 2025 is that summertime optimism for the greatest confluence of high quality and high volume in at least a decade was literally washed away with excessive rainfall at harvest time. The full story is, of course, more nuanced and complicated.

Among my new co-workers there was one individual—the second newest guy, as it happened—who proved to be exceedingly friendly. This young man's name was Jesse Willis, and though he was not quite 20 years old when I met him, he had already amassed fascinating credentials.

We're excited and relieved to share that the Alberta government's ad valorem wine tax has been recalled! In its place will be a slight increase on the “flat” tax that wine has traditionally been subjected to in the province, with positive effects on pricing incrementally working their way through retail shelves and restaurant lists over the weeks and months following April 1, 2026.

The ad valorem wine tax is an unprecedented change in Alberta’s 30+ years of privatized liquor history. We have never had a system different to the standard flat rate. Therefore we are calling for this new ad valorem tax to be reviewed and revised a year after its effect. There are a plethora of small independent businesses in Alberta that will not be able to survive the 5 years before this change is reviewed. The continued erosion of businesses and wines in our province will lead to a sterile landscape where Albertans have little choice. This is detrimental to the livelihoods of Albertans both economically and culturally.