Let me be honest, I almost skipped the opening session because Paris Expo Porte de Versailles was already extremely busy by 9am, and the queue to access the exhibition was extremely long extending all the way to the metro exit. However, that queue, as it turned out, was where the fair actually began for me.
Wine Paris has grown into something that is now difficult to categorise; it is not quite a trade fair, nor a symposium, nor a tasting marathon. In fact, it is actually all three combined into one, compressed into three days that leave you simultaneously exhausted and energised. For anyone serious about understanding where the wine world is heading, it has become challenging to ignore this prestigious event.
This year I made a deliberate choice of spending my two days stepping outside my usual Italian-focused wine regions and instead invested most of my time with producers and experts from elsewhere. The goal was simple, to see familiar challenges through unfamiliar eyes, and to understand what different regions are doing with the same pressures: warming climates, shifting markets, the perennial question of how to sell an identity rather than just a grape. What follows are my notes, impressions, and a few opinions.
The Masterclasses: Where the Thinking Happens
The educational programme has been enhanced considerably; these are no longer gentle guided tastings with a PowerPoint backdrop. In fact, the best sessions this year were structured arguments, with wines as evidence. I attended seven masterclasses across two days. Here are the ones that have stayed with me.
Cool Contemporary Australian Chardonnay, Wine Australia / Emma Symington MW
Australia has pulled off a remarkable rebranding act with Chardonnay, and this session made the case with clarity. Emma Symington MW is a precise, authoritative presenter, and the flight she had assembled told a coherent story about a country that spent decades overcooking its most famous white grape, but has now spent the last fifteen years learning restraint.
The regional differences were the real revelation. The tension in a Yarra Valley Chardonnay versus the broader, saltier texture of Margaret River is not a marketing distinction, it is audible in the glass. The Adelaide Hills and Hunter Valley wines leaned into linearity in a way that would not embarrass a serious Burgundy tasting.
The question I kept asking myself: why does Australian Chardonnay still have to fight for credibility in Europe? The answer, I suspect, is that the industry spent too long apologising for its past rather than celebrating its present.
- Handpicked Wines, Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay, 2022
- Oakridge ‘Vineyard Series Hazeldene’, Yarra Valley Chardonnay, 2023
- Heirloom Vineyards ‘Assen’s Fortalice’, Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, 2024
- Tyrell’s ‘Vat 47’, Hunter Valley Chardonnay, 2023
- Vasse Felix, Margaret River Chardonnay, 2024
The Thousand and One Faces of Austrian Whites, Austrian Wine / Pascaline Lepeltier MS
Pascaline Lepeltier MS brought the kind of intellectual rigour to this session that makes you take notes quickly. The structure was three flights moving from indigenous varieties to international grapes reinterpreted through an Austrian lens, and finally to the country’s finest bottles, was elegant in its logic.
What struck me most was Austria’s consistency of identity. Whether the grape was Grüner Veltliner, Riesling or something more obscure, there was a recognisable thread: freshness, precision, a certain mineral bite that feels almost architectural. It is a style built for the table rather than the trophy cabinet.
The organic viticulture figures Lepeltier cited were striking too. Austria’s conversion rate to certified organic production is among the highest in the world for a country of its size. This is not a niche selling point; it is a structural advantage as buyers increasingly demand transparency from the vineyard.
Idiosyncratic, Indigenous Varieties & Styles
- Tinhof, Neuburger Ried Oberberg Eisenstadt, 2022, Leithaberg DAC
- Aumann Leo, Rotgipfler Ried Rodauner ‘1ÖTW’, 2023, Thermenregion DAC
- Zahel, Orangetraube, 2024, Österreich
- Christ, Gemischter Satz Ried Wiesthalen ‘1ÖTW’, 2019, Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC
Cosmopolitan, International Grapes with an Austrian Take
- Diwald, Furmint ‘von Hut’, 2022, Weinland
- Nittnaus Anita & Hans, Chardonnay Ried Freudhofer Jois, 2023, Leithaberg DAC
- Sabathi Hannes, Sauvignon Blanc Ried Gamlitser Kranachberg Kreuzweingarten Reserve, 2019, Südsteiermark DAC
- Prieler, Pinot Blanc Ried Steinweingarten, 2022, Leithaberg DAC
Icons, Exceptional Austrian Wines
- Ott Bernhard, Grüner Veltliner Ried Rosenberg Feuersbrunn ‘1ÖTW’, 2023, Wagram DAC
- Prager, Grüner Veltliner Ried Achleiten Weißenkirchen ‘Stockkultur’, 2023, Wachau DAC Smaragd
- Nikolaihof Wachau, Riesling ‘Vinothek’, 2008, Wachau
- Hirsch, Riesling Ried Zöbinger Heiligenstein-Rotfels ‘1ÖTW’, 2021, Kamptal DAC
Chenin Blanc: An Up-And-Coming Grape to Look Out For / Franck Thomas
The Loire needs fewer ambassadors and more converts, and this masterclass was designed to do exactly that. Franck Thomas built the session around a simple but compelling argument: Chenin Blanc, in its structure and versatility, is almost uniquely well suited to the contemporary wine demand.
High natural acidity means it ages. Moderate potential alcohol means it fits the current mood. Its ability to move convincingly from bone-dry to lusciously sweet, from still to sparkling, gives it a flexibility that few varieties can match. The Global Chenin Blanc Observatory data presented alongside the tasting added useful market context, showing that this is a grape with genuine commercial momentum, not just critical enthusiasm.
- Dechaume-Moncharmont, Chinon Roméo Grande Réserve, 2024
- Nicolas Paget, Harmonie, Touraine Azay-le-Rideau, 2022
- Château Soucherie, Savenières, Clos des Perrières, 2023
Riesling: An Australian Classic, Wine Australia / Emma Symington MW
If the Chardonnay session was about transformation, this one was about fidelity. Australian Riesling has not chased trends. It has stayed focused on what it does: high-toned, laser-precise acidity, low alcohol, and an ageing curve that makes many European whites look premature.
The Clare Valley and Eden Valley comparison was pedagogically useful; two wine regions, less than a hundred kilometres apart, producing wines with genuinely distinct personalities. Clare is all steel and lime. Eden adds a floral register, something more perfumed and open. Great Southern, from the far west, introduced a maritime salinity that I found particularly appealing.
- Corryton Burge, Eden Valley Riesling, 2025
- Sons of Eden ‘Cirrus Single Vineyard’, High Eden Valley Riesling, 2022
- Kilikanoon ‘Mort’s Block 1973’, Clare Valley Riesling, 2024
- Harewood Estate ‘Porongurup’, Great Southern Riesling, 2025
- Harewood Estate ‘Porongurup Museum Release’, Great Southern Riesling, 2014
Discover Uruguayan Wine: New Wave Uruguay, Uruguay Wine / Amanda Barnes MW
This was the session I expected least from, and the one I left thinking about the most. Uruguay is a small country making a coherent argument for itself, and Amanda Barnes MW is exactly the kind of presenter it needs: informed, enthusiastic, and honest about the challenges.
The wines showed something I had not anticipated, restraint. The Atlantic influence keeps temperatures moderate and alcohol levels in check. The Albaríno was genuinely surprising, saline, with a tension you would more readily associate with Galicia than South America.
Tannat, Uruguay’s signature grape, has been reshaped by a younger generation of producers who have stopped trying to compete with Malbec on density. The results are more interesting, and more honest.
- Viña Progreso, Underground Pet Nat Albaríno, 2025
- Juanicó/Deicas, Atlántico Sur Albaríno, 2025
- Pisano, RPF Albaríno, 2025
- BraccoBosca Winery, La Revuelta del Clarete, 2024
- Bodega Cerro del Toro, Singular Pinot Noir Clon 777, 2023
- Pizzorno Family Estates, Tannat Maceración Carbónica, 2025
- Antigua Bodega, Bella Donna Tannat, 2023
- Nakkal Wines, Anfor Tinto, 2023
- De Lucca Wines, Sangiovese Indígena, 2025
- Bodega Cerro Chapéu, Castel Pujol Manseng Noir, 2025
Hidden Gems of Portugal, Wines of Portugal / Dirceu Vianna Junior MW
Portugal has a credibility problem, which is also an opportunity, with very few people in the industry and almost nobody outside it being able to name its indigenous varieties. Dirceu Vianna Junior MW is well aware of this and spent the session making the case that complexity and specificity, the very things that make Portuguese wine difficult to communicate about, are precisely what the market is starting to want.
The lesser-known varieties presented here were the point. Not Alvarinho, nor Touriga Nacional, but other wines that nobody at a dinner party would immediately reach for; some of them were extraordinary. The capacity of Portugal’s native grapes to retain acidity in warming conditions is not incidental; it is going to matter enormously in the next years.
- Andreza, Códega do Larinho, White, 2024, Porto e Douro
- Bacalhôa, Bical Vinhas Velhas, White, 2022, Bairrada
- Dona Fátima, Jampal, White, 2022, Lisboa
- Quinta de São Sebastião, Cercial, White, 2020, Lisboa
- Arvad, Negra Mole, Red, 2024, Algarve
- Herdade de São Miguel Pé de Mãe, Trincadeira, Red, 2023, Alentejo
Licence to Sparkle: German Premium Sekt, German Wine Institute
German Sekt has had a reputation problem for decades, largely earned by the industrial volumes of cheap, sweetened fizz that dominated the domestic market and, to a certain extent, the export markets. This session was there to argue that the category has moved on, and the wines made the argument better than any presenter could.
Traditional Method, single-vineyard sourcing, extended lees ageing, and low dosage – the structure is there. What impressed me the most was the freshness, bonded with chalky, almost saline notes, reminiscent of some of the best Traditional Method wines in the global market. Whether the market is ready to pay similar prices to the ones of more globally renowned wine regions for German Sekt is a different question, but it is no longer an unfair one to ask.
- Deutsches Weintor eG, Sauvignon Blanc Brut, 2022, Pfalz
- Weingut Eckehart und Johannes Gröhl, Pinot Blanc Brut, NV, Rheinhessen
- Weingut Weinreich, Cuvée Mineral Brut (Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay), NV, Rheinhessen
- Weingut Scheuermann, Blanc et Noir Brut Nature (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir), NV, Pfalz
The Conversations You Cannot Programme
I spent time at stands I had not visited before, which is where Wine Paris repays the effort of arriving with an open agenda rather than a fixed appointment list. What you hear in these conversations is rarely the official line.
At Mas Des Infermières, a estate in the Luberon AOC, the conversation quickly moved past the usual appellation talking points. What caught my attention was how the producer described working with the tension between Mediterranean heat and the altitude of Haute Provence: the same temperature range that makes the reds feel fresh rather than cooked, and the whites arrive with an energy you do not always expect from the southern Rhône. It is the kind of appellation that rewards curiosity.
The Arras encounter was one of the most unexpected of the fair. When the conversation turned to Traditional Method Sparkling wine from Tasmania, the immediate reaction in most European circles is polite scepticism. The wines dissolved that quickly. Arras is operating in one of the coldest vineyard climates in the southern hemisphere, and the results, extended lees ageing, genuine autolytic complexity, real tension in the base wines, sit comfortably alongside serious Traditional Method wines from globally renowned wine regions. The distance from the market, both literally and in terms of perception, remains the challenge.
What I Am Taking Away
Two days is not enough time to form firm opinions, but it is enough to notice patterns, and these felt consistent this year.
Freshness is winning. Across regions, varieties and price points, the wines that generated the most genuine excitement, among buyers, educators and producers alike, were those that prioritised tension over power, definition over extraction. This is not merely a stylistic fashion; it reflects a real shift in what people want to drink, and in what vineyards facing rising temperatures can sustainably produce.
Identity matters more than ever. The producers commanding attention were those with a clear and honest sense of what their place produces. Uruguay’s Atlantic freshness. Austria’s architectural precision. Portugal’s genetic wealth. These are not marketing positions; they are genuine differences that the market is beginning to reward.
The encounter that sharpened all of this into focus came at the end, tasting through the El Enemigo single vineyard range from Argentina, with plots ranging from 930 to 1,470 metres above sea level. Altitude viticulture is not a new story, but hearing it told through wines with that kind of range and clarity made the point more vividly than any seminar could.
It was a fitting close to two days spent trying to understand not just where wine has been, but where it is going.