In the red wine-dominant Rhône Valley, white wine is gaining in both production and prestige. In Lirac, for example, annual volumes of white wine have nearly doubled and now account for almost 12 percent of the appellation’s production. Meanwhile, Gigondas added white wines to the AOC in 2022, and Rasteau and Vinsobres are both petitioning to do the same.
While this represents a meaningful shift for the Rhône, the trend is occurring more broadly with white wine production growing in several other regions that are more typically known for red wines. With wine sales down, producers are searching for new ways to attract consumers, and, as the 2025 Silicon Valley Bank “State of the U.S. Wine Industry” report highlighted, white wine is one of the few categories in the wine industry that is experiencing positive growth.
Now, many producers are giving their white wines as much attention as their top reds—but hurdles still remain. Changing production regulations for European wine regions is no small task. But what’s harder is changing the perception of a region in the minds of consumers, or even the trade.
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Shifting Preferences Towards White Wine
“The market is moving towards more drinkable wines,” says Helen Durand, the owner of Domaine du Trapadis, and the leader in the effort to add white wines to the Rasteau AOC. According to Durand, that translates to a preference for whites, which are often more acid-driven, lower in alcohol, and generally fresher than the international style of red wine that once reigned.
Bordeaux is seeing some of the same developments as the Rhône. “The Medoc has applied to add white wine to the appellation,” says Mary Gorman-McAdams, MW, who is at work on a book about white Bordeaux for the Académie du Vin’s Classic Wine Library. “There are probably about 100 producers making white wine in the region at the moment, but those are [currently labeled as] AOC Bordeaux.”
According to the CIVB, exports of white Bordeaux to the U.S. grew over one-third by volume and almost doubled in value from 2015 to 2023. But Gorman-McAdams says that growth could be stronger. “Producers have really exciting [white] wines, but their importer partners aren’t bringing them in.” In a catch-22 that highlights the difficulty of shifting the perception of a region, Gorman-McAdams says Bordeaux gets slighted by their partners for not being innovative, but then those partners refuse to take on these forward-looking white wines because “that’s not Bordeaux.”
In Rioja, it is the popularity of another Spanish wine that has brought new energy to the region’s white wines. “There’s a trend toward drinking things that are less heavy than red wines,” says Mercedes García Rupérez, the winemaker at Bodegas Montecillo, “but it’s the success of Albariño that is pulling the rest of the white wines in Spain.” Montecillo makes three white wines, but only recently began introducing them to the U.S. market. They focus on Viura, Tempranillo Blanco, and Garnacha Blanca, and while the Rioja Consejo allows a number of international white varieties, the indigenous varieties, and Viura in particular, are leading the way.
Growing Diversity of White Grapes
The success of Albariño also shows that white wine drinkers are moving outside the narrow range of international varieties and styles—namely Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio—that once dominated. “There’s been a big move away from what was called the ‘Denis Dubourdieu method’ to better express terroir and not the thiols of Sauvignon Blanc,” says Gorman-McAdams. The late Dubourdieu specialized in white winemaking, particularly those with high levels of thiols, and was highly influential; he owned several estates, was a professor of enology at the University of Bordeaux, and consulted for more than 70 Bordeaux properties.
Local but less well-known white varieties are getting renewed consideration from drinkers and growers alike. Dubourdieu put the focus solidly on Sauvignon Blanc, but Gorman-McAdams says Bordeaux’s other primary white grape, Semillon, is seeing a return to favor among producers who feel it can make a wine that is more reflective of and unique to Bordeaux’s terroir. Producers are also experimenting with other varieties; Gorman-McAdams says she tasted Chardonnay, Merlot Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and even Riesling on a recent visit.
Growers are also reconsidering what grapes actually grow best in their vineyards. In the warm Rhône Valley, “Climate change is leading us to consider planting late-ripening and resilient grape varieties in order to preserve the sugar/acidity balance,” says Durand, citing varieties such as Carignan Blanc, Mourvedre Blanc, Vermentino, and Assyrtiko as examples.
While consumers are certainly more open to wines outside of international favorites, selling a Riesling from Bordeaux or an Assyrtiko from the Rhône is still a hurdle for producers, whether because of the importer or the end consumer.
Improving Quality of White Wines
Given today’s competitive international wine market and the category’s downward sales trajectory, white wines from red-dominant regions need a renewed focus on quality to earn drinkers’ attention—and provide a sales boost for producers.
White wine is not new to the Rhône—there are 70- and 80-year-old Grenache Blanc and Clairette Blanche vines in Rasteau—but elevating the wines from the more generic Côtes du Rhône appellation into the crus reflects a new emphasis on quality. The growth of whites in the Rhône is both quantitative and qualitative, says Louis Barruol, the owner of Château de Saint Cosme and the co-president of AOC Gigondas. “The white wines in the Rhône have dramatically increased in quality in the last 20 years,” he says. “Growers have developed a personal and technical interest in the whites.”
Across the border in Piedmont, native varieties like Arneis and Gavi’s Cortese, have grown, filling the gap left by Barbera and Dolcetto, which are both fading due to lack of demand and, in Barbera’s case, disease pressure. Arneis plantings are up almost 700 hectares since 2008, and Gavi’s Cortese has also expanded by over 300 hectares. But Luca Currado, the co-owner of Cascina Penna-Currado in Serralunga d’Alba, says plantings of Arneis have probably peaked, and while Gavi has proven a reliable producer of simpler white wines, “the most important Piemontese white is becoming Timorasso,” Currado says, “and in particular in the town and appellation of Derthona.” More than 400 hectares of Timorasso have been planted since 2008, an astonishing tenfold growth for a grape that faced extinction not long ago.
The key to Timorasso’s growth is quality. Currado’s wife, Elena Penna, runs the Derthona consortium, where membership has grown from 14 producers when they started in 2017 to over 100 today. Many are Barolo and Barbaresco producers, including highly regarded names such as Gaja, Rivetti, and Pio Cesare. “All the top producers are planting Timorasso,” says Currado. He says the once-endangered grape offers producers the chance to make wines with the complexity and aging potential that will merit inclusion next to their Barolos and Barbarescos.
As more and more of these wines reach U.S. shelves, our concept of what is Piedmont—or the Rhône or Bordeaux or Rioja—needs to change.
Dispatch
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Jim Clarke writes about wine, beer, and spirits for trade and consumer publications, including Beverage Media, Fortune, and World of Fine Wine. He is a sommelier and the U.S. marketing manager for Wines of South Africa.
