The International Wine Intelligence Division
The world’s opinion, measured, smoothed and published.
Global sentiment, regional performance, consumer confidence and the Outlook: the Division’s readings, to one decimal place.
The Division’s measurement system
Seven instruments, one vocabulary
Every reading on this page is expressed in the Institution’s own units, each of which has been defined, and several of which have been defended.
Global Wine Sentiment Index
A 0–100 reading of international mood, taken monthly and adjusted for the weather.
International Wine Quality Index
The composite quality reading for a region, weighted by credibility and aspiration.
Consumer Palate Confidence Quotient
A measure of how sure consumers are of what they have just said.
Trend Momentum Score
The speed, between 0 and 100, with which an idea becomes a fixture.
Vintage Intelligence Score
The consensus performance of a vintage, once consensus has been reached.
Regional Credibility Grade
A bond-style grade, from Aaa to C, of a producer’s reliability in its own claims.
Global Wine Outlook
The Division’s forward view, expressed in a single, reassuring phrase.
Overall Disappointment Index
Measured in Dregs. Higher is worse, and extremely precise.
Global wine sentiment
The Global Wine Sentiment Index, 24 months
The Index reached 78.2 in October, its highest reading in eleven quarters, attributed to a favourable autumn and an unusually restrained quarter for pronouncements.
Drivers
Favourable weather, a sustained decline in the use of the word “vibrant,” and a record number of restaurant wine lists reduced to a single page.
Risks
An unseasonably large number of panel discussions scheduled for the coming quarter.
Outlook
The Division expects continued moderate sentiment, subject to further moderation.
International wine quality
The International Wine Quality Index by region
Twelve principal regions, ranked by IWQI, with quarterly movement, credibility and the Division’s assessment of regional mood.
| Region | IWQI | Q/Q | Credibility | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douro Valley | 84.2 | +2.1 | 88 | Buoyant |
| Mosel | 82.7 | +1.4 | 91 | Buoyant |
| Burgundy | 79.9 | -0.6 | 86 | Pensive |
| Rhône | 78.4 | +0.9 | 82 | Cautious |
| Tuscany | 76.8 | +1.8 | 79 | Cautious |
| Bordeaux | 75.2 | -1.2 | 90 | Brooding |
| Rioja | 73.9 | +0.3 | 74 | Cautious |
| Mendoza | 72.6 | +2.9 | 70 | Buoyant |
| Barossa | 70.1 | -0.4 | 68 | Pensive |
| Stellenbosch | 69.4 | +1.1 | 72 | Cautious |
| Marlborough | 67.8 | +0.2 | 66 | Pensive |
| Willamette | 66.3 | -0.8 | 64 | Brooding |
Regional wine performance
Where the world’s opinion is concentrated
Select a region on the map to view the Division’s reading.
Consumer confidence
The Consumer Palate Confidence Quotient
Drawn from 3,116 interviews across 41 territories. The Quotient currently stands at 71.6.
Only 31 per cent of consumers described themselves as confident in their opinion of a wine. A further 14 per cent described themselves as confident, which the Division classifies separately, as Pretending.
The Division notes with interest that 6 per cent of respondents were Lying Down at the time of the interview, and has recorded them as a distinct, and well-rested, category.
Emerging wine trends
Six movements under observation
Scored by the Trend Momentum Score, where 100 is a fixture and 0 is a rumour.
Anticipatory Decanting
Wine is decanted shortly before it is considered, rather than shortly before it is poured.
Post-Terroir Positioning
A growing preference for describing a wine’s place of origin as “a feeling.”
Reassuring-Weight Bottles
Bottle mass now correlates at 0.74 with perceived seriousness.
Reductive Label Typography
Labels now carry fewer words and substantially more space around them.
The Single-Vintage Vertical
Tastings of twelve bottles of one vintage, conducted for the sake of thoroughness.
Orange Wine Nostalgia
Consumers are recalling orange wine as a period of formative experimentation.
Vintage intelligence
The Vintage Intelligence Score, 2018–2025
Seven principal regions across eight vintages. Darker cells indicate a higher consensus score, and a greater willingness to say so.
Market positioning
Price confidence against label conviction
Ten wines plotted by how sure their price is, and how sure their label is. The upper right is the most confident quadrant, and the most expensive.
Wine credibility assessments
The Regional Credibility Grade
Producers graded on the reliability of their own claims, from Aaa to Ba2. Sort any column.
Global wine outlook
Cautiously optimistic, with reservations
The Division’s forward view for the coming four quarters.
The Global Wine Outlook stands at 61 on the Division’s 100-point scale, a reading classified as “Cautiously Optimistic, With Reservations.”
The Division anticipates stable demand, moderate pricing and sustained interest in the language of wine, which is expected to outgrow wine itself by a margin of 2.4 per cent. A downside scenario, in which a new adjective enters general use, has been modelled and is not considered likely.
The full Outlook is published in the 2026 Global Wine Positioning Review, available in the Research Library.