History of the TLD

.wine is a generic top-level domain created under ICANN’s New gTLD Program and delegated to the DNS root zone on 5 August 2015. The registry rights were awarded to Donuts (June Station, LLC) after a private auction in 2014, and it was subsequently launched for general registration. The TLD was designed to serve businesses, organisations, and individuals associated with the wine industry.

Main Use and Industry Position

.wine is primarily used by entities involved in the wine market, including wineries, vineyards, retailers, sommeliers, wine clubs, bloggers, reviewers, and other wine-related services. It signals relevance to wine culture and commerce, making it a thematic choice compared with more generic TLDs. Adoption spans commercial brands, community sites, and lifestyle platforms focused on wine products and services globally.

Comparison to Other TLDs

Compared with broad TLDs such as .com or .net, .wine offers industry-specific branding that clearly communicates beverage and viticulture relevance. It differs from geographic TLDs like .au or .fr by having no location constraints and from informational TLDs like .info by its niche association. Compared with other thematic TLDs such as .beer or .food, .wine provides a focused namespace for wine-centric business and culture.

Pros and Cons of the TLD

Pros

• Signals direct association with wine products, services, and culture

• Open registration with no eligibility restrictions

• Supports DNSSEC for domain security

Cons

• Niche appeal may limit general Internet recognition

• Pricing may be higher than mainstream TLDs

• Competitive branding may exist within wine sector domains

Registration Criteria

.wine domains are available on a first-come, first-served basis with no specific eligibility restrictions. Any individual or organisation may register .wine domains. Registrants can use letters, numbers, and hyphens subject to standard technical rules, and Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) are supported.

Summary

.wine is an active generic top-level domain launched in 2015 to provide a dedicated namespace for wine-related brands, services, communities, and content. Managed by Donuts with backend technical services through Identity Digital, it offers open registration and thematic value for wine industry and enthusiast use cases.