AUGUST 3, 2020 – WINE NEWS FETCH

TOP NEWS

• Wine.com Seeks Funding at Valuation of More Than $1 Billion
• Facing 60% hit to key sales channels, smaller wineries need to stash cash, cherish loyal consumers: Moramarco
• A Beverage Alcohol Tariff War Of 2020 May Not Yet Be Over
• Alcohol SKUs drop at supermarkets (along with most other categories). Will this COVID effect be permanent?
• 1/3 of U.S. Restaurants Face Permanent Closure This Year (possible paywall)
• The Judgment of Paris demonstrated nothing, statistically speaking
• Streamlining a Large Custom Crush Operation for Clients and Cellar Staff (Sponsored)

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Wine off-premise dollar sales growth up 19.7%, still lags spirits up 29.3%: Nielsen
• Gallo PR tries to distance winery and Gallo Cattle Co., but no proof available.
• At least 244 California wineries and vineyards received between $145 & $328 million from Paycheck Protection Program

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• Champagne sales are plummeting as celebrations get canceled amid the pandemic
• VA: Recent weather impacts quality of local wine
• 3 Takeaways From Rosé Wine’s Weird Summer Season
• How To Really Send Your Samples To Prospective Distributors and Importers (Sponsored)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Former AI company CEO now reviving historic Sullivan Rutherford Estate
• COVID-19 rages in county that dismissed farmworker risk (possible paywall)
• PG&E CEO departs amid quarterly loss, other struggles
• Results Are Out For The First Edition Of Paris Wine Cup (Sponsored)

COVID REDUX: RE-OPENING

• WA: Winery owners, customers welcome return of outdoor wine tasting
• BC: Revised Health Order Permits Standing in Tasting Rooms

COVID & HOSPITALITY

• Reopening Installment #2: Déjà Vu-19

HEALTH

• North Coast wineries grapple with proposed U.S. health guidelines to curb alcohol use for men
• US health guidelines for alcoholic beverages (PDF)

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• How To Build Your Online Presence To Drive Your Delivery & Curbside Sales? (Sponsored)

DROUGHT/WATER

• Drought and the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, 2012–2016: Environmental Review and Lessons

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Accelerating transformations to organic wine production. Insights into Panzano (Tuscany)

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Paul Mabray & Polly Hammond on helping the wine industry go digital (video)
• Follow-up: The sham and hypocrisy behind the three-tier system
• Grow Your Delivery and Curbside Pick Up Business*(Sponsored)

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Coca Cola Re-enters the Booze Business
• New executive appointments at Pernod Ricard UK

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• Bordeaux Vintners Look to Provence
• Big-Money Investors Gear Up For A Trillion-Dollar Bet On Farmland

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• US$2m online wine sale is Christie’s biggest yet

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• One Uncomfortable Restaurant Wine List Experience Changed my Life

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Washington farms ask for record number of foreign workers

MATTERS OF TASTE

• The OG Hard Seltzer? Lambrusco
• Why wine matters

WINE PEOPLE

• Cape Wine Master Winnie Bowman on women winemakers and the state of the SA wine industry
• Catching Up With Kyle Knapp of Stolpman Vineyards
• Mark Friszolowski continues to help the wine industry’s grow in Davidson County

ACADEMIA

• Oregon State Professor Takes Helm of American Society for Enology and Viticulture

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Glutathione: what is it and why is it in my wine? (video)

EUROPE & THE UK

• EU to change duty threshold on alcohol

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Pregnancy Warning Made Compulsory On Alcohol Within Three Years
• OZ: Gourmet Traveller Wine tries to trade out of administration

SOUTH AFRICA

• Alcohol industry welcomes a call by SA Medical Research Council to review alcohol ban
• But the booze keeps flowing…

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Launching the Sommeliers Association of Zimbabwe

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• Giving Bourbon the Burgundy Treatment