SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 – WINE NEWS FETCH

TOP NEWS

• TerrAvion Chapt 11: up to $50 million in liabilities, less than $50K in assets
• Some of Napa’s oldest Cabernet vines destroyed in Hennessey Fire (possible paywall)
• California Heatwave Leaves Grape Growers Sweating
• Nielsen: US market adapts to ‘new normal’ as wine sales slow
• COVID-Driven Online Wine Sales Are Here To Stay Post Pandemic
• Wine’s diversity issue starts with the way we talk about the taste of wine (possible paywall)
• Calif, Mass & NJ top 2020 Farm Real Estate Per-Acre value
• Power shut-offs are in your future. Keep crush moving. Click to reserve your generator NOW! (Sponsored)

OBITUARIES

• Royce Lewellen, retired Superior Court Judge, winery co-founder, dies at 89
• Obituary for winemaker Sam Balakian, 78
• Remembering Frédéric Mabileau

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Ag imagery firm TerrAvion files for Chapter 11 protection
• To Kalon Trial lawsuit gets underway
• Harvard-controlled LLC in $120+ million deal with anonymous LLC connected with Canadian pension fund.
• Ruby Grapes sues Intercoastal Wine charging criminal pandemic profiteering.
• Streamlining a Large Custom Crush Operation for Clients and Cellar Staff (Sponsored)

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• Creek Fire becomes ‘unprecedented disaster’ for Fresno County as it grows to 135,500 acres
• PG&E will turn off electricity to 40K people in Sonoma County during PSPS power shutoff for dangerous fire weather
• New evacuations ordered following flareup of Walbridge fire
• Oak fire in Mendocino County near Willits burns 700 acres
• California smoke taint test situation ‘unacceptable’ for growers

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• French Wine Volumes to Recover After Record-Early Grape Harvest
• English wine exports double
• English wine sales hit 5.5m bottles in 2019 – but setbacks ‘inevitable’ due to Covid-19
• Some Champagne sales remain buoyant despite gloom
• Face masks and fantastic wines characterise small, early vintage in Champagne
• UK’s overall consumption of alcohol halved during lockdown, data finds
• How To Really Send Your Samples To Prospective Distributors and Importers (Sponsored)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Santa Rosa orders sudden curtailment for farm irrigators after miscalculation on recycled water supply
• Lodi Growers Reduce Pesticide Risk
• Napa Valley’s farmworkers struggle to find child care
• Napa County approves more visitors for 2 wineries
• Sonoma Scrappy: Introducing Topophilia Wine Company
• Results Are Out For The First Edition Of Paris Wine Cup (Sponsored)

COVID-19

• Cocktails-to-go has a target on its back: Beware Hospitality Industry
• Arizona AG Files Brief Opposing Blanket COVID-Related Shutdown of Bars
• NY State Liquor Authority breaks mask rules while imposing mask fines

DIVERSITY

• 7 Takeaways For Women’s Success In The Business Of Wine And Spirits (Part One)
• 7 Takeaways For Women’s Success In The Business Of Wine And Spirits (Part Two)
• Times of BLM Correctness: Something So Simple in Petite Evolution Has Been Really So Complicated

HEALTH

• New dietary guidelines on alcohol consumption undercut sound science

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

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

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Fire, smoke, heat, drought — how climate change could spoil your next glass of California Cabernet

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• US Wine: the Shipping News
• Wine Online – Observations
• Grow Your Delivery and Curbside Pick Up Business*(Sponsored)

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Suntory renames European market divisions in realignment

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• Henkell Freixenet sells Deinhard wine business

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• Australia, all is not lost despite China’s trade tantrums

DISTRIBUTORS

• Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits Expands Proof™ eCommerce Platform to 27 U.S. Markets

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Fine wine indices rise in August
• Investment App Rally Is Offering Shares Of Some Of The World’s Finest Wines

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• Mattia Scarpazza: how it’s been for UK sommeliers back at work

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Wine packaging in the modern world is not (yet) sustainable
• Alternative formats for wine gain traction in UK
• Absolut trials paper bottle prototype

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Helping Musicians, Writers And Other Independent Contractors

MATTERS OF TASTE

• A Scientific Case for ‘Fingerprinting’ Terroir in a California AVA
• What’s the problem with celebrity wines?
• Grapes of the Rhone Valley: Cinsaut (aka Cinsault)
• In the Wine World We Should Stop Fretting about Objectivity
• High-Altitude Wines of Argentina

WINE PEOPLE

• From Wildfire To Pandemic, How One Napa Winemaker Keeps Going
• Talking El Dorado County Wine With Paul Bush

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• MX: Aguascalientes bets on wine route for economic boost

ACADEMIA

• Linfield University scholarship honors late wine journalist Lisa Shara Hall
• The Journal of Wine Research: a 30-year bibliographic analysis

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• What’s up the With Fruit Set Issues in California Grapes?
• Brettanomyces bruxellensis biofilm mode of life
• Farming Rises, Sports Tumbles in U.S. Industry Ratings

EUROPE & THE UK

• How Pouilly-Fuissé got Premier Cru recognition

DOWN UNDER

• Australia Endures a Year Like No Other

LATIN AMERICA

• How lockdown gave Chilean wineries a new audience

SOUTH AFRICA

• South Africa Booze, Tobacco Ban Created New Criminal Networks

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• Tennessee Whiskey’s Secrets Unlocked