SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 – WINE NEWS FETCH

TOP NEWS

• Napa Valley Vintners Makes Historic $1 Million Commitment to Increase Diversity in Wine Industry
• US market sees most significant rise in proportion of wine drinkers purchasing wine online
• 19% of Americans say they will shop earlier this holiday season, but 92/93% don’t plan to shop at Black or other minority-owned businesses
• 100,000 Restaurants Closed Six Months into Pandemic
• Power shut-offs are in your future. Keep crush moving. Click to reserve your generator NOW! (Sponsored)

SMOKE-CANCELED VINTAGES

• Napa’s Lamborn Family Vineyards cancels 2020 vintage over wildfire smoke damage
• Mendo/Anderson Valley winery Smith Story punts on smoke tainted 2020 grapes.

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Almeda fire destroys Southern Oregon winery: ‘We don’t have a single bottle of one of our wines left’
• TerrAvion Chapt 11: up to $50 million in liabilities, less than $50K in assets
• Streamlining a Large Custom Crush Operation for Clients and Cellar Staff (Sponsored)

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• Damage to Californian vineyards “minimal” according to Wine Institute, despite further wildfire outbreaks
• Oregon discourages, but can’t ban, farm work in the smoke
• Crops’ recovery from wildfires may take time, experts say

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• California harvest presses on despite record-shattering fires
• High off-trade consumption in UK grows demand for Australian wine
• Valdivieso: 2020 has been ‘interesting and challenging’
• Sommeliers Choice Awards Announces 2020 Winners (Sponsored link)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Sonoma’s vaunted wineries embrace online sales, budget pricing to woo pandemic drinkers (possible paywall)
• Appellation St. Helena awards scholarships to St. Helena High School students
• 2020 Bartender Spirits Awards Results Are Out (Sponsored link)

COVID-19

• California reverses block on Marin County reopening from coronavirus restrictions

DIVERSITY

• Napa Walks the Walk on Diversity

HEALTH

• Plans to record pregnant women’s alcohol consumption in England criticised

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• Many of California’s cannabis growers are uninsured and in the line of fire (possible paywall)

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• OR: Troon Vineyard achieves Demeter Certification
• Calif: Center of Effort Winery Achieves Status as SIP Certified for both vineyards and winery facility, and launches Harvest Up Close

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Grow Your Delivery and Curbside Pick Up Business*(Sponsored)

BREXIT

• UK could see wine ranges shrink as smaller wineries put off by Brexit paperwork

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Zachys sets 226 World Records and 475 European records in 864-lot auction with 100% lots sold
• Petrus 1926, Mouton 1945 sold in Zachys Michelin restaurant auction
• Destin Charity Wine Auction Goes Virtual for 2020 and Raises $1.35 Million

MARKETING BS? HYPE MAKES IT HARD TO TELL

• 3X3 Unlocks Growth for the Beverage Alcohol Industry with Cutting-Edge Marketing Technology

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• California Wine Country vintner steps up automation in latest label-removal device
• Pandemic unlocking growing opportunity for alternative wine formats in US and Canada

MEDIA MATTERS

• What we can all learn from ‘Le Grand Voyage’ Bordeaux video project

MATTERS OF TASTE

• The Valpo Prophecy
• The Vanishing Point
• In praise of wine typicity
• Taste is Knowing the Tissue of Little Things

WINE PEOPLE

• Ulli Stein Is Future-Proofing the Mosel
• The widows behind the sparkling wine

WINE TOURISM

• Make Way for a New Wave of Agritourism

WINE HISTORY

• What one should know about the history of wine

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

• The great grocery boom is slowing down

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Scientists Make Moves to Get Jump on Spotted Lanternfly

EUROPE & THE UK

• The tourists are leaving Italy. Now catastrophe looms
• WSTA: blockchain tech could ‘transform’ the UK wine and spirit industry, but government must act now

DOWN UNDER

• 200-years of Australian-French winemaking cooperation
• Wairarapa is New Zealand’s only growth tourism destination

SOUTH AFRICA

• Counting the cost of Covid-19 in South Africa

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• The Changing Tides of Craft Beer (podcast)
• Kirin’s subsidiaries distance themselves from Myanmar military scandal