OCTOBER 8, 2020 – WINE NEWS FETCH

TOP NEWS

• Latest Grass Fire Toll: 31 Wineries, Restaurants, and Lodges
• Alcohol industry calls for immediate end of tariffs on wine and spirits
• Once looked at as the savior of wine sales, Millennials are more financially impacted by COVID more than other generations
• Officials cracking down on illegal wine shipments in Michigan
• Restaurants beware: CDC says 6-foot rule could be undercut by newly cited COVID risk
• Napa wineries dub a ‘true hero’ of Glass Fire: a winemaker on a stunt motorcycle (possible paywall)
• Power shut-offs are in your future. Keep crush moving. Click to reserve your generator NOW! (Sponsored)

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Wine Country Starts Picking Up the Pieces
• Vintage Wine Estates smoke-taint insurance lawsuit scheduled for trial; Could set precedent
• Interview with Marcus Rafanelli, Winemaker, L’Ecole 41, Walla Walla, Washington
  (Sponsored)

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• Austrian exports hold up well during pandemic
• 2020 Best wines list for on-premise sector is out (Sponsored link)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Two new Napa County wineries approved for industrial area
• The Wonderful Company Announces $500,000 Expansion Of Its COVID-19 Relief Fund To The California Wine Region
• Napa Valley Beyond the Fires, Small Family Farms Are Bureaucratically Being Squeezed Out
• Sonoma County agrees to spend $35 million of PG&E settlement on fire prevention, affordable housing
• How Has The Role Of The Sommelier Evolved During COVID? (Sponsored link)

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• Family, Friends Save St. Helena Winery From Glass Fire
• Wine Grapes and Wildfire Smoke Pt 1 (podcast)

COVID-19

• Sonoma County falls short of state’s new COVID-19 equity metric

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• Can The Cannabis Industry Prepare For A Future Of Climate Change?
• Wine & Weed Virtual Symposium Registration Is Open

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Does sustainability sell? The new factors driving purchaser decision-making

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Michigan utilizes 21st Amendment Enforcement Act against two out-of-state entities
• MI: State Should Drink Up Monopoly Profits from Beer and Wine Wholesalers

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• NJ: Free the Grapes Campaign Aims to Change State Laws Restricting Wine-Shipping Options
• Selling Wine, Beer, And Spirits In America*(Sponsored)

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• How This Beverage Company Committed To Long-Term Growth After Their First $1 Million Investment

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• Tariff wars cause sharp decline in wine and whisky exports

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• How Somm’It helps their customers using Liv-ex prices and LWIN
• Wine Owners’ Nick Martin: on meeting new fine wine dynamics
• Franco-Italian wine collection to be auctioned
• Will This Be 2020’s Most Expensive Wine?

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• There are Two Wine Industries. We Need to Stop Conflating Their Interests.

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• Prowein 2021 extended to five days due to Covid-19

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• US government forgoes ag wage survey

MEDIA MATTERS

• Jessica Dupuy, The Wines of Southwest USA (podcast)

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Announcing Dough Wines by Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners
• New guide helps to identify and prevent common wine faults
• Bats Are The New Saviour Of French Wine

WINE PLACES

• The evolution of Maremma

WINE EDUCATION

• Four Virtual Wine Education Programs for Every Budget

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Idaho: Ag department awards $1.8 million in specialty crop grants

EUROPE & THE UK

• Ukraine to cancel import duty on European wine in 2021
• UK: Off-trade wine sales soar by almost £1bn since lockdown
• France: Natural wine organisation celebrates its first anniversary
• On-trade in northern England could shut
• Terrier awarded protected status in Jerez for keeping cellars rat-free

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• With this California startup, no need for whiskey to age