JANUARY 15, 2021 – WINE NEWS FETCH

TOP NEWS

• Williams Selyem deal aims to avoid a soulless private equity future (possible paywall)
• Napa and Willamette Suffer Poor 2020 Vintage
• Wine prices 2021 will defy the law of supply & demand
• Where are the diverse voices in Bordeaux wine?
• Popular vineyard organic weed-control product found to include banned chemicals (possible paywall)
• As 2021 Fire Season Looms, Calif’s 2020 Wildfire Pollution Was Equivalent to 24 Million Cars
• See how Phase 2 Cellars streamline systems and provide exceptional customer service. (Sponsored link)

OBITUARIES

• A pillar of wine and hospitality, Kathleen Rose Kelley Young dies at 63

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Boom Times May Be Ahead for US Wine industry
• Crimson Wine to restate 3+ years of financial results after independent review of “unreliable” accounting errors
• 2020 USA Wine Ratings Winners Announced (Sponsored link)

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Ecommerce Sales That Are Six Times Greater than Normal? You Can Do It Too. Here’s How
• Direct-to-Consumer Shipping Opens in Kentucky
• Selling Wine, Beer, And Spirits In America*(Sponsored)

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• After disastrous 2020, Sonoma County grape growers face a hopeful, uncertain harvest
• “Disastrous” situation for South Africa’s wine sector as 2021 vintage kicks off with 65% of 2020 vintage still in storage
• What’s new at the 2021 Sommeliers Choice Awards and how that will help wine brands. (Sponsored link)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Sonoma County Winegrowers to Launch U.S. Wine Industry’s First Innovation Accelerator
• Larkmead Vineyards Receives Resolution In Recognition of Legacy
• Napa’s WineDirect names marketing VP
• Napa Valley’s Mira Winery hires Ed Thralls as president

COVID-19

• France’s first Vaccs’vin is on its way!
• Everyone Is Breaking Their Toes Because of the Pandemic: Wine Bottles a “Big Toe Killer”

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• Preliminary Estates Inidcate Sonoma Pinot Hit Hardest by Smoke

DROUGHT/WATER

• California has a ‘new climate’: Charts show how rising temperatures and drought landed the state in crisis (possible paywall)
• Another Hurdle Cleared, Klamath Dams Closer to Coming Down
• El Niño or La Niña? What They Mean and Why They Matter

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Vins de Provence commit to 100% sustainability certification by 2030
• Sebastian Thomas on climate change in Burgundy
• Climate change battle heats up for Australian winemakers

REAL ESTATE

• TX: Grapevine vineyards hit the commercial auction block

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• TWE changing up with AI

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• French wineries to get aid as new US tariffs bite
• New tariffs on European imports deliver another blow to restaurants (possible paywall)

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• World’s ‘most prestigious’ wine collection to go on display

MARKETING & SALES

• everyvine relaunches 2021 site for wine grape marketing and sales

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Tax and Trade Bureau’s new ruling on bottle sizes (possible paywall)
• The Incredible Shrinking Liquor Bottle

MEDIA MATTERS

• The Historic Pairing of ‘Wine & War’

MATTERS OF TASTE

• The rosé renaissance and the wines set to trend for 2021
• Wine to Sake: We’re more connected than ever (possible paywall)

WINE PEOPLE

• Belinda Chang on the Future of Virtual Events

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Finger Lakes Wine Alliance appoints new executive director

ACADEMIA

• Study investigating rootstocks to combat salinity honoured
• Carrageenan a viable alternative to bentonite – Australian study awarded

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Quest for a disease-resistant vineyard continues

EUROPE & THE UK

• Alcohol sales soaring in England during lockdown
• Why it was a bumper Christmas for Champagne in British retailers

SOUTH AFRICA

• Wineries out of business, jobs lost – the reality of the booze ban

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• The Rice Renaissance
• Sémillon, Meet Session Ale: Oenobiers Are the Newest Wine-Beer Collabs