SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 – WINE NEWS FETCH

• DTC Alcohol Marketplaces Are Helping Small Merchants Uncork Digital Sales
• DoorDash is expanding its alcohol delivery program
• Hotel Californian Sold to Vineyard, Entertainment Company Owner Bill Foley
• Liquor Store Boom Continues
• The Real Reason There’s a Restaurant Worker Shortage
• Bye, Bye Wine Direct: The Quick Books of wine DTC has launched! – (Sponsored link)

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Facebook, Inc. Commits $2 Million Donation to McBride Sisters Collection’s SHE CAN Fund
• Court filing alleges Hugh Reimers conspired with Langtry Farms insider in illegal scheme to sell smoke-tainted wine
• No, Chlorpyrifos was not invented by Nazis and is not related to Zyklon B
• Simultaneously evicted and not. Is Rabbit Ridge the Schrödinger’s Cat of Wineries?
• 2021 USA Wine Ratings Winners Announced – (Sponsored link)

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• North Bay red flag warning in effect; no PG&E power shutoffs in Sonoma County [paywall?]
• Why Goats Became the Unconventional Weapon Against Wildfires [paywall?]

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Be part of the biggest gathering of Bulk Wine, Bulk Spirits, and Private Label professionals in the US. –  (Sponsored link)

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• The heavens open as Languedoc enters the final phase of harvesting

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Sonoma County Wine Auction in-person again, with some changes [paywall?]
• Precious Metals and Varied Vines: Paso Robles’s History Goes Deep Underground
• Get smart on Wine Chemistry with Clark Smith’s new online course – (Sponsored link)

COVID-19

• COVID-19 virus is evolving to get better at becoming airborne, new study shows
• When Covid-19 Stole Their Smell, These Experts Lost Much More [paywall?]

DIVERSITY

• When it comes to canned wine, these sisters love to break the rules
• Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) Award $50,000 in Scholarships to Five New Black Hospitality Initiative (BHI) Students

HEALTH

• A light shone on wine intolerance
• An Ex-Drinker’s Search for a Sober Buzz

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• Cannabis wines use dealcoholization, emulsion technology to transform Napa’s signature beverage [paywall?]

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Vintage Wine Estates joins industry and key stakeholders as founding member of the Sustainable Wine Roundtable

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• French wine giant Castel fined in China for violating advertising law
• France and Russia plan talks to take fizz out of champagne dispute

REAL ESTATE

• WA: Listed for $2.7M, Cherry Valley Winery Is a Delicious Opportunity for Wine Lovers

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Duckhorn Portfolio CEO Alex Ryan on Bringing Wine to Wall Street

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• Frescobaldi Buys Montepulciano’s Corte alla Flora
• Why LVMH didn’t buy Brunello’s Banfi wine brand
• Wine Industry Analyst Weigh-in: JUSTIN’s Acquisition of Lewis Cellars

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• 5 lots to keep an eye on at the Sonoma County Wine Auction [paywall?]
• Yes, You Should Insure Your Wine Collection. Here’s How.
• Philipponnat Clos des Goisses becomes first Champagne to be sold via La Place

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• Toward a Rebirth of Wine Criticism
• Letter to My Younger Somm Self
• Can You Trust Somm-Centric Wine Clubs? (podcast)

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

• Entitled consumers have terrorized service and retail workers throughout the pandemic, but it was a natural evolution in a culture that promises ‘the customer is always right’

MEDIA MATTERS

• How merlot’s ‘Sideways Effect’ could have been sidestepped [paywall?]

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Banfi: America’s Gift to Italian Wine
• Do yeast lees always stimulate wine malolactic fermentation?
• The Buyer Banfi Debate: What next for Italy in the premium on-trade?
• Beware the Angry Philistine

IN MEMORIAM

• Remembering Becky Wasserman (podcast)

WINE PEOPLE

• Barbara Banke, first woman named as Board Chairman for Breeders’ Cup Limited
• Artisanal Craft and Natural Wine in Alcamo, Sicily: Alessandro Viola and Luigi Stalteri
• Young Gun: Matt Godfrey
• Hitting All The Notes With Dave Specter Of Bells Up Winery
• The Wine Makers – Casey Greybehl, The Grenachista (podcast)
• Jake Busching – Hark Vineyard & Busching Wines (podcast)
• Nine Winemakers tell how they became Winemakers (podcast)

WINE HISTORY

• Corsica’s Pink Wines Share a History With Napoleon, Its Conquering Hero

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

• Please Be Patient, Restaurants Are Trying Their Best

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• For a Maryland winery, modern updates for the future hold the keys to preserving its past

ACADEMIA

• Everything you ever wanted to know about the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis (video)

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Invasive lanternflies devour vineyards, swarm the plants around homes, and invade new areas: ‘They’re little Draculas’

EUROPE & THE UK

• Three new Bordeaux estates join Bibendum Bordeaux project

DOWN UNDER

• The Real top wineries of Australia

LATIN AMERICA

• The New Wave of an Old Wine From Chile

AROUND THE GLOBE

• The Great Champagne Grape Theft

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• The rise of hard seltzer echoes the 19th-century lager craze
• Heineken trials low carbon barley farming as part of sustainable initiative
• Boston Beer Co to launch beer that’s so strong it’s illegal in 15 states