JANUARY 26, 2022 – WINE NEWS FETCH

• Why has our relationship with wine changed in the Covid era?
• Provi, SevenFifty Join Forces to Create Expanded B2B Marketplace
• Experts fear the pandemic has created a nation of problem drinkers
• Napa Auctions the Big Stuff
• New York Consumers Would Finally Get Free Trade in Wine Under Newly Introduced Bill
• US Supply Chain Hassles Won’t Get Better Soon. These 2 Charts Show Why.
• Webinar: Alcohol marketplaces and delivery apps: Current regulatory issues – (Sponsored link)

OBITUARIES

• NC builder, wine industry pioneer dies at 86

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Calif Winegrape Prices Not Keeping Pace with Rising Costs of Production
• Rabbit Ridge Future Depends On Tangled Bankruptcy Assets
• Bye, Bye Wine Direct: The Quick Books of wine DTC has launched! – (Sponsored link)

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• New federal wildfire plan is ambitious – but the Forest Service needs more money and people to fight the growing risks
• Goats help clear fire risk at Bartholomew Park [paywall?]

DROUGHT/WATER

• Record dry January in parts of California magnifies drought concern [paywall?]

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Add to cart: e-commerce activations to grow your wine and spirits’ online sales – (Sponsored link)

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• The US Wine Industry Transitions To 2022 After A ‘Good Year’ [paywall?]
• Champagne sold more wine than it produced in 2021
• The New Emergence: Upcoming Wine Regions in the USA – (Sponsored link)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Riboli Family Wines Strengthens Sales Leadership
• Winemaker David Ramey to get Sonoma County Vintners’s 1st lifetime achievement award
• Get smart on Wine Chemistry with Clark Smith’s new online course – (Sponsored link)

DIVERSITY

• Kitá Wines, First Native American Brand in U.S., Will Close
• Alliance of Women in Washington Wine creates $5,000 scholarship

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• Sonoma County supervisors approve tax delay for cannabis cultivators

AMAZON

• Amazon to launch larger suburban Go stores [paywall?]
• Why Amazon keeps experimenting with physical stores

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Is That Wine Really Vegan?
• Is It Time for California to Get Rid of Some Vineyards?

AGRIFOODTECH

• Farming of the Future: Ford Pro, Sonoma County Winegrowers Join Forces to Electrify Business of Farming

DISTRIBUTORS

• Argentina’s Orfila Winery Launches in U.S.
• How Wineries Can Boost Their Restaurant Distribution – (Sponsored link)

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Bordeaux 2010 buying spikes ahead of Chinese New Year – Liv-ex
• Burgundy – will looming shortages and spiraling prices spook collectors?
• Gérard Bertrand showcases the potential of Languedoc’s fine wine offer
• Sotheby’s to sell personal cellar of chairman of Domaines Clarence Dillon

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• Seasoned Sommelier and Wine Buyer Thomas Brenner talks us through his focus while evaluating the effectiveness of a wine program – (Sponsored link)

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• UK importer launches distribution service for canned wines
• Delta Air Lines Turns to Canned Wine in Push to Phase Out Plastic [paywall?]

IT: INFORMATION [AND] TECHNOLOGY

• On Hermès, NFT, Trademarks and the Metaverse : Lessons for the World of Luxury Brands

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Austerity, structure and character in wine [paywall?]
• Varieties vs. regionality and Randall Grahm’s Popeluchum [paywall?]

WINE PEOPLE

• Turning the Tables Posthumously on Ken Friedenreich—Wine Writer and Industry Devotee
• Sonoma County’s Erin Miller Goes from Winemaker to Wine Director
• Napa Valley native thrilled to be honing his craft at a ‘Disneyland for winemakers’
• 5 Questions With Philana Bouvier
• VA: Mary Hughes Turns to Full-Time Winemaking
• Unfiltered: Joshua Castle
• Nick Devlin – Naked Wines (podcast)
• Chicago’s Douglas Kim is MGM sommelier overseeing 350,000 bottles of wine at Las Vegas resorts

WINE PLACES

• 5 Regions That Over-Deliver on Value

WINE HISTORY

• Wine as art, art as wine in Renaissance Italy

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Saying Goodbye to Washington’s Buty Winery

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Grape Growers Take on the Red Blotch Challenge
• Effects of different antioxidant strategies on the phenolic evolution during the course of a white winemaking process
• French winegrower advocates an open-minded approach to vine genome editing

SOUTH AFRICA

• South Africa: Fungal diseases drive up wine grape production costs

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Georgian wine industry seeks to reduce risk of Russian economic bullying

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• Coca-Cola and Molson Coors team up again to launch Simply alcohol drinks