JUNE 8, 2022 – WINE NEWS FETCH

• Global alcoholic drinks value growth significantly outpaces volume growth
• Calif State Water Board approves unprecedented voluntary water sharing agreement for Russian River
• Napa County Fire Sales Tax Measure Supported By Wine Industry Unlikely To Pass
• Should Younger Generations Care About Napa Valley Wine? (podcast)
• Napa’s Stewart Cellars acquires Montecillo Vineyard in Sonoma [paywall?]
• COVID Fears Stall Dining Comfort at 80%. Outdoor Still Preferred.
• Webinar – Mastering alcohol ecommerce in 2022 – (Sponsored link)

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• NielsenIQ acquires CGA
• Survey Shows Decline in regular wine drinkers, increase in abstainers
• So Just How Many Millennials Are You Marketing Wine To?

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• California winemakers try to save grapes tainted by wildfire smoke
• Freaky Frost in OR: Vineyards across the Willamette Valley impacted

DROUGHT/WATER

• Calif: Curtailments expanded through out the Delta watershed
• Will California’s New Groundwater Rules Hurt Small-Scale Farms and Farmers of Color?
• Why are California farmers irrigating crops with oil wastewater? (podcast)

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• WA: A (quite) delayed bloom begins in Columbia Valley
• Beer, Spirits, & Wine – Packaged Imports Grow +32% By Value L12M through April 2022, Packaged Exports Grow +22%
• The New Emergence: Upcoming Wine Regions in the USA – (Sponsored link)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Halter Ranch winery owner part of successful Chelsea Football Club bid
• NFL Pours New Alcohol Deal With E&J Gallo [paywall?]
• Capstone California launched as the first dedicated California wine education program
• Ag Health Benefits Alliance Awards $35,000 in Scholarships
• Planning commission finishes new rules for Sonoma County winery events [paywall?]
• Spotted Lanternfly Could Reach California Wine Region by 2027
• 2022 revision of Lodi’s list of old vine growths (part 1 — west side)
• VGS Chateau Potelle Makes Napa Valley History
• Sonoma Developmental Center up for sale
• R.H. Drexel: Rock of (Vint)Ages

DIVERSITY

• Assemblage of the Masses: Creating a More Inclusive Wine World
• Graduation Day Tres: AHIVOY students celebrate
• Association of African American Vintners celebrate 20 years with Napa Valley retreat [paywall?]

HEALTH

• Biogenic Amine Toxicity: A Reality for Histamine-Sensitive Consumers

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Treasury Wine Estates switches to solar
• Diageo set to construct solar energy farm in Fife

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Response to Wholesalers’ Claim “Minors Use The Internet to Obtain Alcohol”
• MI: Bill to allow 17-year-olds to serve alcohol passed by state legislature

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Pernod Ricard banks on digital push to boost growth

DISTRIBUTORS

• How Wineries Can Boost Their Restaurant Distribution – (Sponsored link)

BORDEAUX EN PRIMEUR

• Bordeaux 2021: floodgates open on releases
• Château La Gaffelière 2021 released En Primeur – Liv-ex

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

• Bladders to bottles, wine containers changed over time

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• WSTA celebrates LWF return, though “Recovery is not a given”

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• White Wine Emojency

WINE CRIME

• Ecstasy in champagne warning in Europe expanded; one dead

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Meet the Farmer Pushing for a Guaranteed Basic Income for Agricultural Workers

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Tackling Tannin in Italy’s Big Red
• The Cult of Pinot Noir: A Former Member Speaks
• The Rain In Spain

IN MEMORIAM

• Bolinas legend Sean Thackrey’s impacts on wine and beyond

WINE PEOPLE

• The Rising Stars of Greco di Tufo
• A Northwest Indiana Life in the Spotlight: Emily Kennedy

WINE PLACES

• The baseball field in a wine vineyard

WINE HISTORY

• Mission to Recover WWI Wreck with Wine Worth ‘Millions’ Foiled by British Authorities
• Armenia is the hub of winemaking history

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• French Connection: Caballus Cellars canters across the Oregon wine finish line
• MN: Grapes surviving the cold and spawning an industry
• Winery Manager Hired at Southern Oregon Wine Institute

ACADEMIA

• NZ: EIT’s first postgraduate wine business student plans to use knowledge gained

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Combined Use of Lachancea thermotolerans and Schizosaccharomyces pombe in Winemaking
• How diluting winemaking aids, and legal requirements, is both necessary and challenging

EUROPE & THE UK

• Why is Chateau La Gaffelière leaving the St Emilion classification?
• UK wine buyers on chances for wines of Victoria in UK
• UK: DTC sales give Gusbourne post-pandemic boost
• Gonzalez Byass welcomes portfolio tasting return along with new CEO

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Orlando’s New Chief Winemaker

AROUND THE GLOBE

• The Rise and Fall of a North African Wine Giant

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• You’ll shoot your eye out: Popped champagne cork ejects CO2 at supersonic speeds