JULY 6, 2022 – WINE NEWS FETCH

• Why are wine critics afraid of AI?
• 1 in 4 US consumers who have returned to the office attend after work drinks in the On Premise weekly
• How Luxury Wines Overcome Stigma at the Grocery Store
• Average Monthly Wine Club Membership Length Rises 10%
• Webinar – Mastering alcohol ecommerce in 2022 – (Sponsored link)

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• Alcohol-free wine: Is it really even wine?
• Putting the wine industry in its place
• Rabbit Ridge CEO Gets Fifth Delay To Respond to Contempt of Court Allegations.
• Rabbit Ridge CEO Accused of Multiple Contempt Of Court Misdeeds By Bankruptcy Trustee

WILDFIRES & WEATHER

• How to deal with wildfire smoke now coming to the Central Valley’s skies
• Key compounds in smoke exposure effects on wine, grapes identified

DROUGHT/WATER

• Drought to cause more than $1.3 billion in losses in Sacramento Valley

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Scott Naylor Named LibDib’s Vice President of Finance and Compliance

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• The New Emergence: Upcoming Wine Regions in the USA – (Sponsored link)

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• As Phelps Enters a New Era, A Look Back at Insignia
• USDA Amends California Grape Marketing Order
• California almond growers are feeling the squeeze [paywall?]

DIVERSITY

• Filipino-American sommelier wins James Beard journalism award for essay calling out racism in wine industry

STARTUPS & NEW BRANDS

• Sonoma moms launch West Shore Wine Co.

NFTs, BLOCKCHAIN, & THE METAVERSE

• Why this wine NFT club is taking its sustainability cues from Napa Valley

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• California cuts cannabis taxes to heal ailing industry [paywall?]

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Former COO Files Lawsuit against Nakedwines.com

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Penfolds first wine from China underlines Treasury’s ‘long-term commitment’ to the market

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• OZ: Randall Wine Group significantly expands McLaren holdings

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors CEOs Ask Biden to Suspend Aluminum Tariffs [paywall?]
• British Goods Like Scotch Whisky, Welsh Lamb Could Lose Out in UK-Australia Deal [paywall?]

DISTRIBUTORS

• South Africa’s Spier Wine Farm joins Freixenet Copestick
• How Wineries Can Boost Their Restaurant Distribution – (Sponsored link)

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• How to optimise your wine list for Wine Matcher – 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)

MARKETING & SALES

• UK: Benchmark Drinks Paul Schaafsma & power of celebrity wines & drinkers

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• Registration for 2022 Wine Writers Symposium Now Open
• Unlock Opportunities in the Bulk Wine and Spirits Market

WINE CRIME

• French police make arrests over ‘fake Bordeaux wine’

MEDIA MATTERS

• A Tale of Two Glasses & Wine’s Triple Crisis
• Turning the Tables on Michael Alberty

MATTERS OF TASTE

• How Clarksburg Chenin Must Tell a Different Story
• Back In Barnes

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• CO: Wine at your grocery store? Doordash and big supermarket chains want you to vote on it this fall
• BC: Laughing Stock Winery has new senior winemaker at the helm
• Texas opens $180M grant program for hospitality, tourism industries
• PA: Winery Project Moving Forward In Wrightstown Township
• NY Liquor Authority proposal could benefit consumers, bars and wine shops

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• The mouthfeel of red wines and the molecules responsible for it
• Effect of application of kaolin and pinolene on grape berry cell death, berry shrinkage, and ethanol accumulation
• Taste and Aroma Components of Wines (videos)
• Tailoring Irrigation for White Wine Grapes in Arid Eastern Washington
• Flint glass bottles cause white wine aroma identity degradation

EUROPE & THE UK

• Is Sweden’s decade-long love affair with wine about to end?
• Catch 22: the young vignerons of Canavese
• Inspired by Natural Wine’s Success, Many Austrian Winemakers Are Taking a Lighter Touch
• UK: Bibendum and The Drinks Trust partner up to develop wine skills

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Farmers are resilient, but six years of hardship test strength as clean-up effort begins
• OZ: First step to better biosecurity training

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• China’s 10 wealthiest drinks billionaires

BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• Beer could be good for gut microbia, study suggests