NEWSFETCH – May 4, 2011

TOP NEWS

• Wine Sales Gain At the Expense of Discounting, Aussies Buried By Their Own Dollar
• Metro Premium Wines Sues Bogle, Winebow
• Mike Lee, wine icon dies
• Aussies to spend $4m to smoke out wine taint
• Foster’s Wine Binge Leaves Lasting Headache – The Economist
• Virginia wine business to Texas: Drop dead
• Regulators delay new ‘calling’ rule for spotted owls on Calif’s North Coast
• California frost devastates 50% of Central Coast grapes
• Analysis: Winery Acquisitions on the Rise
• Biodynamics: Voodoo In The Vineyard
• Are women better tasters than men?
• Pushing alcohol on stressed parents
• Wine producers marketing to harried moms

PUBLIC COMPANIES & INVESTING

• Liv-ex: Parker downgrades 2008
• Fosters split sparks bid speculation
• Foster’s demerger gets Aussie Supreme Court nod
• Diageo and Pernod set to see Q3 slowdown
• Constellation to Webcast May 18 Institutional Investor Meeting

HEALTH

• Warning: This wine may contain fish bladders
• Thoughts on wine alcohol levels and disclosing them

MEDIA MATTERS

• New Wine Column Hits The Global Interwebs
• Wine writing is broken

WATER

• Aussies to auction excess water
• Sierra snowpack readings promise abundant water
• California snowpack is good news for cities, farms

AROUND THE STATES

• MD: Big Cork Vineyards Launches in Washington County
• NY: Swedish Hill Winery hires White Springs owner as chief winemaker
• NJ: County farm board to decide on vineyard wedding ban
• OK: Changing Liquor Laws: No Easy Task
• OR: World’s first sustainable wine tour
• PA: To Celebrate Wine Week 2011
• VT: Senate makes it hard to prosecute people for enabling drunken drivers

ACADEMIA

• Fresno State introduces a new wine
• Grape Grower, Winemaker Workshop to be Held at U of Minn

EUROPE

• Wine growers warn of death of Mosel Valley
• Parker Releases Scores for Bordeaux 2010
• Bordeaux mania – or not?
• Hail wreaks havoc in Sauternes
• Anger at Mosel Bridge green light
• Spain loses ‘Rioja’ name battle with Argentina

THE UK

• UK wine production figures at record high
• Scottish MPs clash over alcohol pricing proposals
• Industry heads lead Conversation Society ‘drinks responsibility’ talk
• English wine is booming, but will demand keep pace with supply?

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Sparkling autumn days boost wine stocks
• OZ: Wine, natural gas production, don’t mix
• OZ: WA laws to protect wine area from mining
• NZ: Foley Family Wines Signs Agreement With Te Kairanga
• OZ: Man electrocuted in accident at Angoves Winery

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Swan Valley woos China with wine
• First lot of import wine passes Inspection and Quarantine via Qinzhou Bonded Port
• Shanxi Launches Chamber of Commerce of Wine

ONLINE, TECH & SOCIAL MEDIA

• Deal Sites and Repeat Buying: Is It Happening?
• Warning about putting QR Codes on your Wine Bottle Labels
• Amazon Announces Its Gilt And Vente Privee Killer, MyHabit.com
• Why 5 Big Brand Marketing Campaigns Are Betting Big on Social Gaming
• 10% of Search Ad Clicks From Mobile
• SEO + QR Codes
• Social Media Ad Spending To Hit $8.3B in 2015 [STUDY]

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Penfolds Releases Luxury Range (video)
• In Praise of Wine Monogamy
• Washington winemaker dares to put sense of place first
• Reliable high-production wines can be great bargains
• How to Call Attention to a Great Wine
• A history of controversies over wine
• Is Burbank the New Wine Country?

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Water board to consider new approach on rural septic systems
• New UC studies examine costs of producing olive oil, peaches, onions, almonds, sunflowers, lettuce

APPOINTMENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• New winery to open in Grass Valley
• Pithy Little Wine Co. will be moving to Paso Robles