NEWSFETCH – December 5, 2011

TOP NEWS

• Not-so-idle speculation: Wine, scarcity and China
• Restaurants positive on sales, margin expectations
• If the Euro melts down, would euro wine go up?
• New Laws Impacting the US Wine Industry for 2012
• Jay Miller leaves The Wine Advocate
• Britain’s companies prepare for life after the single currency
• Workwiths: Did you really just push me out the door?
• Followup: Boisset Bets on the South of France
• Wine industry succeeds in recession-weary Michigan
• D.C. Retailer Calvert Woodley Sees Sales Hitting $20 Million This Year
• Viticulture & other ag graduates in shortfall
• Death By Marketing Automation
• We’re All Marketers Now

PUBLIC COMPANIES & INVESTING

• Investors going for sin stocks: Tobacco, alcohol, gambling
• Chinese food & wine company to increase Australian presence
• Constellation Brands Leads Industry Innovation with Location-Based Marketing
• Record sale of £2.9m for Christie’s London

MEDIA MATTERS

• Do I Hate Wine Blogging, or Do I Just Hate Myself?
• Wine Writers: Short Visits, Thin Coverage, and Why Specialization Matters
• Robert Lawrence Balzer, Character
• Seth Godin with a useful perspective on media

MATTERS OF TASTE

• What is ‘fine’ wine? Who gets to decide?
• American vs European Palates
• American vs European Palates: Lettie’s Rebuttal
• French toast to cheap imported champagne

PARKERGATE

• Jay Miller The Herman Cain of Wine?
• Pancho Campo MW: some detailed alleged conflicts of interest
• Eight Reasons Why Robert Parker Does Not Care
• How Jay Miller must feel
• Bubbly In, Miller Out

ONLINE, TECH & SOCIAL MEDIA

• Facebook Marketing: Four Simple Stages for Everybody
• Social Media Connections Between Consumers and Brands That Inspire Sales

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Australian scientist discovers grape genes resistant to mildew
• Farmer-funded water research criticized

WATER

• Transcending old thinking about California agricultural water use
• Save Water in Your Winery

SUSTAINABILITY

• Tesco backs lightweight Champagne bottles
• Big, heavy wine bottles are a real waste
• Results for Individual Scenarios in the Wine Distribution Emissions Model: A Follow-Up

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Napa Land Trust Announces Conservation Easement For Historic Rossi Ranch
• Napa vintners clarify position on historical preservation

U.S. REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• ID: State may lose some liquor sales
• MI: Selling liquor on Sunday mornings a boon, stores say
• NC: Robeson County family helps patriarch realize dream of opening winery
• NM & TX: Judge dismisses NM winery as defendant in Cap*rock auction suit
• WA: Bookwalter opens restaurant at Richland winery
• WA: Expansion makes Eleven Winery largest wine producer in Kitsap

DOWN UNDER

• NZ: Wineries unite to crack US market
• OZ: Rain threatens Hunter grape harvest
• OZ: Forget Coles, we’re number two in liquor retailing, says ALM
• OZ: Push to register sensitive farm sites
• OZ: Wine still flows despite tragedy

EUROPE & THE UK

• Mixed serves a “crime” against Champagne, says leading house
• Wine Australia UK plays down proposed London move

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• India: Sick wine industry sees signs of revival
• Will new deregulation lower Korean imported wine, liquor prices?
• Chongqing bonded port becomes the biggest trade center of imported wine
• Great wine of China?

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• IKEA bed re-purposed into a wine rack
• For the Best Holiday Wine Deals, Now’s the Time to Buy
• Winemaker La Follette’s Strange Fruits
• The Italian Wine List in America
• The State of Merlot