NEWS FETCH – APRIL 4, 2012

TOP NEWS

• Dolan sues former partners at Mendocino Wine
• Fish and Game apologizes, sends clarification to Mendo Growers
• San Luis Obispo: Wine grapes not #1 crop for first time in 20 years
• Young drinkers to push U.S. direct-to-consumer wine sales
• Constellation Eyes Q4 Profit Rise After Rare Q3 Miss
• Moueix: I’ll slash my top wines by 50%
• WineAmerica Lauds Bipartisan Support of Speciality Crops Bill
• WSWA Convention Opens in Las Vegas
• Wretched Champagne Excess, Part I: Saudi tycoon drops $136,000 on Cristal
• Wretched Champagne Excess, Part II:£200,000 bar bill trader arrested

PUBLIC COMPANIES & INVESTING

• Concha Y Toro Stock Upgraded
• Constellation shares rise on upgrade
• Liv-ex: James Suckling’s first taste of Bordeaux 2011
• TWE gets Foster’s funds for IT overhaul
• Pernod Ricard UK’s Lee James promoted

HEALTH & ALCOHOL REGULATION

• Red wine, fruit compound could help block fat cell formation
• UK Wants Dentists to check for alcohol abuse
• Teaching Kids to Respect Alcohol

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• VESTA Winery Equipment Workshop In Fresno
• Peter Mondavi Jr. Gets Real About Organic Wine
• Rodney Strong Hires Colleen Brennan as Vice President
• California Faces Vine Shortage, follow-up

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Rains help, but could be ‘too little, too late’
• Wild spring weather’s effect on vineyards remains cloudy
• Property surveys mark latest step for rail project

MEDIA MATTERS

• Class Warfare In The Wine Conversation
• The Best Wine Blogs You’ve Never Heard Of
• Calif Central Coast Live Internet Wine & Food Show
• Deborah Harkness On Wine Blogs, Vampires and Writing

WATER, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• California Water: Is Anyone Listening?
• Water scarcity to increase in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta

U.S. REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• NY: Upstate, America’s Next Great Wine Region
• NY: Cornell Announces North Country Trial Vineyard Tech Position
• OK: Wine sales petition filed by group for big retailers
• WA: Vineyard Plantings Increase on Red Mountain

EUROPE

• France: March 2012 compared weatherwise to March 2011
• Will Bordeaux 2011 Be Remembered for Its Whites?
• At Gruaud Larose, the Futures with discretion
• Wine Society lists native Romanian varieties
• Blue Nun sponsors funny women awards
• Indie promotion for German Riesling

OH CANADA!

• Wine lovers rally against cross-border sales ban
• MP wants to pour provincial wine restrictions down the drain
• Booze law changes ‘a long time coming’

DOWN UNDER

• NZ: Central Otago winemakers: The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’
• OZ: Mudgee, Australia’s coldest climate wines
• OZ: Winemakers forecast top drop
• OZ: Struggling wine producers go online
• OZ: Indigenous owners left out of land use talks

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• South African wine exports to China up 71%
• Demand for fine wine in China helps create ‘sudden improvement in prices’
• Impact On China’s Fast-Growing Imported Wine Market

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• BERGER: What’s a cult wine?
• Happy Passover! Now pass the wine
• What wine means at Passover and Easter
• Drinking makes you feel sexier: study
• Interviewing Envolve’s Bachelor For Playboy.com