NEWS FETCH – APRIL 23, 2012

TOP NEWS

• Cry of Calif grape shortage “is terribly short sighted”
• Access to financing easing for wine industry, lenders say
• Domaine Chandon Founder John Wright Dies at 78
• Costco and its role in the wine business
• What Can I Do With Calif’s Type 85 ABC License?
• Bud Break & Water: Spring Calif Grower Survey
• Pernod Ricard to roll out wine cocktails in UK
• Should Petite Sirah be a Rhône variety?
• Additional Update from the TTB on Cochineal Extract & Carmine
• wine trade should listen to experts from outside industry
• Castel: China Customs ferrets out 120 cases of counterfeit red wine

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• WSWA, DISCUS Execs Warn Of Privatization’s Unintended Consequences
• Losing Control of Wine & Spirits…It’s Scary
• WSWA: Privatization Versus Deregulation…
• Direct-to-consumer wine sales will treble in United States
• WA: Heavy online liquor-store auction bidding a ‘wild ride’
• WA: Bid for all liquor stores tops $4.5 million

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Bidders compete for pieces of Copia history
• Wine industry seeks producing vines as cost, competition pressures rise
• Lake County Winery Association celebrates five successful years
• How to win the California (grape) Lottery

PUBLIC COMPANIES, INVESTING & AUCTIONS

• Young Wine Fails to Sell
• Burgundy grabs headlines but claret buying sees a shift
• ‘Wine of kings’ on auction in Switzerland
• Hong Kong: Robert Parker’s Effect on China Wine Prices
• Liv-ex interview with James Suckling, part 2
• CEDC Signs Definitive Agreements for Strategic Alliance with Russian Standard

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Reviewing wine: subjectivity is part of the complexity
• Red Wine Wins in a White Wine Competition.
• Do old vines make better wines?
• Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a WineMatch!
• 2012 Champagne Trinity Scholarship Winner Announced

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Barolo: There are many reasons to love this misunderstood red
• Is it Necessary for Wineries to Give Full Disclosure on their Labels?
• Nondrinkers are terrible presidents. Discuss.
• What is more difficult – making red wine or white?
• Virgile Joly, The Steady Hand Of A Winemaker
• What are those Crystals on the End of a Cork?

U.S. REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• MD: Newest Frederick Co. winery grows in Thurmont
• TX: From Tuscan to Texan in less than a week

EUROPE

• Spanish wine trader eyes Chinese market
• Leading Italian producer calls for greater professional standards
• Bordeaux’s André Lurton Takes on a Partner
• Ukraine leaves Estonian investors with empty hands

THE UK

• UK: Lower-alcohol not slowing wine decline
• Naked Wines launches interactive consumer/winemaker app

OH CANADA!

• Canadians drinking more wine and specialty beer

DOWN UNDER

• NZ: Hopes high for late grape harvest
• OZ: Winemaker toasts big harvest
• OZ: wine exports soured by dollar’s strength
• NZ: Alcohol consumption down in all categories except cider
• OZ: Fresh calls to tax alcohol per standard drink
• OZ: Study finds alcohol ads get to at least a quarter of kids

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Moroccan Wine Thrives in Face of Religious Bans, Heat
• Exporters targeting Nigeria’s growing taste for wine