NEWS FETCH – July 9, 2013

TOP NEWS

• Wine grapes a force in Central Valley
• Yellow Tail Producer Casella Secures Funding As Aussie Dollar Weakens
• Sparkling wine in China: Will Grace Vineyard pop the Chandon bubble?
• Ag Producers’ Privacy Top Priority for Farm Groups
• Oak Knoll vineyard sued

2013 HARVEST & GRAPE SUPPLY

• NZ: Marlborough plans new wave of planting
• North Coast winegrape harvest could start soon
• Hail: The Crazed Giant

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Joy Sterling Appointed to CDFA
• BottleRock In The (Porta) Toilet?
• Caltrans confiscating anti-tunnel signs in Delta
• Apparent break-in at Sterling Vineyards

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• AWCC On Pennsylvania Privatization Efforts
• Small Wash. liquor stores get aid from state
• Three-tier, Wine.com

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Diageo Latest Brand To Enter Luxury’s Social Responsibility Upsurge

FINANCE, M&A

• Houlihan hired to sell sparkling liqueur brand Nuvo
• Banks to Sell Stake in Spanish Olive-Oil Giant Deoleo

INVESTING & AUCTIONS

• Wally’s Wine & Spirits Announces Launch Of Auction House
• Mission Haut-Brion ’98 Bordeaux Wine Drops 11% From Peak

• Investing in Liquid Assets: Uncorking Profits in Today’s Global Wine Market [Sponsored Link]

MARKETING & SALES

• Animated labels woo wine shoppers
• More Italians self-importing to U.S.
• Online Store Design to Sell More Wine
• 6 Things Australia Needs To Do To Sell Wine
• OZ: Cheap wine gets a make-over

• Wine Brands: Success Strategies for New Markets, New Consumers and New Trends [Sponsored Link]

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• ProWein 2014 the Place to be for Spirits

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Why Some Ideas Go Viral And Others Go Nowhere
• The 2013 Social Media Landscape [Infographic]

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Cranky Recruiter: Stood Up for the Interview

MEDIA MATTERS

• Healdsburg Library courtyard honors Millie Howie
• Calif Supreme Court sides with public on cost of records

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Trying to make sense of torrontes
• Tim Atkin Grapples With Riesling’s Outsider Status
• Are flavoured wines a good thing, or completely evil?
• Pinot, Black Jelly Beans and Pickled Beets
• A great Semillon from Amador County
• Paul Draper: Great wines are made with very straightforward techniques

• The Wine Bible [Sponsored Link]

JUDGING

• Winemakers Blind Taste Each Other’s Trials
• Here Come Da Wine Judge, Here Come Da Wine Judge
• Wine, critics and science (pseudo, junk and real)

NATURAL WINE

• Natural wine, belief and desire
• Impressions of the Natural Wine Movement

U.S. REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• All States have wineries, and the best States have the most
• America: A Nation of Wineries (Map)
• OR: More Californians come north to join wine industry
• WA: Yakima Valley ava turns 30

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Primary cause of grape cracking still elusive
• In the Vineyard: Just when you thought there would be no more frost
• Beekeepers sting EPA with lawsuit over pesticide

• Understanding Wine Technology, 3rd Edition [Sponsored Link]

EUROPE & THE UK

• Montalcino Producer Jubilant After Brunellogate Acquittal
• The Rise, Fall, and Rise of the Winemaker Who Shook Up Burgundy, Part II

• Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure [Sponsored Link]

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Asia fuelling success of prestige Cognac
• 7 million liters of wine imported via Haicang port in 1st half of 2013

SOUTH AFRICA

• Two New Reports on South Africa’s Wines

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Beer festival closes early – after running out of beer
• Wine words: Don’t let label descriptors intimidate you
• Guerillas Establish Beachhead in Forestville
• Time for some statistics

• Wine For Dummies [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

• Is Your Olive Oil As Healthy As You Think?

PR/WEB USABILITY EPIC FAIL

• Proposals Now being Accepted for Inaugural Vintage Report Innovation Award Presented by Bank of the West

Not only does this headline say damn little (like that the award is for viticulture) but clicking on this link causes the page to auto-direct AWAY from the news release into a generic bank web page that just wastes time trying to find the actual news. String up everybody who had any thing to do with this. There is some news here but it’s hidden by the total cluelessness of the PR/Web/Management iresponsible