NEWS FETCH – December 2, 2013

TOP NEWS

• The Violently Ugly Face Of French Wine
• Global Land Grab In OR Wine Country
• Would Amazon Drones give a lift to wine?
• Supremes Refuse Net Tax Appeal
• House Back this Week, Farm Bill Ahead?
• Wine bottle caps increasingly damaged
• IRS Scours Breaks Tied To Rich Americans’ Land

GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• US Wine Supplies Abundant
• Snow storms hit producers and vines in central Italy
• A report on the global bulk wine market
• Bordeaux Nervous As Stocks Fall, Prices Rise

• Happy reader says: “The community is abuzz about this book:” Wine Curmudgeon’s Guide to Cheap Wine. [Sponsored Link]

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Ca’ Momi Napa Valley Buys Historic Carneros Vineyards
• Lodi family wants to build winery, olive mill
• Chumash opt out of renewing SB ag contract
• Lytton Pomo tribe on buying spree in Sonoma County
• Fresno fracking forum set
• $13.8 million Coombsville irrigation pipeline affordable
• Winterizing the vineyard as we wait and hope for rain

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Diageo Settles Australian Thalidomide Suit, Law Firm Says
• Former boss interested in buying back Whyte & Mackay from Diageo

FINANCE, M&A

• Bibendum sells private clients arm to Cru London
• Red Mountain sale keeps local guessing about possibilities
• Bordeaux’s Taillan buys full control of Osoyoos Larose

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Sotheby’s First Mainland China Auction Raises $37 Million
• Wine Vies With Coins For Asian Investors

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

HEALTH

• Red wine has health benefits, but can it cure cancer?

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• US alcohol ads largely comply with standards: study
• Health experts alarmed over boom in Facebook alcohol ads
• Analysis: Hennessy Wins Trademark Infringement Case in China
• ‘You say Calvados, we say Alvados!’ – Finns upset French apple cart
• Country Origin Protectionism Still a Hot Issue

MARKETING & SALES

• Champagne must do more to defend itself
• How Big Bottles Became A Hot Wine Program
• Marketers must rein in their impulse to make grand claims
• Natural wines gain popularity, despite funky flavors
• 5 restaurant execs reveal their top 3 strategic moves
• Jacob’s Creek creates wine for curry
• Hobbs to make Mosel-style Riesling in USA
• The Rise of 3-D Wine Labels
• Oregon Wineries Embrace Branded Bottles

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

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• European Wine Economists to Meet in Lyons — May 2014
• Eastern Wine Expo 2014

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Bringing Value To Online Wine
• Thanksgiving by the numbers: Facebook, Twitter data spots the hottest retailers

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Winetrepreneurs : Tony Leonardini and BNA Wine Group
• Workers & Pesticides: Joint liability opens can of worms

• From Bubbles to Boardrooms: Act 1: Startups Are Such Fun By Michaela Rodeno [Sponsored Link]

MEDIA & BOOKS

• Wine Blogging: The Good, the Bad, & the Mostly Ugly
• Wine on television
• Telling Jess Jackson’s story
• 2013 Digital Wine Comm Conf Part 2: The Wine Mosaic
• A lesson for all wine PR people from the Russians

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Tasting versus drinking, again
• The wine snob is dead and there’s a party on his grave
• With food pairing, the highest scoring wine isn’t always the best
• A Note on WA Smoke Taint
• Atypical Aging in White Wine
• Wines With Juicy Fruit By Wrigley’s Heiress
• Wine and the Sea — Consider the Oyster
• Cheap wine, regional wine, and the typical wine consumer

• Extreme Wine: Searching the World for the Best, the Worst, the Outrageously Cheap, the Insanely Overpriced, and the Undiscovered [Sponsored Link]

APPOINTMENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Eugene Engel Joins Blends as NJ State Sales Manager
• Peter Baedeker to take helm at Curious Cork Imports

OH CANADA!

• Okanagan land-use dispute may wind up in court

U.S. REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• OR: 2013 brought Fire, Flood and the French invasion to Oregon wine
• VA: The latest hot wine destination
• WA: Gov lauds partnership as construction starts on Wine Science Center
• WA: Researchers Reap Innovative Sustainable Ag Prize

WATER, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• ESA tangle addressed at pesticide review
• A real culprit in bee disappearances: Honey thieves

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

EUROPE & THE UK

• Nigella scandal has a way to go
• Abruzzo: blizzard “Attila” devastates vineyards
• France’s national library of grape varieties under threat, say protesters

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

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Small producers hit back at wine industry report
• VinSuite eCommerce, POS, Wine Club and CRM for OZ and NZ

LATIN AMERICA

• Bonarda has a bright future in Argentina

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Being Thankful
• Thanksgiving with the Mondavis: A Family Reunited and its Rich Legacy
• Why We Should Score Literature Like We Score Wine

• Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2014 [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

• Nine out of 10 imported olive oils fail Australian standards

JUST CAN’T MAKE STUFF LIKE THIS UP

• The Cork-Taint-Detecting Cat
• Beer Pong and Related Patent News
• Beer stealing pig to get plaque
• Big ass prices at Victorian feral sale