NEWS FETCH – January 9, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Invest more in wine brands warns sacked Treasury CEO
• Winetasting Network starting over after problems
• What Amazon doesn’t tell third-party sellers
• So Are 2 Drinks A Day Really Too Many?
• NZ Winery to Accept Bitcoin
• Are Olives Next in the GMO Fight?
• Silicon Valley Bank On Wine: What’s Going to Happen Next?

• Growth Strategy 2014 – Where to sell? Whom to sell? What to sell? How to make it all happen? [Sponsored Link]

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Proposed Freestone-Occidental AVA: an interim status report
• Trinchero adding huge Lodi warehouse, distribution center
• Nov. a big month for California exporters
• Yucaipa gets its first winery
• Sonoma Planning Commission to grapple with tasting rooms again
• Figone to lead California Women for Agriculture

• The Wine Savant: A Guide to the New Wine Culture [Sponsored Link]

CALIFORNIA DROUGHT

• Santa Barbara: D is for Drought
• Calistoga reservoir drops to nearly empty
• California has seen this kind of drought before

ICE … WINE

• Quebec’s ice wine industry prepares for battle
• VineAlert program helps protect vineyards during frigid temps
• NY: Cold Snap Threatens Vines In Finger Lakes
• Northeast Ohio wineries to lose millions as subzero weather damages grape crop

PUBLIC COMPANIES, M&A

• Constellation: Whale Vs Minnow, Corona Bashes ‘tiny little’ craft beers
• Markets see strong advances despite slumps
• Stow Company acquires Distinctive Wine Cellars

• When the Money Runs Out: The End of Western Affluence [Sponsored Link]

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Mouton ’98 Rallies to Four-Month High
• Collectors secure liquidation of hurricane-hit New York wine storage firm
• Bordeaux Fine Wines: Wine deal leaves an expensive hangover

• Breakfast at Sotheby’s [Sponsored Link]

INDUSTRY DATA

• Washington vs. Oregon Wine (Infographic)

MARKETING

• Château du Blah Blah: Bordeaux Is A Turn-Off
• Golfers Go Grape to Grass, (No … Not THAT Kind Of Grass)
• Naming a Wine is Different than Naming a Human Being
• Blending Red Wine With Porter Ale: A Crossover Beer Worth The Buzz?
• A Branding guidelines Lesson From Google Glass

SALES

• Wine merchandising for dummies – Downton Abbey claret
• What happens when the discounting stops? The Scottish experience
• The12-Bottle Wine List

• Planning Wine Trade Show Participation [Sponsored Link]

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Add mobile email to your wine marketing toolbox
• Food & Beverages Among Worst Sectors To Build An Online Store
• Vivino crosses three million users
• Some small businesses pull data off US servers after NSA leaks, court ruling
  

• Writing on the Wall: Social Media – The First 2,000 Years [Sponsored Link]

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Nonino Grappa: Innovation Knocks At The Back Door
• U.S. Payroll to Population Rate Falls to 42.9% in December
• Immigration reform’s narrow window for survival

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

MEDIA MATTERS

• Alder Yarrow Book Project Kickstarter Funding Successful
• Evernote’s Phil Libin shows how to do startup PR the right way

• The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking [Sponsored Link]

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Vintners in pursuit of zin mastery
• 30 winemakers under 40 to watch (part two)

• The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert: Take a Whiff of That [Sponsored Link]

OH CANADA!

• 2014 – Year of BC Liquor Law Reform

• Canadian Wineries: The story of Canada’s entry into the world of world-class vintages [Sponsored Link]

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• ID: Krause, Cinder Wines help turn Boise into wine country
• MT: 340+ wineries can ship directly to Montana consumers
• OR: Anheuser-Busch to buy Morgan Distributing
• VA: Legislature looking at tweak to winery licenses
• WA: A Red Mountain winery dream comes to fruition

ACADEMIA

• WA: WSU introduces first student-made wine

WATER, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Playing ‘Where’s Waldo’ at the EPA

• Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours [Sponsored Link]

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Comment sought on 2,4-D assessment
• Cooperative Extension Turns 100

• Postmodern Winemaking: Rethinking the Modern Science of an Ancient Craft [Sponsored Link]

EUROPE & THE UK

• Entire vintage destroyed from famous clos in Burgundy

• Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France [Sponsored Link]

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Winegrape growers struggling with low prices
• OZ: Riverland grape growers seek more price power

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Hey, foxy lady: Wine (marketing), woman and song in China

• How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region [Sponsored Link]

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Trentadue: Losing A Real Pioneer
• 3,000 year old bin-end wine label deciphered
• Wine and Warfare part 11: Beer and madness

• The Science of Cheese [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

CRAFT BEER & SPIRITS

• Study maps beer drinkers’ political vote

JUST CAN’T MAKE STUFF LIKE THIS UP

• £15m restaurant with 100 vintages of Yquem to open in London
• CO: New Amsterdam and its pot supply—ready for weed tourism?