NEWS FETCH – January 24, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Argentine Peso Crash: Cheap(er) Malbec Tsunami On Way To US Shelves
• Calif warns that drought may affect water rights
• 2013 Direct Wine To Consumer Shipping Hits $1.57B
• No Modesto Water For San Francisco, for now
• Hot weather brings on Aussie grape harvest

• Protecting Intellectual Property in Your Brand [Sponsored Link]

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Unified Wine and Grape Symposium: Planning Your Visit
• Trinchero to establish distribution business in UK
• Public gets first chance to speak on SJ County winery rules
• Federal raisin purchase brings big applause in SJV
• Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance tab Fridell to lead board
• Napa City Winery announces Opera House lineup
• From Sage to Syrah, Farm Becomes Winery
• A New Lodi twist to wine bar formula

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

DROUGHT/WATER

• Calif ranchers expect devastating drought impact
• USDA director sees drought effects on Carneros vineyard
• Drain Hetch Hetchy and send the water to Westlands

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• London Wine Fair to subsidize merchant travel

• Planning Wine Trade Show Participation [Sponsored Link]

DISTRIBUTORS, DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• 90% of States Open to Wine Shipping
• TN: Supermarket wine bill up for key votes next week

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Starbucks 1Q profit rises 25%

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

MARKETING & SALES

• SAfrican winemakers urged to focuse on lucrative US market
• Malaysia emerging as a wine market
• Diageo To Feature Top Bartenders In Pre-Super Bowl Event Space

• What are the biggest challenges that Wine Distributors face on daily basis? [Sponsored Link]

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• So we all know what native ads are, right? Maybe not

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

MEDIA MATTERS

• Registration begins for Okanagan Food and Wine Writers Workshop
• Goode’s NZ Pinot Noir e-book released
• Is A Blogger Worth a gingerbread man?
• ZAP, social media and the S.F. Chronicle

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

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Malbec: High in taste and low in price
• Uncork’d With Bellagio Director Of Wine Jason Smith
• The Top 5 Bum Wines, From Thunderbird to Mad Dog 20/20
• Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Hawk Wakawaka Sunday Jan 26
• Between Five Bells 2013 H-Cote Label
• Real Men Drink Pink
• Chinon thriving beyond ‘bistro’ wine label
• French winery takes on English vineyard
• Nielluccio has a place of its own
• NYU’s Stern and Yale Law Take America’s Bordeaux Cup

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

HEALTH

• Boehner says he won’t give up wine, cigarettes to be president

INDUSTRY DATA

• Control States Spirits Volume Up 1.1% In 2013

OH CANADA!

• Wine growers look to protect their vines in the cold
• NS: Valley wines selling well

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

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• PA: Upgraded wine quality workshops set for State College next week

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Why don’t these wines have screwcaps?

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

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Vineyard Maintenance: What The Cluck?

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

EUROPE & THE UK

• Saint Emilion versus Saint Emilion
• Languedoc-based winery aims to create a world class sparkling wine in Kent
• Bronze Age Scandinavians imported wine
• Maori tribe releases award-winning wines into UK

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

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: WA winemakers better placed to weather market fall
• OZ: Picking in the heat
• OZ: Wine growers complain to ACCC about grape prices

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

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• The Night Caruso Came to Dinner
• We all have some ‘wine expert’ in us
• The HoseMaster’s Comprehensive Guide to Wine
• Pacific Star Winery ~ Sally Ottoson

• The Science of Cheese [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

• Olive Oil Component Investigated for Breast Cancer Prevention

CRAFT BEER & SPIRITS

• Draft beer-flavored Jelly Belly beans are here
• Korea Craft Beers Get Boost in Challenge to $1.3 Billion Duopoly

BIZARRE

• A camera that produces slices of cheese
• Italian 18th-century oil painting damaged by cork from fizzy wine bottle
• Drunk fan calls 999 after Man U cup defeat