NEWS FETCH – March 20, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Wine exports endangered by West Coast strike threat
• Spain’s wine surplus overflows across globe
• Winery Owner Claims Russia Better For Crimean Wine Sale
• Non-GMO wine verification

• Are You Really Ready To Pitch A Distributor: Here’s Your Checklist [Sponsored Link]

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Napa worker allegedly steals $400K in wine
• Council fails to pass Copia moratorium
• Folio FWP Appoints New General Manager
• VJB Vineyards Purchases Wellington Winery

• Introduction to Water in California [Sponsored Link]

DROUGHT/WATER

• Garamendi and LaMalfa push Sites Reservoir bill
• Drought: Families leave farms, schools shrink
• SLO: Supervisors eye water basin control
• Rally Rages at Fish Over Farmers

• Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource [Sponsored Link]

DISTRIBUTORS, DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• Wine, Dine, and Bribe
• Celebrating Corruption in the State-Mandated Three Tier System

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Shares fall at Majestic after profit warning

FINANCE, M&A

• Great Oregon Vineyard Land Grab Actually Closeout Sale

• The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow [Sponsored Link]

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Latour releases 2004 to ‘deathly silence’
• Chateau Latour prices 2004 vintage 328% higher

• Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization [Sponsored Link]

SCREWED OR CORKED?

• Consumers prefer screwcaps, says surveys
• People prefer aluminium closures for wine and spirits

MARKETING & SALES

• Starbucks to Bring Alcohol Sales to Thousands of Stores
• Integrated fulfillment can boost sales

• Understand the Retailer, their Market and their Buyers [Sponsored Link]

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Smartphone App For Fast Alcohol Delivery Expands
• Facebook wants your data for free, but Jana will pay 3.48 billion people for theirs
• FTC wants Congress to punish companies for being hacked

• How to use Twitter for your Wine Business and Marketing [Sponsored Link]

MEDIA MATTERS

• Town & Country Taps Jay McInerney As Wine Columnist
• Wilfred and Steve
• Meet Steve Heimoff, Rev. 2.0
• How Wine Brands Can Get Blogs To Tell Their Stories
• Proud to be a journalist?

• Beyond Chinatown: The Metropolitan Water District, Growth, and the Environment [Sponsored Link]

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Here’s Penfolds’ finest – and it’s not Grange
• Great Wines Tell an Honest Story
• New Brand Stakes Claim as “First Growth” of South Africa
• Dubourdieu: Old vines are not better
• Kosta Browne: The Story of a Cult Classic

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

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• TX: Four wineries are joining to launch Texas Fine Wine

• Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water [Sponsored Link]

EUROPE & THE UK

• New wave Vinho Verde threatens region’s landscape
• British politicians are taxing booze all wrong
• UK budget: Wine loses out as chancellor favours beer and spirits
• New premier crus for Burgundy

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

DOWN UNDER

• Wine Australia announces partnership opportunities for 2014-15

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

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• The $300 Coravin question
• Survey defines 6.52pm as ‘wine o’clock’

• The Control of Nature [Sponsored Link]