NEWS FETCH – April 1, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Judge slashes damages for billionaire Koch in fake wine case
• Change of venue sought for Paso Robles groundwater lawsuit
• Foreigners Holding U.S. Ag Acreage Due to Report

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

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

• Foley Buys Four Graces, Black Family Esates & Doe Ridge
• Foley’S Oregon Purchases Guided By Nicholson
• CVNE – Compania Vinicola del Norte de Espana buys Mikuni
• Chinese investments in NZ Vineyards approved
• Douglas Valley Farm and Winery to sell land
• Albertsons-Safeway Merger Set To Proceed

CALIFORNIA

• Lohr proposes using surplus Paso lake water
• Silver lining for winemakers in Calif’s drought
• Symposium: How Calif Winegrowers Will Weather Future Storms

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

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Interview: Pernod Ricard USA Pres And CEO Bryan Fry
• Captain Morgan fights to force ‘copycat’ Admiral Nelson surrender

FINANCE

• Equity crowdfunding for dummies: How it works & how to get in on the game
• CrowdIt is bringing the suits — aka startup advisors — to the crowdfunding table
• Bitcoin prices plummet after U.S. IRS ruling, rumors of Chinese trade block

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

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Leoville-Las Cases 2002 Falls to Three-Year Low on Liv-Ex
• Champagne: phenomenal wealth-creation machine

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

LEGAL MATTERS

• Labeling laws shouldn’t be decided in court
• Charity & Alcohol: Don’t get fined for being good

MARKETING & SALES

• How can you gain conversions through winery websites?
• Branding with beverages: Telling a restaurant’s story
• Real-Time Marketing About More than Social
• S.Africa Confronts the Wine Bottleneck Syndrome

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

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• Dedicated craft beer section at London Wine Fair

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Texas Retail Giant Spec’s Victim Of Data Breach
• Kitchensurfing brings master chefs straight to your kitchen

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

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• How Big Beverage Groups Manage Their Stock
• Ditch the annual review says management expert

• Beating Obamacare: Your Handbook for the New Healthcare Law [Sponsored Link]

MEDIA MATTERS

• On the Internet, every day is April Fool’s Day
• Women for WineSense to hold Media Training for Winemakers
• Fine wine vs the alphabet
• Saveur Announces 2014 Best Food Blog Award Finalists

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

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Champagne: Goodby Zero Dosage, Hello Low Cal?
• Oregon’s Five Grand Cru Sites of the Future
• Is a Wine With Brett a Bad Thing?
• Will wines get less “tight” as they age?
• Bonny Doon’s Grahm ‘respects raw materials’
• The Pros and No Cons of Drinking Cider
• Superstar winemakers, blind tasting and bias

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

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Development of Virtual Weather Stations in Lodi
• Bees could help speed up the ageing of wine
• Colony collapse disorder incites bee rustlers
• Creature Features

• Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever [Sponsored Link]

EUROPE & THE UK

• Les Dauphins becomes a million bottle brand in the UK and around the world
• En primeur: will winemakers have ‘pulled rabbit from hat’?

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

DOWN UNDER

• Australian wine biz not sold on Genetic Modification

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Pinotage offers super South African wine happy hour in Beijing

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

SOUTH AFRICA

• South Africa must be allowed to reinvest in wine production

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Argentine wine for Pope Francis

• The Control of Nature [Sponsored Link]

ALMONDS & OTHER TREE NUTS

• Almond Growers Vote Overwhelmingly To Continue Marketing Order

CRAFT BEER & SPIRITS

• Top 20 US craft breweries
• Great Southern Craft Beer Competition Calls For Homebrewer Entries

• Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers [Sponsored Link]

SPACEY

• Producer sprinkles vineyard with meteorite dust