NEWS FETCH – April 2, 2014

TOP NEWS

• American AgCredit loans grow in 2013
• Dampened customer traffic continues to affect restaurants
• Why no wine online in Mass.?
• A year of falls for the Liv-ex Fine Wine 100
• Are Alcohol Ads Targeting Kids?
• Century Council Gets New Name

• What To Cover When You Meet Your Distributor? [Sponsored Link]

HARVEST 2014/GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Argentina: Bottled wine exports grew by 25%
• Chilean wine exports to UK fall by one third in 2013

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• The Lodi Native Zinfandel Project
• Wine grapes named top crop in San Luis Obispo County
• Napa Valley winemaker heads north to lead Double Canyon
• Santa Barbara’s Happy Place for Bordeaux Varieties
• Mondavis stay the course of quality domestic wine
• Williamson Act receives support in Legislature
• Kenneson Farms continues 100-year vineyard tradition
• Ag crime prevention seminar set in Tulare
• Delicato: New Appointments To National Accounts

• Introduction to Water in California [Sponsored Link]

DROUGHT/WATER

• Drill, Baby, Drill (for Water, That Is)
• Oakdale Irrigation Dist May Expand Into Stanislaus
• Drought adds stress to frost protection plans
• Despite storms, Sierra snowpack still far below normal
• Calif storms provide little relief from drought
• Delta water pumping to increase
• Drought may cut key farm exports from California

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

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• China OKS Guyuelongshan Shaoxing Wine Stock Offering
• Interview, Part 2: Bryan Fry of Pernod Ricard USA
• Pernod seeks buyer for Becherovka brand in Czech Republic-sources

FINANCE, M&A

• Accolade Buys Another NZ Winery
• China’s Cofco to Buy Majority Stake in Noble Agriculture Unit

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

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• En primeur: rapid campaign to unfold, but no demand
• No One Pretending 2013 Was A Great Bordeaux Vintage

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

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• U.S. rules threaten Oregon wine growler law
• A Legal Perspective On New York wine laws
• Call the lawyers! Bolt the doors! The plaintiffs are coming!

MARKETING & SALES

• Wineries Need to Prepare for the New Multichannel Norm
• Why Do Americans Pay More for Wine Than Europeans?
• Spotwine To Unveil Single-Serve Wine Pouch at WSWA Convention
• NY Department Store Wine
• Bordeaux Wines Should Be 40% Cheaper, Armit Says

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

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• The mobile web is still losing out to native apps, by more than 6 to 1
• Why mobile marketing is all about the moment
• The limits of social media

• How to Get Five Million Users to See Your Brand on Youtube For Free? [Sponsored Link]

EXPENSIVE TASTES

• 5 Comments in Defense of $150 Corkage Fee at Per Se

CHEAP TASTES

• Why Buying Cheap Wine Is Bad for Everyone
• How to be a cheap wine snob

EXPENSIVE CHEAP TASTES

• Enjoy a $200 Bottle of Ripple

MATTERS OF TASTE

• The truth of why Chinese mix wine and soft drinks
• Frank Zappa: On Sicilian Wine and Snotty Sommeliers
• Tasting with Cal MBAs, and news on the California drought

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

MEDIA MATTERS

• How about you, girlfriend? Are you into wine, too?
• Wine PR Has Changed, Have You?

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

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Northwest Vineyards Sees Bud Break
• The Best Vineyards In Oregon

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

SUSTAINABILITY

• Wine Institute Publishes Guide on California Sustainable Winegrowing

• Chinatown (DVD) [Sponsored Link]

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• New tech saps vine water use

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

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: Red wine grape crops impacted by fungus outbreak

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Trading a Desk Job for One in the Vineyards
• Dispelling a Few Wine Myths

• The Control of Nature [Sponsored Link]

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF RUSSIAN INVASIONS

• Crimean Winery Hopes to Benefit From Russian Annexation

OLIVE OIL

• Countdown to New York International Olive Oil Competition
• Evolution and sustainability of the olive production systems
• Spain Enjoys Robust Olive Oil Sales, But Not Prices
• Tensions heat up in Spain–Italy olive oil war
• Patent Applicant Claims Olive Polyphenols Help Blood Sugar Control
• Olive Oil Estimate Cut by Oil World as Spain Gains Export Share

ALMONDS & OTHER TREE NUTS

• Firebaugh to get new pistachio processing plant

CRAFT BEER & SPIRITS

• Craft beer takes to the skies

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