NEWS FETCH – April 15, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Bulk wine grows to 50% of New World exports
• Restaurant sales rebound in March
• DtC shipments and winery hiring record double-digit growth
• 100 Years Of Calif. Cooperative Extension
• Today’s Farms Better Positioned to Withstand Economic Fallout

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

FINANCE, M&A

• Paternina sells historic brand and cellars
• Campari buys Fratelli Averna for €103m
• LVMH Acquires First Burgundy Vineyard Clos des Lambrays
• Richard Branson to buy South African hotel and vineyard

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

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Plans for Santa Rosa wine museum take shape
• “Sweet Home Napa Valley” 2014 Auction Theme
• Central Valley plant picked to make paper wine bottles
• Sonoma County business activity beats U.S. average
• SF Japantown bar license suspended for soliciting … drinks
  

• Introduction to Water in California [Sponsored Link]

DROUGHT/WATER

• El Nino may yet bail out California
• UC Drought Summit, April 25
• U of Nev Offers Drought, Production Assistance
• Water proposal holds potential for making Eastern Oregon bloom

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

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• What’s Driving Tobacco Corp Altria’s Wine Sales?
• Diageo bids £1bn for control of United Spirits
• Pernod Ricard India looks to boost market share to 50%
• China wine maker Luzhao Lao Jiao’s 2013 net profit down

REGULATION & COMPLIANCE

• Aussie cleanskins: The TTB Would Pitch A Hissy Fit
• Blame it on Utah
• Yet another proposal to privatize Pa. booze sales

MARKETING & SALES

• What Makes A Wine Sell, And What Doesn’t
• How to reduce shopping cart abandonment
• Waitrose trials in-store wine & cheese bar

• 8 Beer, Wine & Liquor Videos to Inspire and Educate Brand Owners [Sponsored Link]

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• At Vinitaly, producers advised to ride the ‘Korean wave’
• Vinitaly 2014: Natural Wine Continues to Trend

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Big changes Coming To VinTank
• Google Likes it When You Act Natural
• Traditional or Digital Ads? Millennials Show Mixed Feelings
• Groups put old-fashioned ‘social’ in social media

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

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• 5 questions that can help you prevent wire fraud
• Heartbleed bug fixes threaten to cause major Internet disruptions
• Every password you should change because of Heartbleed
• Why you should not take that call from the IRS

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

MEDIA MATTERS

• New Directions at Wine Enthusiast and Alquimie
• The Grapes of Wrath at 75: 10 surprising facts

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

MATTERS OF TASTE

• 2013 Bordeaux: The Vintage from Hell
• A Brief History of Manischewitz and Other Holy Wines
• Masters of Wine gear up for record breaking event
• When quality isn’t enough: the “lightbulb of recognition”
• The Effect of the North Atlantic Oscillation on Cava Quality
• Napa Cabernets From a Cold, Wet Year

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

CRAFT BEER & SPIRITS

• Brewing Beer in California: Legal Guidelines
• Largest-ever World Beer Cup awards

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

WINE EDUCATION

• San Francisco Wine School Offering Weekend Immersion Program

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Harsh Winter Destroys Most of Ohio’s Wine Grapes

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

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Are fracking and winemaking compatible?

• Chinatown (DVD) [Sponsored Link]

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• USDA Announces Sign-Up Date for Disaster Assistance Programs

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

EUROPE & THE UK

• Italian sparkling wine exports to UK leap by 40%

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

DOWN UNDER

• Innovative wine technology makes Australia’s top drops more accessible
• Australian wines hit China with a road show

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• World wine heavyweights still betting on China

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

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Wine Note-Taking for Beginners

• The Control of Nature [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

• Continuing Decline in World Olive Oil Imports
• The Mediterranean Loses Its Monopoly on Elite Olive Oil

A RISING TREND

• Wine Ice Cream: Now With Champagne and Viagra

BIZARRE

• Pantless Woman Arrested in Boxed Wine Theft