NEWS FETCH – April 17, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Judges overturn senior water rights rulings on Sacto River contracts
• China’s Next Superpower Wine Move
• Napa wine exec pleads guilty in embezzlement case

• How to Protect Vineyard Designates [Sponsored Link]

HARVEST 2014/GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• OZ: Victorian wine grape growers impacted by low yields

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• California farmers planting more grapes
• Fracking Freak-Out Justified?
• State Ag Secretary to Join Vineyard Economics Seminar

• Introduction to Water in California [Sponsored Link]

DROUGHT/WATER

• Storage key element sought in Cal water bonds
• Central Coast steelhead recovery: the water isn’t always on
• Paso Robles moves toward using recycled water for irrigation
• Californians divided on water shortage solutions
• San Joaquin River salmon restoration rolls on with truck ride from Friant Dam
• Rains help east Oregon water picture
• Idaho water situation continues to improve

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

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Diageo blames political instability as growth stalls
• Rémy Cointreau warns profits may slump by 40%
• Pernod bolsters St Hugo range

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

 

MARKETING & SALES

• Rosé wine sales may have “plateaued”
• Whole Foods’ One Wine Program in Southern California
• Malbec sales at Tesco up 200%
• CyT’s Trivento grows by 200% in off-trade
• Sangria tipped for Millennial success
• Starbucks Expands Wine Sales to More Cities

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

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Lafite Rothschild Cuts Price of Its 2013 Vintage by 14%
• Lafite 2013: buy Mouton instead
• Mouton 2013 follows Lafite in onslaught of releases

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

HEALTH

• Beer is no less healthy than wine
• Danger! Bad Wine Consumption Studies & Bad Reporting

MEDIA MATTERS

• Feedback: Goode’s post on critics and style preferences
• Skype Drinking with Jameson Fink

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

MATTERS OF TASTE

• How much local is too much?
• Vying For Napa’s Best Reds, By Way Of Hungary
• Napa trend for ‘leaner, less-oaked’ Chardonnay
• A kosher winery in Berkeley
• Meshuval Wines from Carmel
• Chilean Wine Emerges Onto World Stage
• The Proust Q&A: Alvaro Palacios

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

BAD TASTE NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE WINE

• Hitler wine to be sold at auction

CRAFT BEER, CIDER & SPIRITS

• Wine vs Cider—An Exploration Beginning in Berkeley
• California Winemakers Go Wild For Hard Apple Cider

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

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Owen Roe moves production to Yakima Valley
• VA: First Organic Certified Vineyard

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

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• GMO Labeling Bill Close to Finish Line in Vermont
• French Parliament Orders Ban on GM Corn Cultivation
• The Benefits of Self-Assessment

• Chinatown (DVD) [Sponsored Link]

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• New Pest Management Choices Provided Fruit Growers

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

EUROPE & THE UK

• Frédéric Brochet (Ampelidae) takes over Haut-Poitou Co-op
• Bodegas Muriel buys cellar housing ‘legendary Rioja vintages’

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

DOWN UNDER

• China’s Big Bet on Australian Wine
• Price of wine needs to double: Englefield
• Australia puts positive spin on Chinese slide

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Indian entrepreneurs get into wine

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

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Second Cheapest Wine
• Everything You Need to Know About ‘Scandal’ and Wine
• Top Wine Terms Defined

• The Control of Nature [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

• Unraveling the mysteries of olive oil
• U.S. Producers Win 37 Awards at International Olive Oil Competition