NEWS FETCH – April 16, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Calif drought plan omits allocations for farm water
• Aussie wine China sales continue plunge: -16%
• Restaurants struggle despite rising March sales

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

FREE GRANGE POLITICIAN SLAUGHTERED OVER PENFOLDS ’59

• Australian state premier resigns over A$3,000 bottle of wine gift
• The real value of Australia’s most politically costly wine
• Worth it:Penfolds Grange 1959: truly a wine to remember
• Not Worth it: 1959 Penfolds Grange Not the best Grange

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Do we need another Sonoma appellation?
• Celebrating The Best Defined Wine Growing Region in California
• Winery plans expansion into downtown Galt
• Sonoma State Cellars Uncorks Third Annual Release
• Conservation easement applications for wetlands due May 15
• Talbott Vineyards Names Bill Henry Southwest Regional Mgr

• Introduction to Water in California [Sponsored Link]

DROUGHT/WATER

• Paso groundwater pumping moratorium hearing delayed
• Drought chokes ag research efforts in California
• Record snow in northern parts of West, parched in southern areas
• Yountville breaks ground for water recycling project
• Merced Irrigation District hopes to cut deal for more water
• Our View: More water flowing to West Side, but more frustration, too

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

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Wait on Diageo/USL offer: shares may prop up further
• Molson Coors revives Canada court spat
• Tontine Wines Announces 2013 Annual Results

FINANCE, M&A

• NakedWines crowdsources $1 million for winemaker

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

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Lunzer Says 2013 Bordeaux Not Investment Prospect
• Alex Ferguson’s wines expected to score with buyers – Christie’s

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

BORDEAUX BARGAINS! (WHOOPEE-DO-DAH)

• Bordeaux 2013: Lafite under €300 a bottle
• Bordeaux Estates From Haut Bailly to Cos Cut ’13 Prices
• Lafite Rothschild 2013: cheapest vintage

BORDEAUX WHINE

• ‘We cannot be the chateaux bank forever’, says Bordeaux negociant

HEALTH

• Mediterranean Diet Linked to Less Inflammation

MARKETING & SALES

• Don’t forget customer service when people buy wine online
• 3 reasons your customers are abandoning their carts
• Special Offers Get Mobile Users to Opt In

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

NOT SO HARD WHEN YOU START FROM NEAR ZERO

• Sales of mead exceed growth rates for beer, wine and spirits

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Fundamentals Of The Affordable Care Act For Growers

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

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Beige Tastes: Boring Wine
• Riesling Revolution in China
• Vineyard Designates-Deciphering Wine Labels
• SpeakEasy: Fredric Koeppel, Bigger Than Your Head
• Werewolf in Napa: How the Moon Affects Wine
• Tesco: Aussie Wine Is Too Homogenized
• 2013 Greatest NZ Vintage Ever for Pinot?
• Nostalgia Hits Wine Country
• Hale and hearty: Gallo nails it
• Mourvedre’s Dark and Terroir-torial Personality
• Watermelon wine, anyone?

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

OH CANADA!

• Beer still top alcoholic beverage for Albertans
• Wine Institute Announces Governance Review
• Legislation would allow in-store wine and beer brewing in Nova Scotia

• Canadian Wineries: The story of Canada’s entry into the world of world-class vintages [Sponsored Link]

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• 2014 was the Worst Winter in the Finger Lakes in Years
• Texas Wine Country 2014: Some Dodged the Bullet, Some Not
• Washington vines get through winter
• WA: Small town to get grape crushing plant

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

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• To prevent crime, farmers, deputies use proven tools
• Cornell University Horticulture Professor Named Outstanding Extension Educator
• USDA To Train, Educate Next Generation Of Farmers And Ranchers

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

EUROPE & THE UK

• Wine thieves jailed for two years
• The World’s First Chianti Classico Gran Selezione

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

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Chile and South Africa wine exports surge

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Comic Books and Thoroughbreds, Inspired by Wine

• The Control of Nature [Sponsored Link]

OLIVE OIL

• Plenty of Enthusiasm At NYIOOC Tasting Event

WAAAAAY TO LONG AND ARROGANT

• Top Shelf Brands Holdings Corp announces an Agreement with ABAC Glass Co. Ltd., of a revolutionary bottle design for the highly anticipated Herbal infused Tequila Revolutionary? Highly anticipated? Really? By Whom? Get real and forget the imagined hype.