NEWS FETCH – June 3, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Calif Shuts Off Water For 4,200 San Joaquin Valley water users
• Tied-House Laws Run Amok As Cal Outlaws Retailer/Producer “Visual Links”
• Slump in China’s wine market forces shake-out, rethink
• Coravin halts sales: exploding wine bottles
• 2014’s 50 most admired wine brands in the world
• Millennials: Wine Dull, Cocktails and Beer Exciting
• What Will The Wine Business Be in 20 Years?
• Are You Really Ready To Pitch A Distributor: Here’s the Checklist **Sponsored Link*

HARVEST 2014/GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Largest crush on record for New Zealand
• Bloom in eastern Washington
• Bordeaux 2014: the start of the flowering
• The Vineyard at the End of the World: Maverick Winemakers and the Rebirth of Malbec *Sponsored Link*

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Auction Napa Valley begins this week
• Castle Rock Winery Builds Sales Team
• Ag Leadership Names Four New Board Members
• Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping And The Fate Of America’s Fresh Waters *Sponsored Link*

DROUGHT/WATER

• Federal water bill to keep Lake Sonoma supply flowing
• Water Sustainability: A Global Perspective *Sponsored Link*

FINANCE, M&A

• 2 Moscow Wine Factories Selling for $286M
• 4 reasons bootstrapping can be smarter than raising capital
• How to Import Wine: An Insider’s Guide *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Why Chinese Booze Costs More Than Fine Wine at Auction
• Latour ’02 Dips to Four-Year Low as Older Bordeaux Sought
• Bordeaux en primeur now null and void
• Scotch Malt Whisky Investment & Enjoyment *Sponsored Link*

FAKE WINE

• Italian police seize fake Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti wines
• How A Dentist’s Tool Became A Smoking Gun In Wine Fraud Mystery
• Vintage Fraud: How To Spot A Counterfeit Wine

HEALTH

• Resveratrol, causes pancreatic abnormalities in fetuses
• A Glass Of Wine Offers More Than Resveratrol
• Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol *Sponsored Link*

REGULATION & COMPLIANCE

• BC Liquor Changes: Off Site Storage Now Permitted
• Consumer Wine Coalition Kicks Off 2014 Membership Drive (pdf)
  
• Wine Business Case Studies from the Real World *Sponsored Link*

LEGAL MATTERS

• Roussillon winemakers win trademark case in China
• Wine in America: Law and Policy *Sponsored Link*

MARKETING & SALES

• Wines must better connect emotionally and personally to consumers
• How To Create an Inbound Marketing Strategy
• 7 Predictions for the Future of Customer Experience
• Of Coke, Hendricks Gin, Wine and Happiness
• The Other Guys Targets Double-Digit Growth
• Mateus joins low alcohol movement
• Single-serve pouched wine debuts
• Here’s how you need to pitch Tesco **Sponsored Link*

BRANDING

• Why consistent branding is critical
• Brand New: The Shape of Brands to Come *Sponsored Link*

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• News gallery: Vinexpo Asia-Pacific 2014
• Trade Show & Event Marketing *Sponsored Link*

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Restaurants adopt mobile apps for ordering, payment
• Live Infographic Shows The Internet In Real Time
• Wine Marketing Online: How to use the newest tools of marketing to boost profits and build brands *Sponsored Link*

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Labor shortage estimate alarms Washington officials
• Labor Shortage Beyond Immigration Reform
• 5 Steps to a Healthy Bottom Line through Improved Conversions
• How to Launch your Wine Career: Dream Jobs in America’s Hottest Industry *Sponsored Link*

MEDIA MATTERS

• Sensationalist reporting wrongly tarnishes Italian wine
• Stupid media! 20 percent of wine is NOT counterfeit
• Heimoff: The state of the wine blog
• Smart move, Tasting Panel, on The SOMM Journal
• Wine Marketing & Sales, 2nd Edition *Sponsored Link*

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Pollution, Pornography and “Natural Wine”
• Blends: A Matter of Degrees
• It’s Time to Rekindle the Flame With Argentina’s Malbec
• More thoughts on terroir
• A Day in the Life with KJ’s Winemaster Randy Ullom, II
• 3 Surprising Things About Pinot Noir
• Taste Buds and Molecules: The Art and Science of Food, Wine, and Flavor *Sponsored Link*

OH CANADA!

• Truett-Hurst Square Wine Bottle Launched in Canada
  
• The Wines of Canada *Sponsored Link*

EUROPE & THE UK

• Top 10 women in Italian wine
• Tesco CEO creates new executive roles to “reshape” the company
• Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy*Sponsored Link*

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• China’s Grace begins sparkling experiments
• Hanoi’s Healthful Red Wine Baths
• Thirst for Wine – Inside China’s Wine Industry: The Success Factors of Marketing Wine in China *Sponsored Link*

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Kosher Wine With Biblical Roots
• The Ultimate Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines *Sponsored Link*

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Wine competitions, restaurant wine, and lawsuits
• Seasons Among the Vines: Life Lessons from the California Wine Country and Paris *Sponsored Link*

CRAFT BEER & SPIRITS

• Bearded professor ‘fired’ over beer label
• The Craft Beer Revolution: How a Band of Microbrewers Is Transforming the World’s Favorite Drink *Sponsored Link*

LONG, WANDERING, SELF-AGGRANDIZING HEADLINE OF THE DAY

• Revolutionary California Wine Company Truett-Hurst & Trialto Wine Group Launch Wine with Aim to Reduce Environmental Impact

Revolutionary? According to whom? Careful not to break your arm patting yourself on the back.

Who is Trialto and just what is the actual news here? News?

Right, they have now introduced the Johnny Walker-like square wine bottle to Canada. When you make people hunt for the news, you’ll lose most of them and aggravate the rest. Smooth move, that.