NEWS FETCH – July 16, 2014

TOP NEWS

• Drought drains $2.2 bil from Calif economy
• DtC Shipments Strong Despite Seasonal Slump
• Restaurant sales fare poorly in June
• China’s Bright Food to spend $2Bil on international deals
• Aussie bulk wine exports increasingly favoured over bottles
• 10 Must-Have Documents to Have Ready For Your Distributor Meeting **Sponsored Link*

HARVEST 2014

• Lake County Cab Prices Should be Flat for 2014
• English Wine Producers revises ambitious target downwards
• Higher yields as Arizona wine grape harvest nears

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Fresno County falls behind Tulare County as state’s king of agriculture
• Dia de la Familia festival honors Napa farmworker families
• 101 grapes & other lesser known facts about Lodi
• Five Hot Ideas To Grow Your Tasting Room Traffic *Sponsored Link*

DROUGHT/WATER

• Flood Irrigation: One Reason Calif Has A Water Shortage
• Why wine drinkers should worry about the California drought
• Weathering the drought by drawing down the bank
• MID, Gallo reach settlement in water dispute
• EPA Schedules Webinar Waters of the U.S. Questions?
• Debate heats up on proposed EPA water-quality rule
• Mandatory water conservation now law in California
• Water Sustainability: A Global Perspective *Sponsored Link*

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Diageo dips as analysts say tie up with SABMiller is unlikely
• Hassett To Lead Beam Suntory’ NAmerica

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Making 10% returns a year… by buying more wine
• Koch Settles With Acker Auction House Over Fake Wine
• Scotch Malt Whisky Investment & Enjoyment *Sponsored Link*

HEALTH

• Of mutant worms & alcoholics
• The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol *Sponsored Link*

MARKETING & SALES

• Marketers Scramble to Unscramble Customer Data
• Analytics Can Take the Dregs Out of Product Pages
• Insights From One Of China’s Largest Wine Importers **Sponsored Link*

BRANDING

• Advertising:Strong brand, simple execution = superior outcomes
• Brand New: The Shape of Brands to Come *Sponsored Link*

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Heineken Inspires Urban Adventures With New Twitter-Based Service
• Wine Marketing Online: How to use the newest tools of marketing to boost profits and build brands *Sponsored Link*

MEDIA MATTERS

• Death of the 100-point Scale
• When Did Wine Become So Partisan?
• On Evan Goldstein’s “Wines Of South America”
• Wine Marketing & Sales, 2nd Edition *Sponsored Link*

SO PATHETIC THIS EVEN HAS TO BE AN ARTICLE

• Five ways to shake wine shopping intimidation

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Terroir vs. personal preference: the critic’s dilemma?
• A conversation with sommelier, Josiah Baldovino
• Tom Stevenson On Bone-Dry Bubbles
• Shenandoah Valley’s Godfather of Barbera
• Wine Faults: Causes, Effects, Cures *Sponsored Link*

WINE TOURISM

• I Heart Wines to move into travel retail
• Global Wine Tourism *Sponsored Link*

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Wine corks may owe quality to gene activity
• The Value of Powdery Mildew Resistance in Grapes
• Understanding Vineyard Soils *Sponsored Link*

EUROPE & THE UK

• Halfwine sets sights on expansion
• Lidl plotting ‘claret offensive’

DOWN UNDER

• Coonawarra region plans to build brand in China
• Australia’s wine drinking habits revealed in largest wine census
• Wines of the Southern Hemisphere: The Complete Guide *Sponsored Link*

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• China’s Expansion Accelerates to 7.5%
• India a young market for wine
• Thirst for Wine – Inside China’s Wine Industry: The Success Factors of Marketing Wine in China *Sponsored Link*

AND IN AN EARTHQUAKE, (OR SMALL BOY WITH SLINGSHOT) …

• Man builds ‘shed’ out of 5,000 wine bottles

WORST NEW PRODUCT IDEA OF YEAR SO FAR

• Dung-smoked beer to hit US shelves