NEWS FETCH – December 9, 2014

TOP NEWS

• US economy to accelerate in 2015
• Global vineyard area rises, popular varietals rule
• Nature, not climate change, blamed for drought
• Newly 21 Millennials To Drive 2015 Alcohol sales
• Take control of your wine costing and set your prices with confidence *Sponsored Link*

HARVEST 2014/GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Bordeaux: Giscours Sees Positive 2014 Vintage

FINANCE, M&A

• Chinese hotel group to buy 37ha Bordeaux estate
• Wrights sell interest in Oregon’s Scott Paul Wines to Healy
• D’Angerville Takes on Jura’s Puffeney Vineyards
• Bordeaux’s Gregoire Family Turns from Tragedy to New Opportunities
• UK Restaurateur buys major stake in OW Loeb
• VA: Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Changes Hands

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Southern opens storage and retrieval system facility in California
• Wildlife Foundation criticizes Walt Ranch
• Grow Direct To Consumer Sales *Sponsored Link*

ODD COINCIDENCE?

• Jamieson Ranch Vineyards Trumps Jameson Trademark Keeps Disputed Name
• Pernod Ricard uses Jameson for anti-drink driving message

DROUGHT/WATER

• Cities finding new uses of wastewater from wine production
• More drought relief headed to California this week
• Water Supply Index forecast for December 1, 2014
• How California’s Water Rights Make It Tough to Manage Drought
• OID proposes fallowing farmland, selling water to outside agencies
• Sustainability: A History *Sponsored Link*

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• Drync lets consumers search wines and get delivered to local merchant

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Tescogate: Have we lost our moral compass?
• Tesco shares plummet as retailer warns on profits
• Tesco vows to improve supplier relations as it issues profit warning

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Liv-ex’s Fine Wine 100 index going up in Q4
• Pétrus and Rhône top NY sale

HEALTH

• Weekend drinking bad for cardiac health
• No evidence ad bans reduce drinking

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• FDA rules on calorie counts are appropriate
• First British grappa launches (Can they call it that?)

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• Plan to raise premiums on Australia wine, boost competitiveness

MARKETING & SALES

• Consumers aged 65 and over bring cheap wine to parties
• Would You Go to the Wine Equivalent of a Tupperware Party?
• Marketing Muscadet
• You Should Be Drinking More Cocktails This Holiday Season

TRADE SHOWS

• New US Beverage Industry Expo Launched
• Are Wine Industry Events a Good Investment?
• Save time and money – order ProWein 2015 tickets online at reduced rates! *Sponsored Link*

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Hess Collection Debuts New Packaging
• New techniques to control cork closures

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

• Companies clueless about customer dissatisfaction

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Albert Einstein’s recently released letter on how to deal with trolls is timeless
• Drizly smartphone app announces API
• Facebook’s new keyword post search: The new Yelp?

PAYMENTS

• UK: 38% of Christmas shoppers want to use alternative payment methods

MEDIA MATTERS

• Never Use “Announce” In an Announcement

BOOKS

• Dial M for Merlot
• The Essence of Wine
• Books for Wine and Spirits Lovers

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Heimoff Analyzes S.F. Chronicle’s Top 100 Wines
• Biodynamics is the future for Champagne
• Staying Power: How Tannins, Ethanol Affect Flavors in Red Wine
• Great Cabs from China
• Do we overstate the importance of terroir?

DUH!

• The secret to great wine is great grapes

WINE PEOPLE

• Bio: Emidio Pepe
• Uncorked: Hew Blair
• Wine advice from Wolf Blass

WINE EDUCATION

• 6 Things You Should Never Say to a Woman Who Likes to Drink
• 10 Hacks To Make The Most Of Your Wine,

WINE TOURISM

• A Nebbiolo pilgrimage across Northern Italy
• Travel agent creates website to route winery tourists through Sacramento airport

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Have beer, wine sales helped SE Texas cities?

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Tillage of Cover Crops in Vineyard Soils Improve Carbon Sequestration and Diminish Greenhouse Gases
• 3D artificial visualization system to measure grape quality during the harvest

EUROPE & THE UK

• France: Jacques Puffeney to retire in 2015
• UK: November retail trading saved by Black Friday and online sales

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Postcard from Tokyo: Simon Staples

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Wine-themed Greeting Cards
• The HoseMaster’s Letter to Santa 2014
• Zoom: How Everything Moves: From Atoms and Galaxies to Blizzards and Bees *Sponsored Link*

OLIVE OIL

• EVOO price hike hits Turkey and expecting that will rise
• Olive Oil Prices Soar, Consumption Slides
• Eight Accused in €3M Sale of ‘Italian’ Olive Oil from Unknown Sources
• Travel Notes: Magnificent Siurana
• Amid Bugs, Hail, Floods and Bacteria, Italian Olives Take a Beating
• Why Extra Virgin Olive Oil is The Healthiest Fat on Earth

CRAFT BEER, CIDER & SPIRITS

• Sometimes the Best Wine is a Beer (or a Cider