NEWS FETCH – March 2, 2015

TOP NEWS

• Treasury mulls sale of Australian bottling and winery processing facilities
• Ag groups, water agencies react to Central Valley Water Shutoff
• New wineries: shunned in Napa, welcomed in Suisun
• Wines Are Basket Boosters For Supermarkets
• Restaurant Sales Continue To Climb
• English wine estate loses 5,000 bottles in burglary
• TTB Compliance can be simpler. Here’s how. *Sponsored Link*

HARVEST 2014/GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Tasmanian wine producers struggle to meet international demand

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Economic impact of craft brewers is growing in Sonoma County
• Chinese Wine Symposium at U.C. Davis on March 26th
• 400 sprinkler heads stolen from Yountville vineyards
• Napa Weighs Mealybug Controls

DROUGHT/WATER

• The 2015 Calif Drought so far – March 1
• Most Central Valley farmers unlikely to get federal water, again
• Injection Well Bill Proposed to Protect Groundwater
• Who is behind the chemical-laden water pits in Kern County?

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• After House Privatization Vote, PA Senator Wants PLCB Modernization
• Celebrating a Recent Burst of Progress on Direct Shipping
• Booze monopoly doesn’t mean better service for Ontarians

DISTRIBUTORS

• Excelsior Wine Maps Ambitious Growth Plan
• Overcoming the Top 10 Objections from Beverage Retailers *Sponsored Link*

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Cramer Says Avoid Boston Beer, Buy Constellation
• Delegat targets North America to build on record-breaking sales
• Pernod Ricard shakes up team to boost Asian growth
• TWE has its mojo back, says CEO
• Penfolds owner Treasury sees hope despite profits slide
• Treasury Wine looks at winery infrastructure sale
• How Large Distributors Launch A New Brand *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Haut Bailly leads the Left Bank pack

ALCOHOL, HEALTH, AND THE FRENCH PARADOX

• Counting Calories In 50 Popular Beers

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• ARTAL: The Movie (label regulation)
• Advertising, Promotions, and Retailer Relationships: Are You ABC Compliant?
• Big Names Question Validity Of Rioja DOC

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• Could Chardonnay’s long stranglehold as our top wine be ending?
• Madeira: The Historic Portuguese Wine That’s Hip Again

WINE SELECTION & RECOMMENDATION

• Curmudgeon Asks: Can we use wine back labels to figure out wine quality?

MARKETING & SALES

• Consumers ‘misled’ by wine-based drinks
• Gallo targets young adults with low-alcohol, fruity wine
• Craft beer’s success has wineries worried about losing young customers
• Image issue? Champagne-drinking men are ‘tossers’
• Why Wine Brand marketers should have a closer look at Facebook Place Tips

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Cork Versus Screw Cap: Which Preserves The Flavor Of Wine Better?

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• National Restaurant Assn Partners With Craft Beverage Expo

PAYMENTS

• 38% of small biz (includes most tasting rooms) may not be ready for new credit cards
• Automatic credit card updating. Its time has come.

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Food safety guidelines for wine and food events, the rigors

PARKER, PARKER, PARKER …

• Robert Parker: nobody will dominate wine criticism like I have
• Parker (Analysis): Ozymandias
• Will the market notice if Robert Parker’s palate declines?
• Great Palates Don’t Exist
• Parker Move on Bordeaux Wine Will Lower Prices

MEDIA MATTERS

• Jon Bonné Joins PUNCH as Senior Contributing Editor
• Seek the Love of Strangers: Billy Collins on Writing

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Bouchaine and the Cube
• Comfort me with Nebbiolo
• Pecorino: Marche’s Comeback Kid
• Chassagne-Montrachet And Hyphen-Mania

WINE PEOPLE

• Ch. Montrose owner ‘absolutely not dead’
• The Salami Vineyard and the ham reborn in wine

HEY KIDS! LET’S TRY THIS AT HOME!

• How to replicate a wine from 1500 year-old grape seeds

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Corkage fee helps put a cap on wine expenses

UHM… REALLY?

• Baby ‘beer’ bottle on sale
• Microbrewery creates a breakfast beer

CRAFT BEVERAGES

• San Francisco: First look inside the new Sunset Reservoir Brewing Company

PARKER, OZYMANDIAS & THE TIMELESSNESS OF ARROGANCE

Ozymandias (1817), by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.