NEWS FETCH – March 17, 2015

TOP NEWS

• Napa Valley Winery Murder/Suicide Ends Bitter Legal Dispute
• Wine Sales, Hiring Strong in February
• EU & China Wine sectors implement unprecedented technical cooperation partnership
• How the U.S. & Canada Nearly Destroyed Wine
• TTB Compliance can be simpler. Here’s how. *Sponsored Link*

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Napa vintner suspected of killing investor, then himself (more info)
• Winemaker Richard Arrowood continues building quiet legacy
• Sonoma County Chardonnay Update
• Paso Robles stench coming from Firestone Brewery
• Where does San Francisco rank among world wine cities?
• Historic Santa Barbara Wine Country Video

DROUGHT/WATER

• California poised to tighten watering restrictions
• With reservoirs depleted, Water Resources Control Board must restrict water use
• California Water Anxiety Syndrome: Feel it yet?
• Four key weaknesses in drought preparation and response

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Accolade Wines sees profits rise £4m
• Diageo makes u-turn on supplier payments
• Beverage Trade Network Launches USA Trade Tasting To Help Producers Connect With Distributors *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• En primeur risks exodus unless it rebalances
• EBay and Sotheby’s finally launch their live auction site
• No cooling off for DRC

ALCOHOL, HEALTH, AND THE FRENCH PARADOX
Click the link above for more news, articles and archives.

• Jailbreaking yeast could amp up wine’s health benefits, reduce morning-after headaches
• Mediterranean Diet Associated with Improved Endothelial Function
• Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and mortality in subjects with diabetes
• Powdered Alcohol Is Now Legal — But Is It Safe?
• Booze is key to a long life

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• Premium Boxed Wine Continues To Surge, As Gallo Preps New Entry
• Americans Have the Fever for Flavor: Alcoholic Beverages and Creative Taste Profiles
• Australia Taps into the Booming California Wine Industry as US Exports to Asia Climb
• Despite alternatives, Champagne keeps bubbling along
• Wine in 2015: Five key trends
• Treasury: Two Years Of Clawing Back Up
• How To Build a Cult-Like Following For Your Brand: *Sponsored Link*

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• A Statistical Wine Tasting

MARKETING & SALES

• Brands need to justify ‘premium’ tags
• What’s with all those abandoned carts?
• What It Takes To Get Your Brand Approved By Commercial Airlines: *Sponsored Link*

IT: INFORMATION [AND] TECHNOLOGY

• Why use business intelligence software?

MEDIA MATTERS

• Christopher Weir writes winemaking memoir

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Is Zinfandel breaking out, or just a case of measles?
• Milk, Fish and Eggs Are In Your Wine…Sometimes
• Give Merlot some respect
• Spaetburgunder: German for pinot noir

WINE PEOPLE

• Washington Wine Hall of Fame to induct grower Don Mercer
• Meet Alder Yarrow, Founder of Vinography
• Paul Hobbs Knows Perfection When He Tastes It

WINE PLACES

• Barolo’s Greatest Vineyards Ranked

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Texas Farmers Turn to Grapes as State’s Wine Industry Grows

ACADEMIA

• Adelaide Uni launches new free to the world online wine course
• New Student Winery Transforms Enology Instruction at Cornell

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Making the economic case for early adoption of practices to prevent trunk diseases
• The science behind cold-stabilization and tartrate removal in the winery
• Quantification of elemental sulfur by simultaneous in situ reduction and colorimetric detection
• Persistence of elemental sulfur spray residue on grapes during ripening and vinification
• VitisGen : Mapping the Way to the Next Generation of Grapes (PDF)
• Palissage: An Alternative to Mechanical Hedging
• Micro-oxygenation During the Aging Process: When and Why?
• Plant plaster protects wine from vine decline
• A big part of winemaking is learning from your failures

EUROPE & THE UK

• Tuscany Faces Ban on New Plantings
• Ireland: Champagne sales stay flat despite economic recovery

DOWN UNDER

• Australia’s wine industry must adapt to earlier vintages
• Aussie Organic winemakers begin exporting to China
• NZ: Analysing wine’s cash harvest

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• The style of Chinese wines

SOUTH AFRICA

• Sebeka failure shows Cape’s challenge in US
• Improved technology is helping South Africa make the best wines ever

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Why does by-the-glass wine cost more than the bottle?
• The 10 Commandments of Wine

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER WINE & SPIRITS

• Craft Achieves Double-Digit Volume Share Of Beer Market For First Time
• Global Spirits Industry Q2 2015 – A “Crafty Conundrum”
• Brown-Forman Targets 500,000 Cases For Old Forester
• After Difficult Two Years, UV Vodka Redirects With Millennial-Targeted Campaign
• Cornell plant detectives hunt for best barley for New York microbrews
• The chemistry that makes your beer taste good
• Cider Is Currently All The Rage And It Has The Gluten Free Movement To Thank