NEWS FETCH – April 16, 2015

TOP NEWS

• Wine Institute Facing Changed Industry Climate
• Are wine drinkers really trading up?
• DtC shipments and winery hiring activity grow rapidly in March
• Water use in U.S. declines
• Record Low Snowpack In Washington State
• TTB Compliance can be simpler. Here’s how. *Sponsored Link*

GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Greek Wine Production Down 16.24%
• NZ wine industry booms again
• Wind machines, heaters fend off frost in Washington

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Wine Institute’s Shrinking Representation Of California
• Winery proposed in Sonoma County up for approval
• New head of Sonoma County Vintners tackles local issues
• Shannon McLaren New Crimson CFO
• Allen Wine Group Appoints Brent Garrison Accounting Manager
• Craft Beverage Expo to host first Trade Association Day

DROUGHT/WATER

• State water regulator flexes new muscle in response to drought
• Farms face steep water cuts in water districts deemed urban
• Redistribute California’s Water? Not Without A Fight
• Water conservation target framework flawed
• DWR moves to install first drought barrier on West False River

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Rémy Cointreau Rebounds In Fourth Quarter With Double-Digit Sales Growth
• Diageo net sales slide in the third quarter as volumes fall
• Tesco wine team confirms James Davis MW will join
• Trending Losers In Focus: Constellation Brands, (NYSE:STZ)
• International Spirit and Beverage Group, Inc. to Cut Outstanding Shares 50%
• USA Trade Tasting Partners With New York International Wine Competition To Give Early Bird Exhibitors Added Benefits. *Sponsored Link*

 

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Wine Counterfeiter Rudy Kurniawan Appeals Conviction
• Small Producer Tax Credit Pitfalls: The K Vintners Case
• NC HB 625 Would Allow Contract Brewing & Alternating Brewery Proprietorships
• Ontario’s Beer-Sales Liberalization Plans On Tap Today
• Ontario and B.C. Treat Liquor Like We’re in Prohibition-Era Canada

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• Italy Still Import Top Dog, NZ Soars, Argentina Tanks
• How to Optimize your Bottle Price and Increase Sales *Sponsored Link*

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• Wine Awesomeness’ Logan Lee Reveals the Secrets to Wine Discovery
• Looking for a new wine frontier? Try Portugal
• 4 Tips on Finding Awesome Sparkling Wine

MARKETING & SALES

• The benefits of cross-selling
• Smartphones are not omnipresent in Millennials’ shopping
• 5 Suggestions on Building your Restaurant Wine Lists for Profits *Sponsored Link*

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• The Environmental Impact of Producing Natural Cork Closures

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Your brand is more than a hashtag, treat it as such
• 4 steps to prepare your website for ‘Mobilegeddon’

PAYMENTS

• Jawbone’s brand new fitness tracker moonlights as a digital wallet

MEDIA MATTERS

• Questions The Wine Institute Found Un-Tenor-able
• Lessons in Booze PR
• When you hire someone to do PR for you, that’s not where your job ends
• Five Decades of Wine Part III: The Steve Heimoff Memoirs
• Celebrating Malbec World Day 2015

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Terroir Versus Variety—The Final Answer
• Lessons from Steven Spielberg

WINE PEOPLE

• Herr 300 Points: Markus Molitor
• An interview with Sun Jian from Changyu
• Winemaking on the Edge: Ian Brand
• From grape to grain in Greece: Mikkel Borg Bjergsø
• A Transplant from Japan Works the Soil—And Soul—of St. Peray
• President of Franciacorta to speak about Excellence in Sparkling Wine

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• MD: Governor’s Signature Serves up Refillable Wine Containers for Montgomery County

EUROPE & THE UK

• UK: Easter weekend increased sales in the on-trade, but overall March saw a decline

DOWN UNDER

• Water and Australia’s wine industry
• Opportunities for NZ in revival of Japanese wine demand

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Japanese wine market witnessing revival

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Fine Wine Is Coming to First Class
• United bringing back free beer, wine on long-haul flights
• 12 Honest Wine Labels That Say Why You’re Really Drinking
• Pick up some toasting etiquette

OLIVE OIL

• Making the EU’s olives greener for the environment

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER WINE & SPIRITS

• Context helps clear Diageo’s Guinness tweet
• Ethyl carbamate in spirit drinks