NEWS FETCH – April 17, 2015

TOP NEWS

• Sinking Euro and Rising Dollar Make Waves in the Wine Industry
• Critics say California drought caused by misguided environment policies
• Wine wastewater permits are coming for Washington State winegrowers
• Joseph Phelps, Pioneering California Wine Producer, Dies at 87
• TTB Compliance can be simpler. Here’s how. *Sponsored Link*

GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Whither Argentine Wine Exports?

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Sonoma County planners approve Wilson winery project
• Vineyard expansion levels off on North Coast
• Vineyard Economics Symposium in Napa to focus on harvest 2015
• Lake County’s Leading Varieties on the Rise
• Historic, dilapidated Fountain Grove Winery in Santa Rosa to be demolished
• Napa Valley Vintners Recruits Stephanie Hahn to Manage International Marketing Programs
• Sacramento ranked as No. 1 most affordable city to live near wine country
• Lompoc Winemaker Arrested for Meth Possession
• Scholarship honoring Nancy Skall to help working farmers

DROUGHT/WATER

• The Drought Isn’t California’s Only Water Problem
• Drought affects agriculture values
• California farmers under attack for heavy water use
• California’s Farms Would Only Need to Cut Water by 6.6 Percent to Match Urban Restrictions
• The role of the state in implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
• Los Angeles, City of Water
• Lowest snowpack in a century in the Sierra Nevada

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• Good News for Direct Wine Sellers to Indiana

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Diageo reports net sales decline of 0.3%, North America Goes Positive
  
• Treasury Wine Estates stock recovering strongly, hitting a 52-week high, refinances debt
  
• Pernod Ricard Bodegas launches start-up Winnovation Lab
• Will Constellation Brands’ (STZ) Fundamentals Drive Growth?
• Early Bird Registrations Are Now Open: Save $740 If You Register Before 31 April 2015. *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Investing in wine
• Bordeaux 2014 – En primeur in the balance
• Parker points back
• Roumier Burgundies From 1970s Lead Wally’s New York Sale

BORDEAUX 2014 COVERAGE

• Results of the Liv-ex Bordeaux 2014 survey
• En primeur facing a ‘phoney war’ as chateaux hold back on prices
• Bordeaux 2014 – En primeur in the balance
• Sociando Mallet 2014 releases at same price as 2013
• Will 2014 En Primeur Wines Pass the Bar?
• Bordeaux 2014: Left or Right?
• Why is no one buying Sauternes?

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

• Ontario Committed to Supporting Safe Consumption of Alcohol
• High alcohol wines dial down your brain (but does it matter?)

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Commercial Speech And Alcoholic Beverages – Part II
• Powdered alcohol creator tries to get ahead of state bans

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• The Wine Curmudgeon’s first wine prices survey
• Spirits Lead Export Value, Wine Falls To #2, Beer #3, But Up
• How to Optimize your Bottle Price and Increase Sales *Sponsored Link*

MARKETING & SALES

• How Customer Engagement Campaigns Impact Customer Experience
• An Effective Digital Marketing Strategy Starts With Knowing Your Customers and Your Goals
• Personalisation: not a technical tool, but a way to build closer relationships with people
• 5 Suggestions on Building your Restaurant Wine Lists for Profits *Sponsored Link*

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• 10 Explanations Why Wine Bottles Have Punts In The Bottom

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• The Next & Arguably Most Important Phase of Social is Loyalty
• How Mobile Drives Shopper Loyalty

MEDIA MATTERS

• Opinions on Lew Perdue and the Wine Institute
• In Defense of Connoisseurship: Is Populist Wine Writing Dumbing Things Down?
• Five Decades of Wine – The Wine Enthusiast Years: The Steve Heimoff Memoirs
• A Conversation with Alder Yarrow + His Book, The Essence of Wine

MATTERS OF TASTE

• A League of Their Rhône Rangers–Part One

IN MEMORIUM

• Napa pays tribute to Joseph Phelps
• In Memorium: William Steers of Well Hung Vineyard, VA
• PA wine community mourns death of Stargazers’ Alice Weygandt
• The pioneering biodynamical viticultrice

WINE PEOPLE

• Leo Johnson: making wine turned our street into a community
• Berlusconi Wine a 9.9 on the Celebrity Scale
• Vouvray – Tanguy Perrault and Anne-Cécile Jadaud: Domaine Perrault-Jadaud
• An Italian woman winemaker finds a home in Tuscany

WINE PLACES

• In Georgia, science probes the roots of winemaking
• Dresden Is The New Unlikely Place for Fine Barolo Wine
• Slovenia: Travels in Central Europe’s Green Gem
• America’s Best Drinking Town: San Diego

OH CANADA!

• How alcohol is sold in provinces across Canada
• Chain convenience stores say Ontario’s grocery store beer retailing plan unfairly tips the competitive balance toward the largest grocery companies

REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• NY: Winery owners promoting Lake George area as wine, craft beverage destination
• Idaho receives fewer applications for specialty crop funds
• Minnesota Senate defeats bid to open up Sunday liquor sales

ACADEMIA

• Napa Valley Wine Academy offers Italian intensive certification

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• The curious and complex world of wine microorganisms

EUROPE & THE UK

• The success of the Grower Champagne movement
• Swiss winemaker toasts Russian crisis with glass half full

DOWN UNDER

• Australian wine builds a positive reputation

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Muslim-majority Indonesia bans some beer sales

OLIVE OIL

• Researchers use plant oils like olive for novel bio-based plastics

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER WINE & SPIRITS

• SABMiller Achieves Global Growth Despite U.S. Softness
• NY craft beer industry soars 59%
• Ontario To Hike Taxes On Beer
• Do different rice varieties effect different styles and flavours of sake?
• Cider industry warned about dangers of discounting
• There’s No Such Thing As A ‘Girly’ Drink, So Stop Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes At The Bar