NEWS FETCH – August 21, 2015

TOP NEWS

• Lew Platt 320-acre vineyard property on Sonoma Coast sold
• PD/GWSS Board approves North Coast project
• California land quickly sinking in drought costs farmers
• July was warmest month on Earth in 136 years
• TTB Compliance can be simpler. Here’s how. *Sponsored Link*

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• China-Australia Trade Mission Forges New Ties

GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Bordeaux 2015: White wine harvest to start next week
• CA: Dry Creek Valley Winegrape Growers Anticipate Smaller Yields, Exceptional Quality this harvest
• OZ wine producers start planning for possibility of El Nino’s severe frosts

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Keeping the Sonoma grape debate in perspective
• Farewell to Clos Pepe
• We want the old Napa back
• Gloria Ferrer Winery retools visitor experience
• Trione Family Honored for Lifetime Contribution to Sonoma Co.’s Wine Industry
• Exhibit at USA Trade Tasting (New York) and Grow Your Distribution in USA. Super Early Bird Ends August 31 *Sponsored Link*

CALIFORNIA BURNING

• Battle against Rough fire intensifies as blaze bears down on Hume Lake

DROUGHT/WATER

• Drought Brings Soul Searching to California Winemaking
• CORRECTION: The massive Central Valley subsidence: is Actually a LOT Worse Than 10 Feet!
• The Climate Change ‘Bully’ in California’s Drought
• Climate change and the California drought cause farmers to experience record early harvests
• Twin tunnels plan sounds worse each day
• Critically Overdrafted Basins and Groundwater Sustainability Plan regulations
• Warming climate is deepening California drought

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Sour grapes as Tesco puts cork in online wine club
• Starbucks is transforming coffee shops into bars — here’s what it’s like to go to one
• How User Choices Can Boost Your Wine Club Membership & Loyalty. Click For A Free Best Practices Webinar *Sponsored Link*

FINANCE, M&A

• Champagne houses eyeing top English estates
• Wineries and Wine Importers: Here are some basic support programs and incentives to that can be used to drive your wine brand in distribution channels*Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Wine auction market sheds US$10 million through June
• July fine wine prices soften but fund management firm expects a swing back in the autumn
• Wine collections most at risk from water, outages
• Wally’s appoints new auction chief

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• UK: Australian red wine is ‘Bristol’s drink of choice’

MARKETING & SALES

• How much Generation Y will pay for a bottle of wine
• 5 digital marketing lessons you can learn from trade shows
• How to Prevent Trolls and Other Internet Pirates From Harming Your Brand
• Don’t feed the advertising trolls
• Reward loyal customers with wine pairing guides
• How to Manage Cash Flow to Expand your Winery, Distillery or Brewery’s Distribution. *Sponsored Link*

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Nielsen Unpacks Package Design
• M. A. Silva USA Expands Its Team In The Pacific Northwest Region

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• Why people like to bash the Wine Bloggers Conference

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Twitter Collapses To Record Lows, Tests IPO Price
• After Years Of Restraint, Facebook Tries Allowing GIFs In Ads And Page Posts
• Twitter’s Publisher Network rebrands and now lets advertisers drive video views on its platform
• 5 Ways to Stop Embarrassing Yourself on LinkedIn

MEDIA MATTERS

• Content marketers: It’s time to kill adverbs. Literally.
• UK fine wine merchant Berry Bros & Rudd to release new book

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Always a good time for rosé
• Filtering wine one way doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Click now to see the alternatives *Sponsored Link*

WINE PEOPLE

• Lodi’s foreign legion (part 2)

WINE PLACES

• A Place to Nap After Wine Tasting
• A chic stay in Portugal wine country
• Robert Biale Vineyards ~ Perpetuating and Saving Zinfandel
• 8 years after founder’s death, Baer Winery (WA) lives up to legacy

WINE EDUCATION

• What It’s Like to be a French Wine Scholar

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Growing Washington wildfires are an unprecedented cataclysm
• Finger Lakes Wines and Grapes: Summer marches on

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Research on reassembling: Root systems, soil structure, and wine quality

EUROPE & THE UK

• Quintessential Brands looks to ramp up presence in international markets
• English wine flooded with ‘enthusiastic amateurs’
• Ramón Bilbao buys high Riojan vineyard

DOWN UNDER

• OZ: The Abbott government’s plan to probe virtual winemakers
• Australian Winemakers Federation welcomes tax discussion paper despite major suggestions for change
• Wine tax rebate rorts distorting industry
• Faulty light fitting cause of NZ winery blaze

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Australia launches tasting notes for Chinese wine drinkers
• Wine And Spirits Exporters Tap Into China’s Booming E-Commerce Channel

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• 7 Habits of Annoying Wine People, Readers’ Edition

OLIVE OIL

• Plagues and pests in Spain and Italy are opening markets for Greek olive oil
• Researchers introduced Nanomembranes to purify Wastewater of Olive Oil Plants

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• The Expanding Craft Brewing Industry Causes Some To Consider Cashing Out
• Craft beer mergers, acquisitions, ESOPs and liquidity transactions
• This is officially the dumbest craft beer trademark infringement story
• Oskar Blues Brewery Expands Distribution to Arkansas & West Virginia
• Anchorhead Coffee Releases Hopped Cold Brew Coffee
• New Oregon and Washington Craft Beer Labels Submitted to TTB
• Heaven Hill acquires Deep Eddy
• Virginia Historical Society’s mead recipe to be recreated by Black Heath Meadery
• Craft beverages tap into local, premium trends
• Craft Beer’s Latest Obsession: Ginger