NEWS FETCH – September 8, 2015

TOP NEWS

• Rumours of Diageo and SABMiller merging
• Bayer issues fungicide warning for wine grape growers, pending crop investigation
• Conviviality Retail confirms £200m deal to buy Matthew Clark
• Capital Bordeaux Investments director gets 11 year ban
• 19 celebrate MW passes
• TTB Compliance can be simpler. Here’s how. *Sponsored Link*

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• What’s really at stake if the China-Australia FTA falls through

GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Washington wine harvest fast, furious, fantastic
• The Colorado Wine Industry Anticipates a Robust 2015 Harvest Season
• California Harvest Arrives Ahead of Schedule
• Sonoma County vintners expecting smaller harvest
• Bordeaux 2015 – harvest update
• Bordeaux on course to make legendary vintage
• Prosecco harvest report
• 2015 – it’s all starting to kick off in the Loire
• Harvest time varies in Southern Arizona’s wine country
• It’s wine harvest time in Monterey County
• Old Vines: In the Rhône Valley, it’s Not a Marketing Slogan, it’s Saving the 2015 Vintage

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Calistoga wine tasting rooms must diversify
• Napa County winery growth committee gets a mixed report card
• In California, pricey wines cost the environment, too
• Activists, farmworkers remember Delano grape strike, 50 years later
• Sonoma County a great place to start a business
• Sonoma wine auction bids set records
• Harvest Stomp raises $827,000 for NV Grapegrowers programs
• City Winery in Napa to close by year’s end
• No room for extremes in tribe debate
• Future of Lytton tribe’s land is not inevitable
• How to Grow A Grapevine: Exploring California’s Largest Vine Nursery
• Paso Robles vineyard violates state runoff regulations in well-drilling
• Unity Bank Ready to Help Vineyards & Wineries Finance Red Blotch Replanting
• USA Trade Tasting Is Now 95% Sold Out. Only Few Spots Left. Book Now! *Sponsored Link*

DROUGHT/WATER

• 192 drought maps reveal just how thirsty California has become
• Water Woes Come to a Head in Sonoma
• North Dakota judge clarifies 13-state WOTUS ruling
• Unusual Delta algae bloom worries researchers
• Less water might be plenty for California, experts say, and conservation is only the start
• Amid drought, thousands cancel their flood insurance
• Technology can quench California’s thirst
• AB 954 needed to better meet drought-impacted Californians’ needs and help create drought-resilient rural communities
• Water and Power: The place that still has water
• In a Drought-Stricken Future, Sugar-Embedded Products Might Save Us

RECYCLED WASTEWATER

• Purified wastewater triggers release of arsenic within aquifer
• To battle drought, Burbank is giving free access to recycled water
• How User Choices Can Boost Your Wine Club Membership & Loyalty. Click For A Free Best Practices Webinar *Sponsored Link*

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Tesco sells South Korean Homeplus business for £4bn
• Can Target Sail on a Whiskey River?
• CLSA Upgrades Constellation Brands to “Outperform” (STZ)
• Altria Group Raised to Strong-Buy at Vetr Inc. (MO)
• Owens-Illinois Bonds Trading 0.8% Higher (OI)
• 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

• Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 ran flat last week
• Penfolds Grange tops global challenge to find greatest wine of the 1970s
• Château Latour mulls selling by email
• Opus One 2012 released
• Burgundy leads Acker HK auction
• HDH launches new ‘bidding app’

ALCOHOL, HEALTH, AND THE FRENCH PARADOX

• Study Proves Why You Should Drink That Glass Of Wine Tonight

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• The Law of Handmade: What the term does or should mean (PDF)

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• The future of drinking lies in the cheesy cocktails of the past

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• What future for expertise?
• Why It’s O.K. To Ignore Wine Scores When Shopping for Wine
• Restaurants, customers embrace BYOB dining
• “I just want wines reviewed by Parker”
• What’s that aroma? How to talk about wine in your own words
• Your Memory Sucks Donkey Bong (Or, “On The Importance Of Tasting Notes”)
• João Pires: ‘Building a profitable wine list’

MARKETING & SALES

• How well do you know your consumer behaviour in key wine markets?
• Here’s why this brand spent six years working out how to get Gen Y to drink its wine
• Tapping Trends to Win New Wine Consumers
• Marketers beware: Generational boundaries are so scrambled that your messages often miss the target
• 10 rules of engagement for effective content marketing
• How to Manage Cash Flow to Expand your Winery, Distillery or Brewery’s Distribution. *Sponsored Link*

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• 10 things you need to know about getting more likes and followers on social media

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• Celebrating All Of Your Hard Work. Thank You on this Labor Day

MEDIA MATTERS

• Are wine writers and critics journalists or whiners? (Pun intended)
• Bloggers: Go big or go home
• Young wine writers: don’t be too smart
• Follow up – Young wine writers: be as brilliant as you can

MATTERS OF TASTE

• When Wine Tasting Becomes a Party
• Vintage variation open for debate
• Mega winemaking as craft
• Why GMO viticulture isn’t such a big deal
• Sulfite misunderstandings and unfounded beliefs
• New grapes from Old World draw growers, consumers
• No Need to Care About Wine Industry Consolidation
• The Wine Time Capsule from 2015
• More to wine than meets the eye
• How Rosé Became the Drink of Summer
• Natural wine: It’s unfiltered and unrefined – and could make hangovers a thing of the past
• Filtering wine one way doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Click now to see the alternatives *Sponsored Link*

WINE PEOPLE

• African Americans shake up wine industry stereotypes
• Louis-Antoine Luyt: Vine Archeologist And Winemaker
• Isik Gulcubuk winemaker at Kastro Tireli in Izmir, Turkey
• Fabian Yukich and George Fistonich: Organic wine makers
• Ex-Selfridges buyer Davies among record number of new Masters of Wine
• Recognition for industry stalwart: Mary Puglisi
• June Rodil of the McGuire Moorman Hospitality Group (podcast)
• Taylor Hannegan, Client Services Guru at ShipCompliant

WINE PLACES

• Abrau-Durso: Russia’s Wine Hideaway
• Seeking Wine Balance at a Napa Icon
• A rising champion of Verdicchio reaches for the heights of elegance
• Alsace, Where French and German Cultures Converge
• Portuguese wine hotels: From Alentejo to the Douro Valley
• The enduring allure of Italy’s Veneto countryside
• Why You Must Visit Castelfalfi, Italy, This Fall

WINE EDUCATION

• Wine, beers, spirits classes offered at LA County Fair’s Marketplace

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Oregon wine industry continues record-setting pace
• How to deal with the diversity of Canada’s 13 provincial wine markets
• 5 things to know about New Jersey wine
• Tishomingo Co, Miss. to vote again this fall on liquor sales

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Agricultural sustainability is not possible without economic vitality
• Climate Change vs Wine: A Snapshot of Year 2050

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• DuPont Receives EPA Approval For New Fungicide
• Biodiversity of indigenous saccharomyces cerevisiae: a distinctive resource for wineries?
• Genomics research to benefit wine and biodiversity
• Potential alternatives for bentonite

EUROPE & THE UK

• Systembolaget remains a powerful force in fostering trends such as organic and sparkling wine
• Champagne bubble: the rise of the small producer
• European spirits body welcomes court statement on minimum pricing for alcohol
• Barton & Guestier Rebounds With Upmarket Shift
• Greek wine over a barrel

DOWN UNDER

• Australia’s alcohol warning labels a bit blurry
• Wine Marlborough board members stepping down
• New Zealand Pinot Noir finds fans in France
• Australian wine industry agrees on tackling wine sector downturn
• OZ: Tourism spend on wine rises
• Bid to teach Chinese more about NZ wines
• Marlborough wine leaders visit China

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Are MWs the new Lafite in China?
• Helan Qing Xue in Ningxia Marks a Decade of Making Wine
• India’s Wine Production May Reach 21 Million Litres By 2018

LATIN AMERICA

• Chilean wineries react to drought

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Winemaking in Lebanon ‘more dangerous’ than ever

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• You brought kids to wine country, now what do you do with them?
• How To Fake It Through A Wine Tasting
• A New Suitcase Claims Bottles Inside It Won’t Break; So VinePair Threw It Down A Flight Of Stairs [Video]

OLIVE OIL

• Healthier and more sustainable olive oil
• Slovenian olive oil is only now being recognized internationally for its excellence

MARIJUANA

• Pot: The new big business

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

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Today’s craft beverage links — and 48 more articles — can also be found at http://craftbeverageinsight.com/

TOP NEWS

• U.S. beer distributors generate 131,000 jobs
• Anheuser-Busch Takes Majority Stake in Michigan’s Virtue Cider
• Garden State Craft Brewers Guild Hires First Executive Director
• Is The Soda Industry Doomed?
• Ardbeg announces ‘groundbreaking’ space whisky results
• UK government invests £11m in whisky-fuelled cars