NEWS FETCH — January 4, 2016

TOP NEWS

• Environmental damage from Valley fire could pollute water in Napa, Solano Counties
• Champagne sales hit record high in 2015
• What Does the Wine Business Fear Most?
• Wine contains more alcohol than manufacturers claim
• Scientists Studying Botrytis Rot Discover Link to Winegrape Ripeness
• Monterey County wine pioneer Rich Smith leaves behind big legacy at 69
• The Business of Wine. Accessing key information. *Sponsored Link*

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• EU farmers slam US over ‘technical barriers’ to trade

GLOBAL WINE SUPPLY

• Warm weather puts Ontario’s icewine harvest on hold
• OZ: Hunter Valley vignerons look to the weather gods in the lead up to harvest
• Downpours delay start of Hunter Valley grape harvest
• Unique concentration: 52,000 (trade visitors), 46% (foreign visitors), 84% (foreign exhibitors) – be a part of ProWein 2016 *Sponsored Link*

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Calif farmers struggling to dispose of woody waste like ripped out vines and nut trees
• Napa Supervisors to resume talks about winery rules
• Tigua tribe steps into wine business (Napa)
• Dodd to lead CA agricultural committee
• New board leaders at California Association of Winegrape Growers
• A grapegrower’s new year in Napa Valley
• Napa County Residents Invited to Spend a Morning in the Winery
• Bottle shops, taprooms springing up in Sonoma County for beer and wine lovers
• Going For The Green – California Winegrape Grower Honored For Contributions

DROUGHT/WATER

• Controversial sale of Delta islands runs into problems
• New storms could make for wettest week in 5 years in Central California
• Parade of East Pacific storms to affect all of California as subtropical jet strengthens
• ENSO it Begins? The 2016 Drought So Far
• El Niño Continues To Look Strong
• Optimize water usage and improve irrigation
• How one man plans to make billions selling Mojave desert water
• The U.S. Could Cut Water Use By 33% Using Existing Technology
• Too Much Mercury Found in California Lakes

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• Wineries can squeeze profit from club-shipment notifications
• A start-up delivering wine by the glass
• 8 Key Points On Pricing Your Wine, Beer & Spirits for Sustainable Growth *Sponsored Link*

PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Diageo completes £361m sale of wine brands
• Constellation Brands Looks Promising, Hits 52-Week High

FINANCE, M&A

• English wine estate on sale for £4.5m
• Only 8 Spots Left. Your last chance to become an exhibitor at USA TRADE TASTING *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• 2015 was a relatively flat year for the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50
• Wine Experts Raise Heat Over Fake Wine Claims
• Value in off-vintage Lynch?
• Top ten of 2015 on Liv-ex – so far
• Acker Merrall & Condit Wine Sales Rise to More Than $69 Million
• Zachys rings in new year with HK sale
• Auction Year Kicks Off Again

ALCOHOL, HEALTH, AND THE FRENCH PARADOX

• EU Task force represented by Monsanto says glyphosate (Round-Up) does not cause cancer
• Prescribing Red Wine: An Rx for the End of Life
• Drink guidelines ‘based on flawed research’
• 4 Reasons Why Drinking Actually Helps Your Exercise Efforts
• Everything you’ll ever need to know about hangovers
• 5 Tips for Better Health: New Year’s Wine Resolutions

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• TTB Further Expands List of Malt Beverage Ingredients Exempt from Formula Approval
• Wine sales in some Tennessee grocery stores could be delayed

INDUSTRY DATA & TRENDS

• The U.S. Wine Market Is The Goal Post
• Is Wine Consumption Set to Decline in the U.S.?
• Wine’s foreign competition: Who’s most afraid of this Big Bad Wolf?
• Three Wine Events that Won’t Happen in 2016
• What Will the Next Ten Years Hold for Italian Wine in America?
• Eight Ways Wine Will Change in 2016

MARKETING & SALES

• Trends In Wine And Philanthropy: How Wineries And Consumers Give Back
• 5 strategies to increase average order value for your online wine store

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• More than ‘just’ green packaging

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

• 3 Quick Tips for Handling an Upset Customer

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• Washington wine industry prepares for annual convention
• FruitGrowerConnect Solves Growers’ Problems One On One

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• In the age of analytics, understanding the customer is more important than ever
• How to respond to, and survive, a social media crisis
• What Does Facebook Have in Store for 2016?

PAYMENTS

• 5 ways ecommerce will change in 2016

MEDIA MATTERS

• How to Commit the Perfect Wine Crime: Steal a Case. Or Make Your Own (Tangled Vines book review)
• ‘Bread, Wine, Chocolate’: Environmental woes threaten foods we love
• Top 10 things I’ve learned in the past 10 years of wine blogging
• Free “Wrath of Grapes” – A Happy-New-Year Bonus For Wine Executive News Premium Subscribers

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Wine words: ‘Varietal’ vs. ‘variety’
• Did you Know the Biotech Processes behind Wine and Champagne?
• Separating champagne science from champagne dreams
• Those emotional components of wine? Not going anywhere
• Sparkling Wines – Most Important Countries and Labelling
• Battle for the Soul of Prosecco

WINE PEOPLE

• 2015: In Memoriam
• Charly Foucault of Loire Valley’s Revered Clos Rougeard Dies at 66
• Q&A: Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger
• Andrew Kamphuis resigns as President of WineDirect and President of Vin65
• A Tribute to One of the Greatest Wine Industry Innovators. Ever. (Andrew Kamphuis)
  
• John McLaren, Wines Institute of California

WINE PLACES

• Forget Margaritas, It’s Time For Mexican Wine

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Washington farm employers group in flap over wage survey
• Why a Virginia winery has started making California wines
• When a terrific winery closes, it feels almost like a death in family
• Kegged Wines Bubble Up in Canada
• America’s First Famous Wine Was Made In Ohio. In The 1840s

ACADEMIA

• The Synthetic Yeast Project: What it is, and why you should care

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• Corking climate change: sustainable practices bear fruit in champagne production

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• Tips For Canopy Management On Open-Gable Trellises
• Digital Mapping Could Help Growers Improve Vineyard Management Plans
• Employing Sheep For Weed Control
• Wine quality and integrated vineyard management

EUROPE & THE UK

• Prestige French winegrowers fear new EU rules will drive down quality and prices
• French vineyards blow dust off the barrels and embrace a digital revolution in wine
• Will France’s new wine regions threaten Champagne tradition?
• Dock worker arrested in DRC theft case

DOWN UNDER

• Vandals drain 1.2m litres of wine in South Australia
• Project Wine, Aussie boutique growers to satisfy on Asia’s thirst
• In Tasmania, the future is pinot
• Tasmania: High risk and high reward

MARIJUANA

• No easy answers in study of legal marijuana’s impact on alcohol use

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

Today’s Craft Beverage Insights News has 59 new links including the following top headlines:

• The 10 Stories That Defined Craft Beer in 2015
• Legal Experts Weigh In on 2015’s Craft Trademark Disputes
• 5 most important things we learned about beer in 2015
• Crap Beer: Slipping standards & lack of quality control threaten the industry
• Georgia craft brewers gain another powerful ally in dispute over tours

Get all today’s news at Craft Beverage Insights here.