NEWS FETCH — July 25, 2016

TOP NEWS

• Will the Delta tunnels get built? Plan enters critical make-or-break phase
• Napa clears Culinary Institute to transform Copia building
• Crowd Funding for Alcohol Producers and Retailers – Down the Rabbit Hole with the Tied House laws
• Mendo Brewing’s Owner and Former Diageo Liquor Magnate in Financial Quagmire
• Sonoma’s V2 Wine Group Aims To Double Business Within Five Years
• Casella moves upscale with McLaren Vale vineyard purchase
• Canadian winery chairman reportedly among four arrested for smuggling in China
• Close to 1 million gallons of sewage spilled into San Francisco Bay
• Charter Oak Winery doubled its production without doubling its costs. You can too. Click to learn how. *Sponsored Link*

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• France Wine Output Drops as Hail, Frost Hit Champagne, Burgundy
• Aussie wine grape prices increase
• Looking To Grow Your Bulk Wine, Contract Bottling Service and Private Label Business? Then Get Involved with IBWSS Before July 31, 2016.*Sponsored Link*

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Napa Superior Court ruling keeps oak woodland measure off ballot
• Fifty years ago, Robert Mondavi transformed Napa Valley — and American wine
• Watch out, Pokémon Go; Fuze app is in Sonoma County
• This Spring Mountain Estate Winery/Home Is Just Waiting For The Right Rising Star Winemaker or Chef *Sponsored Link*

DROUGHT/WATER

• East Bay lab creates clean water technology
• UC Riverside researchers want to know: does drought make people sick?
• South of Delta water contractors avoid a shutdown at O’Neill Pumping Plant – for now
• A win for Gov. Brown’s water project
• Federal officials say Lake Mead water won’t be released
• A water emergency threatens the Delta
• Better accounting begets better water management
• The Water Footprint of Our Everyday Lives
• Looking To Grow Your Bulk Wine, Contract Bottling Service and Private Label Business? Then Get Involved with IBWSS Before July 31, 2016.*Sponsored Link*

RECYCLED WASTEWATER

• Indigenous group sues state over recycled water management
• ‘Urine’ for an education

DIRECT SHIPPING & PRIVATIZATION

• 7-Eleven just made the first commercial delivery by drone
• Cut through all that paperwork and create more time for making wine! Click now to learn how *Sponsored Link*

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• Premiers Announce Limited Deal for Access to Canadian Wine
• Johnson Says U.K. Approached by Australia, India for Trade Deals

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• The size of the world economy—measured in burgers

DISTRIBUTORS

• Are You Really Ready To Pitch A Distributor: Here’s the Checklist *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index continued its upward momentum last week
• Fine Wine 50 Index: Record movements
• The big red wines of Bordeaux are back on the radar
• 2005 claret – a year on from Parker retrospective
• Bordeaux 2008 – Keeping Lafite on the Ground
• Antique Wine Equipment Collection to be Sold

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Which Presidential Candidate is Best for Wine?

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• The Ascent of the Female Sommelier
• How to convince people you’re a wine expert when you really aren’t

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

• Chatbots will take over customer service? Not so fast

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• IBWSS Launches Wine and Spirits Blending Laboratory
• Top Ten Tips For a Successful Brand Launch *Sponsored Link*

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• Facebook dominates social ad spend and this is just the beginning
• Crafting the Perfect Social Posts
• Why Your Business Needs to Be Active on Instagram
• Mozilla’s Firefox to begin blocking Adobe Flash in 2017

MEDIA MATTERS

• PR 101 – The Art and Costs of Being on “The List”

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Cutting down on sulphur
• Riesling: Mixed — And Erroneous — Messages
• Organic Wines Keep it on the Lowdown
• Saving Sylvaner
• Thinking about history, while it’s being made all around us
• Sweet and Fortified – Grape varieties and labelling

WINE PEOPLE

• Massimo Alois of Fattoria Alois on the Wines of Campania
• Luca Currado on the sale of Vietti (podcast)

WINE PLACES

• Italy’s hidden wine valley: the Valtellina
• Get to Know Walla Walla Wine
• 10 extraordinary vineyards

WINE TOURISM

• Wineries elevating the visitor experience
• Uber to trial wine tour in Australia

ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

• De Bortoli aims to be Australia’s first zero-waste winery

EUROPE & THE UK

• Taittinger drops bid to be French president
• Bodegas Torres reintroduces ancestral red grape uncovered 20 years ago
• German wine drinkers want to know more
• Hungary’s Tokaj wine region revives its Jewish heritage

DOWN UNDER

• Winter warms up in Queensland’s wine growing region

SOUTH AFRICA

• Marketing SA food and wine tourism to international travellers

NOT JUST FOR THE TRADE

• Groppello as pronounced by Paolo Pasini

MARIJUANA

• Men Still Buy More Pot Than Women

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS – A Sampling of Today’s Headlines

• Why Brexit could boost craft beer but hurt big beer businesses
• Mendocino Brewing’s Owner in Financial Quagmire
• How The Maker Of Sam Adams Is Defying Skeptics And Pleasing Investors
• NY Barley Growers And Craft Beer Brewers Get New Layer Of Insurance
• Michigan sits out ‘arms race’ to attract national brewery investments

Get the rest of today’s craft news at Craft Beverage Insights