NEWS FETCH — May 30, 2018

TOP NEWS

• SOMM star sued by Napa Valley event and tour company
• Regional Shares of California’s Wine Grape Market by Yields, Acreage and Grape Sales Revenue
• Google tolerates rule-violating troll, gets sued for inaction by St. Helena Winery (KPIX news video)
• How writing a negative Yelp review about a doctor may cost this woman $1 million
• IN: Monarch Beverage Ending Wine Business, Laying Off 100 Workers
• Wine club efficiency in British Columbia outpaces U.S. including California
• Here’s how to avoid costly mistakes by managing your barrel inventory with bar codes – Click now to learn how. *Sponsored Link*

ICYMI (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)

• BC Wine Institute responds to claim that Canadian trade measures that discriminate against US wine
• EU’s strict GDPR regs are a €20-million risk to your business. (Don’t say we didn’t warn you)
• Submissions now open for 2018 USA Wine Ratings: Where wines are judged by Quality, Value and Package *Sponsored Link*

WINE SUPPLY & CONSUMPTION

• Violent storms batter heart of the douro
• This Year’s IBWSS San Francisco Theme Is “Bulk Up Your Bottom Line” *Sponsored Link*

CALIFORNIA BRIEFS

• Cult cabs: Why Screaming Eagle fetches top dollar
• Vintners Find a Place for Pinot in Paso
• California grower-shipper group names chairman, honoree
• Wine Country institution Terra to close after 30 years in St. Helena
• GDPR Lite? The California Consumer Privacy Act
• Wine Business Institute Announces 2018 Scholarship Winners
• A Guide to Improving Your Winery Website to Sell More Wine *Sponsored Link*

TAKING THE HIGH ROADS

• Toxic pesticide use rising at illegal California marijuana farms
• Cannabis Entrepreneurs Specialize Way Beyond Buds And Brownies
• Cannabis Drinks Expo Launched By Beverage Trade Network will bring the global Cannabis drinks industry into one roof. Get more information here. *Sponsored Link*

AMAZON

• Amazon begins nationwide expansion of Whole Foods discounts for Prime Members

DROUGHT/WATER

• The Snow Drought In California Is Fueling Wildfires, Floods, & Mudslides
• Feds Push to Raise Shasta Dam, but Would It Ease California Water Woes?
• Santa Barbara Water Supplies Remain Stable, Has Supply Through 2020

CONSUMER SALES: DTC, ON- & OFF-PREMISE

• Best Practices for Boosting Online Wine Sales

REAL ESTATE – What’s this new section about?




PUBLIC COMPANIES

• Brown-Forman CEO Paul Varga to retire after 31 years at the firm
• Lavanya Chandrashekar To Join Diageo North America As CFO
• Treasury Wine exec pulls out of major HK event to fix problems in China

FINANCE, INVESTMENT, M&A

• DOJ approves Bayer-Monsanto mergerOkanagan Crush Pad acquires Secrest Mountain

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

• Wine Australia signs MoU with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba
• Australia to review spy laws amid Chinese influence concerns

DISTRIBUTORS

• August Wine Group Is Named Exclusive Importer for Argentina’s Historic Bodega Navarro Correas
• Oregon’s Iconic Galaxy Wine Company to Join Wilson Daniels Wholesale
• Discover new and exciting products at the 2018 USA Trade Tasting. Get your visitor pass today and avoid $40 gate fee. *Sponsored Link*

INVESTING IN WINE, COLLECTING & AUCTIONS

• Fine Wine investment: Risk and reward
• HK buyers swoop on Masseto library stocks

BORDEAUX 2017

• Carruades Lafite 2017 released
• Bordeaux 2017: Is Carruades’ release ambitious or just right?

REGULATION & LEGAL MATTERS

• Takeaways from the Mid-Year Beverage Alcohol Compliance Updates Event

WINE SELECTION AND RECOMMENDATION

• Wines made for restaurants solve dilemma
• How to Taste Wine With a Large Group Like Civilized Human Beings

MARKETING & SALES

• Categories on the fringe
• A Guide to Improving Your Winery Website to Sell More Wine *Sponsored Link*

PACKAGING, LABELS & CORKS

• Huhtamaki unveils wine bottle dividers made from vine shoots

TRADE SHOWS & CONFERENCES

• Vinexpo kicks off in Hong Kong

SOCIAL MEDIA & TECH

• A Guide to Improving Your Winery Website to Sell More Wine *Sponsored Link*

PAYMENTS

• PayPal acquires AI predictive retail startup Jetlore

IT: INFORMATION [AND] TECHNOLOGY

• The wine bots are coming

MANAGEMENT & EMPLOYMENT

• How To Run A Small Winery In 2018: Hire A Permanent Team

MEDIA MATTERS

• Monte Belmonte Wines: The man who made post-Prohibition America love wine, through the eyes of his daughter (book review)

MATTERS OF TASTE

• Your next glass of wine might be a fake – and you’ll love it
• When terroir trumps quality
• French chemists have an ingenious new use for rotten, discarded wine grapes

WINE PEOPLE

• Mondavi works to sustain the tradition of his family’s famous name
• Elizabeth Bourcier, a young grower from Walla Walla, Washington
• Miner Family winemaker Stacy Vogel dishes on women in wine, Napa fires, winery portfolio
• The Evolution of Kelli White

WINE PLACES

• Hail Victoria: exploring the ample charms of Australia’s smallest state

WINE EDUCATION

• Bordeaux and Adelaide join forces to launch high-end business course

WINE TOURISM

• State of the Art? Aussie Wine Tourism Invests in Asia & Digital Strategies

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

• Olive Garden now has its own rosé to go with those unlimited breadsticks
• Kiwi’s robots deliver food to hungry Berkeley students
• At Restaurants, Tableside Service Has Gone Too Far

NORTH AMERICAN REGIONAL WINE NEWS

• Fire forces evaculation of Okanagan’s Mission Hill Winery
• The Knudsen Family’s Wine Roots Run Deep in Oregon
• MI: Grape and wine council gets expanded mission
• PA: Sheetz exploiting ‘loophole’ to try and sell beer and wine, opponents charge
• Nevada wine industry primed for success amid law changes
• FL: San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine recalls bottles of wine

ACADEMIA

• 15 years of women in wine at Walla Walla Community College

AG, GROWER & CELLAR NEWS

• CA: Research Funding Recently Approved for Grapevine Viruses
• Department of Pesticide Regulation lists top 5 agricultural pesticide use violations for 2017

EUROPE & THE UK

• Italy’s DOCG Dilemma
• Why local grapes are the way forward for Romania’s Cramele Recas
• Please Don’t Call It Italian Champagne: How Prosecco Gained Respect
• Brexit isn’t a disease – it’s man flu

DOWN UNDER

• Life is a Cabernet: analysing the trends for Australia’s second most planted variety
• NZ: Neudorf Winery looking to the future by keeping it in the family

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

• Hong Kong’s new wine trading platform has grand ambitions
• China wine market: millennial drinkers are buying online and moving away from established brands
• China wine marketing gets extreme new retail grapeover

AROUND THE GLOBE

• Resilience and Post-Soviet Identity Politics Are in Every Glass of Georgian Wine

CRAFT BEVERAGES: BEER, CIDER, WINE & SPIRITS

• Craft breweries are the new hangout spot for parents. Do kids belong there?
• How New Orleans got its beer-making mojo back
• Uncovering third-party spirits operations
• The Coming Age of Super-Premium Rye
• Aperitif, anyone? Spirits firms chase cocktail for growth