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September 2018 WINES&VINES 23 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS the foundation's programs, which are intended to develop sustainable solutions to industry challenges. The foundation also announced winners of its scholarship program, awarding $38,000 to 12 Washing- ton-based students pursuing ca- reers in the wine industry. CENTRAL Stone Hill wins at state wine competition Stone Hill Winery's 2015 Cham- bourcin won Best of Class Dry Red and the winery won The Governor's Cup, the highest award in the Mis- souri Wine Competition. "Winning the Missouri Governors Cup two years in a row is a huge thrill and an incredible honor. I'm very proud of the dedication and hard work of our vineyard and winemaking team, they deserve all the credit," said Jon Held, president and owner of Stone Hill Winery in a statement. Freeman wins best sommelier at TEXSOM Kenneth Freeman of Sixty Vines in Dallas, Tex., was named 2018 TEXSOM Best Sommelier. Freeman topped 25 other competitors in a three-part wine examination involv- ing service, blind tasting and theory. The competition is open to residents of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico or Texas who have not passed the Court of Master Sommeliers' Advanced Sommelier Examination or previously won the competition. In addition to the title, Freeman received a scholarship of $2,500 from SOMMFoundation to be used for a Court of Master Som- meliers certification program. EAST Greenhill Winery partners with Michael Shaps Greenhill Winery & Vineyards in Mid- dleburg, Va., partnered with Michael Shaps of Michael Shaps Wineworks in Charlottesville, Va. Shaps, along with his vineyard management team, will collaborate with Green- hill's associate winemaker, Ben Comstock, and general manager, Jed Gray. Shaps plans to continue to produce Greenhill's current flag- ship labels, as well as expand the winery's portfolio to include a wider range of single varietal labels. New Lake Erie Wine Country director The board of directors of Lake Erie Wine Country announced Monica Lee Mazur as the group's new ex- ecutive director. Mazur has been in the communication, sales and proj- ect management fields since 2004. Wine Enthusiast names new tasting director Alexander Peartree is the new tasting director of Wine Enthusiast magazine in New York. Peartree had previously worked closely with the former tasting director Lauren Buzzeo, who has taken on the role of managing editor for Wine Enthusiast. Peartree will be guid- ing and managing the reviewers of the magazine, assuring ratings and reviews provided by each are unbiased, consistent and in accor- dance with the standards set forth by Wine Enthusiast. Awards and scholarships from ASEV-East The American Society for Enology and Viticulture-Eastern Section (ASEV-ES) presented its Outstand- ing Achievement Award to Terry Acree, professor of food science at Cornell University, during the group's annual conference ban- quet on July 11. Acree has been a member of the Cornell faculty for his entire career and became professor in 1981, focusing his research on flavor chemistry with an emphasis on aroma chemistry. Joseph Fiola, specialist in viticul- ture at the University of Maryland Extension in Keedysville, Md., was the recipient of the 2018 ASEV-ES Distinguished Service Award. Fiola coordinates a statewide research and extension program that con- centrates on grape variety testing including small batch winemaking of those varieties. SUPPLIERS Winemakers to tout corks in commercials The Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) produced a series of tele- vision commercials that will feature prominent winemakers discuss- ing why they continue to prefer and use natural cork closures. The commercials began to air in August and feature Corey Beck of Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, Calif., Richie Allen of Rombauer Vineyards in Napa Val- ley, Katie Madigan with St. Fran- cis Winery & Vineyards in Santa Rosa, Calif., and Tim Bell of Dry Creek Vineyard near Healdsburg, Calif. The commercials will air in Sonoma, Napa and Santa Rosa on Comcast channels. APCOR also announced a survey found corks seal 88% of top wines as se- lected by Wine Spectator in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The information collected in the survey was con- ducted through individual phone calls and emails to the wineries, importers and distributors listed in the magazine's Top 100 List. Saverglass Group Opens factory in Mexico Saverglass Group opened a new factory in Mexico. The new facility is the company's third factory loca- tion, with the other two in France and the United Arab Emirates. According to a statement released by the company, Saverglass in- vested $120 million in the state of Jalisco and created 400 jobs in the construction and operation of the glass and decoration plant, which opened in June. The factory's loca- tion provides a convenient ship- ping point to other Mexican states, the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America. With the new factory, Saverglass increases bottle production by 120 million units per year, boosting overall annual production to 720 million bottles over time. Screwcaps account for 30% of closures market A recent survey by Euromonitor found that aluminum screwcaps account for nearly 30% of the global wine market, according to a statement released by the trade group Aluminum Closures Group. The survey found the world's wine market came to around 30 billion bottles sold in 2016 and about 9 billion of those were sealed with a screwcap. Metis opens Portland office Metis, a Pacific Northwest merg- ers and acquisitions advisory firm specializing in the hospitality, wine and beverage alcohol industries, announced it has opened a new office in Portland, expanding its footprint into Oregon. With offices already in Seattle and Walla Walla, Wash., the new location is meant to bring more localized service to clients in the Oregon market. The office is headed by managing di- rector Andy Steinman, who joined Metis in 2017. WineDirect and Tock partner WineDirect and Tock announced an exclusive partnership to fully integrate the companies' software systems to improve hospitality and sales at wineries throughout North America. According to a statement announcing the part- nership, the integration will enable clients to leverage deeper cus- tomer insights, improve efficien- cies in the tasting room, reduce no-shows and increase direct-to- consumer (DtC) sales. La Garde hires California reps Canadian-based La Garde, a divi- sion of SML Stainless Steel Group, hired two new California sales representatives for its U.S. team. Jason Pepper will cover Napa County and the Lodi area and Scott Pelletier will cover coastal California — including Sonoma and Monterey counties and Paso Robles — as well as Washington and Oregon. Tonnelliere Vicard names new manager Tonnellier Vicard announced the hir- ing of Trent Ghiringhelli as its West Coast business development man- ager to sell the Tonnellier Vicard range of Barrels, formerly distrib- uted by the Bouchard Cooperages. Monica Lee Mazur