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14 WINES&VINES March 2016 Wine Industry Symposium Group announces management changes Wine Industry Symposium Group is transitioning management of its events—the Wine Industry Finan- cial Symposium (WIFS), Central Coast Insights, Vineyard Econom- ics Seminar and Lodi Vineyard and Wine Economic Symposium—to Wine Communications Group, the owner of Wines & Vines and Wine Business Monthly. Conference coordinator Waunice Orchid and Lisa Adams Walter, director of pro- grams, will continue their work for the conferences. Fredrikson names Michael David Winery of the Year During his State of the Industry ad- dress at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium (see page 18), Jon Fredrikson named Michael David Winery of Lodi, Calif., the Winery of the Year. The company produces 600,000 cases of wine per year and is owned by brothers Michael and David Phillips, who are fifth-gener- ation grapegrowers. Employees charged in wine theft Two former employees of Donkey and Goat Winery were charged with felony counts of receiving stolen property, and another worker faces misdemeanor charges after winery owner Jared Brandt discovered nearly 75 cases of wine worth up to $70,000 were missing. Some of the bottles were recovered from a vehicle and the homes of the defendants. Arizona considers DtC shipments Arizona state Sen. Nancy Barto introduced legislation that would allow state residents to receive more direct shipments of wine. Currently only wineries producing less than 20,000 gallons of wine can ship to addresses inside the state unless the recipient personally visited the winery and placed the order onsite. French family buys Robin Williams' vineyard estate The family behind Château Pon- tet-Canet and Tesserson Cognac of France purchased a 653-acre estate that includes the 18.4-acre Pym Rae Vineyard in the Mount Veeder sub-AVA of Napa Valley. The property had belonged to U.S. actor Robin Williams, who died in 2014. Wine Spectator reported the deal was finalized at $18.1 million. Truett-Hurst divests stake in The Wine Spies Truett-Hurst Inc. sold its 50% mem- bership in The Wine Spies for a re- ported $25,000. According to Paul Forgue, Truett-Hurst's chief finan- cial officer, the company hopes to free up time and resources to focus on direct sales of its brands VML and Truett Hurst. Tensley buys vineyard in Santa Maria Tensley Wines, the company owned by winemaker Joey Tensley, pur- chased a 115-acre property in California's Santa Maria Hills that includes a 16-acre vineyard. Grape- grower Reo Reiswig sold the prop- erty, which he planted to Syrah and Grenache in the late 1990s. Wineries agree to drop 'Port' from labels In spite of being grandfathered in by the 2006 U.S./European Commis- sion Wine Trade Agreement, Boyd Family Vineyards, Free- mark Abbey and Jes- sup Cellars volunteered to drop the word "Port" from their labels "out of respect for the Napa Valley Vintners' efforts to protect winemaking place names," the re- gional association announced. Peju buys Acacia; Foley acquires Chalone estate Peju Province Winery in the Ruth- erford AVA of Napa Valley, Calif., announced that it purchased the Acacia Vineyard winery in the nearby Carneros AVA. Though Trea- sury Wine Estates bought the Aca- cia brand as part of its $600 million buyout of Diageo's wine group, the company did not acquire the winery on Las Amigas Road. According to a statement released by Peju, the 100,000-case winery and 100-acre estate will be owned and operated by Peju Province Winery but do business under a different name. Meanwhile, Bill Foley and Foley Family Wines purchased Chalone Estate Vineyard, the Gavilan brands as well as nearly 1,000 contiguous acres, with 240 acres planted to vines in Monterey County, Calif. The deal accounts for the last major element of Diageo's former wine division, which it began to sell off in October 2015. Colorado winery victorious The Denver Broncos were not the only group of winners on Super Bowl Sunday. The owners of Red Fox Cellars in Palisade, Colo., won a bet on the game against Med- aloni Cellars of Lewisville, N.C. To fulfill the bet, Medaloni agreed to make a donation to the nonprofit group Delaney Donates, and Med- aloni staff members wore Red Fox T-shirts to work. California and Washington report low yields for 2015 The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service released its preliminary reports about the amount of grapes crushed for wine in 2015, confirming the belief that California saw lagging yields during the most recent harvest season. While overall tonnage was expected to be short, not all grapegrowing regions ex- perienced this phenomenon. Counties in the San Joaquin Valley posted high numbers, with grape District 13 reporting 1.43 million tons of grapes crushed for wine—nearly 39% of the state total. See page 15. When it's OK to skip out on bond An omnibus appropriations bill signed by U.S. president Barack Obama will change the frequency with which wineries must file ex- cise taxes as well as who is required to file a winery bond. Wineries liable for less than $1,000 in such taxes will be exempt from the requirement to file a bond as of Jan. 1, 2017. See page 16. LATEST NEWS More detail on the news at winesandvines.com Top Stories The month in perspective Michael and David Phillips