Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/658375
14 WINES&VINES April 2016 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Voters reject Paso Robles water district Seventy-three percent of voters re- jected a ballot measure that would have formed a water district in Paso Robles, Calif., during a special elec- tion held March 8. The area's water concerns have gained attention as an ongoing drought has caused the groundwater basin to reach critical levels and prompted grapegrowers to drill deeper for irrigation water. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation in 2015 that requires areas including Paso Robles to have a water-management plan by 2020. U.S. wine exports hit new record U.S. wine exports increased 7.6% in 2015 to reach $1.61 billion, ac- cording to Wine Institute. The vol- ume of domestic wine increased 4.1% from the previous year to 51.2 million 9-liter case equivalents. Wine exports to Canada accounted for $461 million, while the 28 coun- tries making up the European Union accounted for a combined $622 million. Hong Kong, Japan and China rounded out the top five mar- kets for U.S. wine exports. Eastern wineries honor Indiana's Bill Oliver The Eastern Winery Exposition pre- sented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Bill Oliver, president of Oliver Winery in Bloomington, Ind., on March 9. Oliver's father, William W. Oliver, started the winery in the 1970s, and Bill Oliver took over the winery in 1983. Today Oliver Winery produces 363,000 cases of wine per year, sells in 17 states and has 54 acres of vineyard. Silverado Trail winery changes hands Bob Hartwell, owner of Hartwell Estate Vineyards, sold the winery, caves and some of his 20 vineyard acres to Juan Mercado, owner of Realm Cellars in the Napa Valley, for an undisclosed price. Hartwell will retain ownership of the 3,000- case label, which produces Caber- net Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and a dessert wine. USPS releases 'Grapes' The U.S. Postal Service released a 5-cent stamp called "Grapes," which features a pen, ink and wa- tercolor illustration of two Pinot Noir clusters created by artist John Bur- goyne. The stamps were released Feb. 19 and are available in strips of 500 or coils of 10,000. Winery and vineyard owner form umbrella group Jason and Jennifer Smith an- nounced the formation of Smith Family Wines, an umbrella com- pany for their wine brands, which include Alexander-Smith, Irie Wines and 20,000-case Paraiso Vine- yards. Smith Family Wines owns 820 acres in the Santa Lucia High- lands of Monterey County, Calif., making it the largest grapegrower in the appellation. TTB establishes Lamorinda The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau on Feb. 24 estab- lished the Lamorinda American iti- cultural area (AVA) in Contra Costa County, Calif. The new region is 29,369 acres, and its boundaries are inside the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast AVAs. Vintage Wine Estates sues Dan Cohn V i n t a g e W i n e E s t a t e s , w h i c h purchased B.R. Cohn winery in July 2015, filed a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement against Daniel Cohn, son of the Sonoma County winery's founder, Bruce Cohn, saying his new label Dan- iel Cohn Wine Co. violates the company's trademark. The filing alleges that the Cohn name is "inherently distinctive as used in association with wine." Dan Cohn issued the following response in a statement: "I fully intend to vigor- ously defend the right to use my given name." Worker injured by explosion at Goldeneye An employee of Goldeneye winery in Philo, Calif., was hospitalized following an explosion at the prop- erty. The employee was in a storage room at the time of the explosion, which involved an old apple dryer. A spokesperson for the Anderson Valley Fire Department said a re- sulting fire claimed about 40% of an uninhabited residence belonging to Goldeneye. Wine label honors veterans C. Mondavi & Fam- ily announced that it will release its first w i n e — a 2 0 1 3 blend of Merlot and Cabernet S a u v i g n o n — u n d e r t h e P u r p l e H e a r t W i n e s l a b e l . W i n e m a k e r Ray Coursen is a Vietnam vet- eran, and the label will make an annual do- n a t i o n t o t h e P u r p l e H e a r t Foundation. Treasury Wine Estates turns around financial performance Just a few months after acquiring multiple U.S. wine brands from Diageo, Australia's Treasury Wine Estates has bounced back from what some assumed would be an eventual buyout. The company announced during an earnings report Feb. 18 that it had doubled its profits. To achieve profitability, Treasury CEO Michael Clarke cut costs and focused on increasing sales of its higher priced wine brands, including those in the United States. See page 15. Red blotch vector identified Cautioning that more vectors may be determined in the future, University of California researchers report that the three-cornered alfalfa treehop- per can be responsible for the spread of red blotch-associated virus in wine grape vineyards. Grapevines are not the insect's preferred host, which may explain its tendency to infect the edges of vineyards, where other species are often planted as a barrier. See page 16. LATEST NEWS More detail on the news at winesandvines.com Top Stories The month in perspective