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22 WINES&VINES December 2016 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Your lender of choice for agricultural capital • Agricultural real estate lender for 98 years • Long-term fxed or adjustable rate mortgage fnancing • Real estate secured revolving line of credit • Competitive interest rates • Flexible terms and structuring www.metlife.com/ag Rates are attractive —contact us today. 559.435.0206 Agricultural Investments © 2015 METLIFE, INC. © '15 PNTS full-strength beer to be sold in grocery stores and convenience stores and passed with 65.6% of the vote. The measure is expected to go into effect statewide in 2018. EAST Wine Market Council awards scholarship Cornell University Ph.D. candidate Jie Li is the inaugural recipient of the Wine Market Council's Bob Kalik scholarship. Li, a native of China, is conducting her research in the field of Applied Economics and Management and studying the motivations of winery owners. Li also will be researching how biological physiology influences consumer perception of wine. The scholarship is awarded in the memory of Kalik, who was a founder of the council. New AVA spreads across three eastern states The TTB has approved the new Appalachian High Country AVA that encompasses areas in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The initial petition for the AVA was submitted by Johnnie James, owner of Bethel Valley Farms, on behalf of members of the High Country Wine Growers Associa- tion. The 2,400-square-mile AVA is home to 21 vineyards totaling 71 acres of vineyards and 10 wineries. The region is characterized by high elevations, steep slopes, a cool climate and short growing season well suited for cold-hardy hybrids such as Marquette, Vidal Blanc and Frontenac. SUPPLIER NEWS MCC consolidates in Napa Label supplier Multi-Color Corp. consolidated its wine label print- ing operations into one location in Napa, Calif. The company now claims to be the largest label pro- ducer in the West Coast, operat- ing the largest wine label-printing operation in the world. MCC also has added a new printing press in each of the past four years, with the most recent addition in May 2016. The company moved more than 100 employees and equipment from its Sonoma, Calif., location in November to its 150,000-square-foot facility at 21 Executive Way in Napa. MacPhail winery now a custom-crush facility James MacPhail has converted the former MacPhail Family Win- ery facility to a custom-crush facility for premium wineries. The 4,200-square-foot winery in Healdsburg, Calif., is now the home of Grapewagon Custom Crush and features eight 6-ton open-top stainless steel fermen- tors, two French oak fermentation vats and a small barrel chai. The winery fermented 17 different va- rietals in 2016 for nearly a dozen clients and is also the home of James and Kerry MacPhail's new brand, Tongue Dancer Wines. Free Flow taps $9 million for East Coast facility Veritas Financial Partners in Boca Raton, Fla., is providing Free Flow Wines with $9 million in financing for a growth equity investment in the kegging operation based in Napa, Calif. Free Flow is using the investment to fund the opening of an East Coast kegging facility to expand its keg leasing, filling and logistics services. Free Flow owns and manages more than 125,000 kegs that its winery clients use to provide wine on tap to restaurants and other on-premise accounts throughout the United States. Bank of the West expands wine group Perry DeLuca and Peter Hsu joined Bank of the West Com- mercial Banking Group's Beverage Group as managing directors, and Tony Bowker is the group's new director of business development. DeLuca, Hsu and Bowker will report to Adam Beak, the group's managing director. DeLuca previ- ously was a senior vice president at Wells Fargo Bank, where he managed the wine, food and bev- erage business, and Hsu spent nearly 20 years at Wells Fargo, where most recently he was regional team lead of the North Coast Regional Commercial Bank- ing Office. Bowker is the former president of Virtue Holdings, and before that he was the chief op- erating officer and chief financial officer of Goose Island Beer Co. Perry DeLuca Peter Hsu Virginia Tennessee North Carolina