VinoWeek Episode 14 - Stop Dreaming....

After selling his wildly successful Meomi wine brand to Constellation Brand Inc. Joseph Wagner is looking to the Oregon frontier to create his next super brand.   At the ripe young age of 33 this entrepreneur is making his presence known on the west coast.  Elsewhere in Oregon, Willamette Valley Vineyards has tendered an offer of preferred stock to wine enthusiasts.   They plan to build two small production wineries in the Eola Hills and Walla Walla AVAs.   A posting on Jim's Loire blog wonders why Tim Atkins and Ron Washam's dispute with Georg Riedel was settled so quickly; whereas Jayne Powell - aka Champagne Jayne'scase, with the Le Comite Interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne seems to be stuck in a legal limbo that has her facing financial ruin.  The famed French wine regions of Burgundy and Champagne have been recently added to Unesco's world heritage listing.  Laurent Fabius, the country's foreign minister is making plans to promote more tourism in these wine regions.   The piece written by Laurence Girard for The Guardian conversely ends by taking a cheap shot at Napa Valley for the success of its tourism model.  Madison Wade reports for KRCRTV, on the owners ofButter Creek Ranch Winery in Trinity County California having to declare their entire crop for 2015 a loss, because of the smoke and ash from fires this summer.  Sadly they suffered the same fate as recently as 2008.  We can already see the legal lawsuits lining up regarding the "world's first" commercially distributed cannabis infused beer due to hit the market this fall.  If your employer requires periodic or random drug tests you'll want to avoid these products as we're pretty sure you'll test positive on a culture panel.  Owner Mason "Dude" says, "Like the cannabis product, we recommend taking our double IPA in small amounts… it’s a big beer, and a dab will do ya”.  Our wine recommendation, an organic beauty, comes from the French Rhone Valley.  That's all for this week.  Thanks for listening and cheers.