May, 05, 2016 Yao Ming opens St. Helena wine tasting room

(NBBJ) - Retired NBA star Yao Ming has raised his stature even more in Napa Valley with the opening of a tasting room for his luxury wine brands. The hospitality center for Yao Family Wines’ Yao Ming and Napa Crest labels opened at 929 Main St. in St. Helena. It’s just south of the Got...

May, 05, 2016 Club W rebrands as Winc, raises $17.5 million for personalized wine

(Techcrunch) - Club W , a wine club startup based in Los Angeles, is rebranding as Winc. The team has also raised an additional $17.5 million in funding co-led by the Beijing-based Shining Capital and existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners. Originally just an online marketplace...

May, 05, 2016 FBI charges two in French Laundry wine theft case

(Decanter) -  Two men have been charged with transporting stolen fine wines worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, including those taken from California's French Laundry restaurant in a Christmas Day heist. Almost 16 months to the day since burglars helped themselves to Domaine de la Roman...

May, 05, 2016 Shoe company sues ex-NFL player Vince Ferragamo over wine brand

(NYDailyNews) - Fashion giant Salvatore Ferragamo is telling retired football player Vince Ferragamo to put a cork in it. The tony brand known for its shoes and accessories alleges in a trademark-infringement lawsuit that onetime Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ferragamo, who launched Tenuta Di F...

May, 05, 2016 Wine Without a Hangover? It’s a Miracle!

(GQ) - There’s a lot of hype around natural wines: They’re experimental, funky, genre-breaking, and hangover-headache-preventing. And some of this is even true! Natural wine is a very real “thing” right now. (You could call it the new rosé, except it sometimes is ros...

May, 04, 2016 SCIENTISTS DISCOVER BRAIN’S BINGE DRINKING ‘REWARD CIRCUIT’

(Thespiritsbusiness) - Researchers have identified a circuit in the brain which “controls” binge drinking, and believe that by inhibiting the system with medication the behaviour can be treated. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered a &ls...

May, 04, 2016 Belly button beer brewed from navel lint (nope, totally not gross)

(CNET) - An Australian brewery dug deep into its own belly buttons to create an unusual beer brewed with human-harvested yeast. Yum, cloves and banana. The basic ingredients for beer include water, malt, hops and yeast, but nobody said you had to buy that yeast in a sterilized packet at the loc...

May, 04, 2016 La Lagune co-owner Caroline Frey buys Swiss vineyard

(Decanter) - Caroline Frey, of the Frey family that owns Château La Lagune in Bordeaux and Paul Jaboulet Aîné in Rhône, has bought a 'secret garden' vineyard in Switzerland.  Caroline Frey , an oenologist who runs  La Lagune  and who’s family a...