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Wine Tours

For info, contact me on winebrief@bkwine.com or +33 (0)6 80 45 35 70 or check the site: http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine_tours.htm

 □  Producers

Domaine Yves Cuilleron, Condrieu, Rhone
When Yves Cuilleron made his first wine in 1987 not many people knew of Condrieu or Viognier. “I was part of the young generation that was part of the recreation of the northern Rhône valley as a wine district” he says. Today, Yves is one of the big stars in Condrieu. All his wines are of excellent quality, from an aromatic Viognier Vin de Pays for around 11 euro to his different cuvées of Condrieu (around 30 euro).
There are more pictures in our photo gallery.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Bodega Pisano, Progreso, Uruguay
Uruguay is a comparatively small country in South America with many small family run vineyards and a climate that is similar to that of Bordeaux. There are many interesting wine producers in the country and one of them is the Pisano family, a family that seems to be producing only male – very charming – offspring (“it’s the red wine, you know”). Today the winery is run by three brothers: Daniel takes care of sales, marketing and exports. Gustavo is the winemaker, and Eduardo takes care of the vineyards. Between them they have eight sons (!) and all want to work in wine. It was grandfather Pisano who created the vineyard in 1914. He came from Liguria and his wife came from the Basque region – quite a common background with Uruguay winemakers. Try their Rio de los Pajaros Reserve Tannat Merlot for example, or any of their other cuvées.
There are more pictures in our photo gallery.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Read about more recommended producers on the site: Favourite Producers

 □  Wine Bars and Restaurants

Stockholm:

Terreno Wine Bar
Perhaps the most important reason to visit this wine bar is to see how it functions. It built around an original self-service concept: First you have to buy a “wine card”, like a pre-paid phone card. then you go to the “dispensing machine”, insert your card, push the button for the wine you want (don’t forget to hold out your glass) and you are served a good 4cl tasting dose. An interesting concept if you want to taste several different wines, but perhaps not the most romantic way of drinking wine (perhaps well suited to Swedes who are not known for their romanticism, but rather for their pragmatism…). You can also get some not-too-complicated Italian food with the wine. New, and certainly original concept, worth visiting even if the wine selection (and the food) is a bit limited.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Beluga
The name speaks partially true but don’t let yourself be deterred. They do serve caviar but they also serve real food. Both the menu and the wine list is restricted to a small number of well chosen references. What is particularly interesting is that for each dish they have a suggested wine – and all wines are served by the glass. So you can easily compose a nice dinner with a different and appropriate wine to every dish. The restaurant is quite small, discretely designed, so booking is a good idea. A slightly upscale (especially if you go for the caviar) and elegant restaurant in the “nice” part of Stockholm but with a dedicated team who runs it.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Eriks Vinbar Wine Bar
Eriks Vinbar (wine bar in Swedish) is at ground level in the same building as the luxury restaurant Eriks Gondolen (from which you have a view over all of Stockholm), close to Slussen. It is a small and cosy place, really a bar and not a restaurant even if you can have some small things to eat (cheese, charcuteries…). The wine list is very extensive and they regularly have “specials” that are not on the list – so ask for advice! Very competent wine staff. Another good idea is that they have two serving sizes, the small being 5 cl so that you can taste a lot of different wines if you want (otherwise all too often in Stockholm a serving in “a glass of wine” is ridiculously big). One of the few places in Stockholm that really is a good wine bar and not just a bar serving a few wines.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Top level gastronomic education
It is time to prepare the dossier for one of Europe’s more original gastronomic educations. “IHEGGAT”, or Institut des Hautes Etudes du Goût de la Gastronomie et des Arts de la Table, is accepting submissions for the next program. The program quite unique in that it focuses more on the overall concepts of gastronomy and wine (and is certainly not a cooking school). Read our review in BKWine Brief 34 and go to their site to find out admission criteria: www.iheggat.com

Wine investments in Argentina decreasing
Exports are going up but the investments in new wineries are decreasing. Land prices have gone up sharply and have now reached around 15 000 USD per hectare for virgin wine land and between 20 000 and 35 000 USD/ha for vineyards in production. With a grape price around 1.2-1.3 USD/kg it may take up to 30 years to amortise an investment (on the top quality land grape prices may of course be higher). According to Vitishpere.com

Global warming will increase land prices in Germany
At least, that is the thesis of a paper written by the two American scientists Orley Ashenfelter and Karl Storchman (Using a Hedonic Model of Solar Radiation to Assess the Economic Effect of Climate Change: The Case of Mosel Valley Vineyards). Their reasoning is that the climatic changes will have a direct impact on the solar radiation and thence the hedonistic appreciation of the wines and land valuations. In other words, warmer weather in Germany will make the German wines better and more expensive (perhaps I am oversimplifying?). As you can guess, it is a scientific paper , 39 pages in all, and you can read it all here. If the full paper is a bit too much for you you can read the article in Forbes Magazine 

Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon sells Big House Red and Cardinal Zin
Randall Grahm, cult wine maker at Bonny Doon Vineyards in Santa Cruz, California, has sold two of his most popular wines, Big House Red and Cardinal Zin, to The Wine Group LLC. He keeps, and will continue to produce the remaining range of wines, e.g. Le Cigar Volant, his famous Châteauneuf copy. WineBusiness.com and LATimes.com

French industrialist François Pinault buys Burgundy vineyard
Domaine Engel in Vosne Romanée, a six hectare domaine including some of the most famous names in Burgundian vineyards (Clos Vougeot, Echezeaux, Grands Echezeaux, Vosne-Romanée…) has been sold to the super-rich French industrialist François Pinault. Pinault already owns a vineyard in Bordeaux: Chateau Latour. Vitisphere.com

A world tour of vineyards
The WineWorldTour was launched by two young wine enthusiasts in Bordeaux. They have travelled around the globe and visited almost 200 vineyards in 17 countries. They have created a site that tells the story behind their trip (you have to navigate around the site a bit to find the info) and are currently working on a book on their odyssey. Read more on their site www.wineworldtour.com. You can also read about some of their visits on BKWine’s guest writer page.

California wine production, some statistics
California represents 95% of the wine production in the United States. These are the main regions:

Len Evans, Australian wine legend, passed away
Len Evans was one of the most emblematic persons of the Australian wine industry. He wrote several books and contributed greatly to the advancement of the Australian wine production. He passed away in August at the age of 75.

Medoc Marathon
Are you the sporty type? Or perhaps not? It does not matter. The Medoc Marathon is for you in both cases. The competition goes around most of the Medoc region in Bordeaux. It takes place on Saturday September 9, starting at 9.30 in front of Chateau Grand Puy Ducasse in Pauillac. Runners then pass (not always rapidly) e.g. Latour, Pichon, Ducru-Beaucaillou and many more. With suitable refreshment stands along the circuit of course. More info www.marathondumedoc.com

Revival for Kurdish wine
Until 1987 there were vineyards planted in the northern Iraqi region of Dohuk. then they were all destroyed by the war. Mohammed Saleem, then winemaker, has now replanted his vineyard in the Kurdish village Beri Bahar. Read more in Middle East Online

New Zealand wine production to increase
An NZ government agency estimates that the production this year will increase by 20% and that it will continue to increase by 10% per year until 2010. This years production is estimated to 185 000 tonnes. 55% of the production is exported. Exports are estimated to be worth $1 billion by 2010. The largest variety is of course Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Pinot Noir that has recently overtaken Chardonnay as number two. More info theage.com.au

New Spanish wine classification
Spanish authorities have decided to introduce a new category of wine called Vinos de la Tierra de los Viñedos de España. It will be a notch below the category that today is called DO (Denominacion de Origen).

Robert Parker changes shape
Perhaps a bit cryptic as a heading. Many people probably think that what is referred to as Robert Parker’s ratings (and comments) come from the famous wine critic himself. Of course, that is partially true, but he actually has a staff of collaborators who work (and taste) for him: Pierre-Antoine Rovani writes e.g. about many parts of France, Daniel Thomases writes about Italy and David Schildknecht about German and Austrian wines. Changes will come though. Rovani is leaving “the firm” and also Thomases will be leaving. Schildknecht, however, is staying on. Latest news is that Schildknecht will take over much of France (except “core” regions that stay with Parker). There will be two new staff: Antonio Galloni who will cover Italy and Jay Miller who will write about much of the world outside of Europe plus Portugal. Read more in The Wine Enthusiast and Decanter.com

This month’s must have gadget: Vino Cacao, chocolate wine
So this month it is not a gadget but actually a drink. A drink made from a base of wine that is then flavoured with chocolate. It is recommended e.g. as an aperitif, in sauces, or “during society parties”. We have not tasted it but our impression is that it is a not a joke but a serious initiative. More info: Vino Cacao

High tech vineyards
Some California vineyards have gone literally high tech. It is probably a contamination from the neighbouring Silicon Valley, or at least indirectly. High Tech ex-executives invest their earned millions in vineyards and cannot completely leave the technology behind. Some examples: sap flow sensors on the vines, linked to irrigation systems of course, laboratory equipment (called titrator) costing $15000 to test for every thing you’d want to know about a must or a wine, humidity sensors in the ground etc. Read more on CNNMoney.com

Wine growing is spreading across the USA
Apparently there is wine grown in every state but one in the USA (no prizes for guessing which state has no wine). Here are some examples:

Bordeaux harvest started on August 28
On August 28 Chateau Carbonnieux started picking its white grapes (Sauvignon Blanc) Preliminary reports sound quite positive for this year’s quality even if weather at the end of August has been not quite perfect.

Selling wine online gives teenagers easy access to alcohol. Or…?
A decision last year by the US Supreme Court lead to the opening of the internet market for wine (internet sales had previously been very restricted). Pressure groups argued that this would lead to teenagers getting easy access to alcohol. A study recently published by the Teenage Research Unlimited in Illinois has show that very few teenagers have taken the opportunity to by alcohol online. Ironically the study was commissioned by the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, one of the pressure groups against the change. Tom Riley, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control says that online alcohol sales to teenagers is not a major problem, but adds that that could change. As reported in: USA Today and TechDirt.com

The Ultimate Austrian Wine Guide
By Peter Moser
Falstaff Publications, €19.90
The bulk of the book is a listing of Austrian wine producers. Each producer is described in detail and the wines are rated. It is virtually a catalogue of Austrian winemakers. But the book also contains good introductions to each of the wine regions as well as a couple of chapters on Austria and its wines and grapes in general. Several good maps too. In other words, an aptly chosen title. www.falstaff.at
Click here for more book reviews on my site or to buy the books.

The Wines of Italy (new and revised edition)
Micèle Shah
Mitchell Beazley £9.99
An almost pocket sized book that is easy to carry with you on the trip. Each Italian wine regions gets a short introduction which is followed by a listing of the appellations and a selection of producers, all with a short description. Not a book to read from cover to cover but it will certainly help you get an initial understanding of Italy. Perhaps, as a travel companion, one would have wished for more detailed maps but that may be too much to ask for in such a small book on such a big region.
Click here for more book reviews on my site or to buy the books.

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