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Wine Tours

Finnish Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!

 Tours on the schedule (in Finnish):

For info, contact 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

Champagne Duval-Leroy
The very dynamic Carol Duval-Leroy from Belgium found herself at the head of this family company in 1991 when her husband died. She has successfully marketed her champagne ever since, often targeting female consumers. As an example, she has created a cuvée prestige called “Femme” and launched a series of gift items on a champagne theme specially targeting women. But she has also modernised and improved the production. You find Duval-Leroy in Vertus, in the southern Côte des Blancs. They have extensive (for Champagne) land holdings, 170 ha, but this accounts for only a quarter of their production.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Domain Gilles Robin, Crozes-Hermitage
Gilles Robin made his first vintage of Crozes-Hermitage in 1996. At that time he had to help him his grand father, and when Gilles later created a cuvée prestige he named it after his grandfather: Cuvée Alberic Bouvet. Gilles now has 15 ha in Crozes and a small parcel in Saint Joseph. All Gilles’s wines have a very good expression of the grape variety – Syrah. But he is keen that also the terroirs should be evident in his wines. The best way to do that, he says, is to grow your vines organically, so, no chemical pesticides, and only natural fertilizers. Harvesting is manual. His red Crozes-Hermitage, Le Papillon, comes from a five hectare plot with young vines that he has planted himself. It is peppery and fruity (blackberries, black currants). The 2003 costs 9 euro at the vineyard (if there is still some left). Crozes-Hermitage Cuvée Albéric Bouvet is made from old vines, planted by Gilles’s father 45 years ago. The wine has spent 16 months in oak. The bouquet is full of spices – cinnamon, cloves, pepper, liquorice, and the taste is long with a very expressive Syrah character (14 euro). Gilles also makes a very nice white Crozes from Marsanne and Roussanne grapes.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Read about more recommended producers on the site: Favourite Producers

 □  Wine Bars and Restaurants

Nimes:

Aux Plaisir des Halles
Very ambitious kitchen, perhaps the best in Nîmes. A small dining room decorated in quite modern style, avoiding the over-heavy classic French attributes that you sometimes see, in particular in smaller cities. If you’re lucky you can have a chat with the chef after dinner.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Languedoc:

Auberge La Rose Blanche, Lou Caléou
Located between Montpellier and Nimes , its an old basement – « cave » perhaps – transformed into a modern restaurant. Wonderful contrasts and trendy details. Very good food and a good selection of local wines.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Stockholm:

Bistro Jarl Champagne Bar
Centrally located near Stureplan and the Dramaten Theatre it is a popular meeting place. Has recently expanded and there is now more room. The city’s only (?) real champagne bar.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Nalen
This name rings of history in Stockholm, since it was the name of an old dance palace. Now it is a restaurant worth discovering. Outstanding French fries to the minute steak for example. Mid-range prices and quite good wine list.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Prinsen (The Prince)
Another classic Stockholm restaurant that is still going strong. They do a lot of traditional Swedish food – “husmanskost” – so it is an interesting venue for the visitor who wants to taste some well made Swedish cuisine classics although the dishes have been give a little bit of a modern make-over. Not cheap, but good. Good selection of wine, elegant dining room and friendly waiters.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Salon des Vins de Loire, 5-7 February
Next year’s edition of the Loire Valley wine fair – Salon des Vin de Loire – will take place on February 5 to 7. It is a big trade fair where most of the Loire Valley’s producers that count can be met. A Mecca for the Chenin Blanc lover for example. This year they will even have a wine blog competition! Submit your blog and you might win! www.salondesvinsdeloire.com

Introduction to Wine Tasting – new guest writer article
A new guest writer article has been posted in the Guest Writer section on our site: “How to Appreciate a Bottle of French Wine” by Phil Leventhal. Read the full article on the Guest Writer page.

No more Tokay d’Alsace or Tocai Friuliani
Next year the agreement between Hungary and the EU will come into effect that will reserve the name “Tokay” (in its various spellings) to wine coming from the region of Tokay in Hungary. The use of Tokay d’Alsace or Tokay Pinot Gris in Alsace will no longer be allowed, nor in any other regions in Europe. They will simply have to call the wine Pinot Gris (which is often already the case). Vitisphere.com

Vin & Sprit announces sales and profits up
V&S Vin & Sprit, the Swedish state-owned that is one of the world’s largest vodka producers (with the Absolut brand), announced sales up with 13% to 7.6 billion SEK for the nine months to September. Operating profits were up 18% to reach 1.6 bn SEK. The improved numbers are chiefly attributed to good sales of Absolut vodka in the USA, Europe and in Asia. Perhaps the Swedish state is happy with the increased alcohol consumption in this case, in spite of its campaign for reduced consumption in Sweden through its monopoly retail stores Systembolaget.

Small German harvest
The rain arrived just at harvest time in Germany. Many producers had to do very strict sorting of the grapes at harvest, which will lead to a harvest volume that is a bit smaller than normal. The quality is expected to be quite good though (provided proper “tri” has been done). Before the rain grapes had already achieved very good levels of maturation so a larger than normal percentage will be Prädikatswein. Vitisphere.com

Big harvest in Europe
The total volume in Europe, though, seems to be relatively big. The total for the four countries German, Italy, France and Spain is expected to reach 154 million hectolitres compared to 145 Mhl last year (and 164 Mhl in 2004, and 149 Mhl in 2003). The French harvest is estimated to reach 53 Mhl (compared to 50 Mhl last year) and in Spain 43 Mhl (35 Mhl). Italy and Germany are more or less flat compared to last year though (49.5Mhl vs. 50.5 Mhl, and 9 Mhl vs. 9.1 Mhl). Vitisphere.com

Unoaked Chardonnay more and more popular
It’s not exactly big news for those of you who read about wine elsewhere: Heavyweight barrel aged Chardonnay is loosing ground. Consumers are moving towards lighter wines with more pronounced fruit, rather than oakiness and butteryness. A recent study made by Wine Opinions have reached the same conclusion: heavily oaked Chardonnay may have its future behind it. WinesandVines.com

Absolut Prostitution? – Vin & Sprit pulls ad campaign in Germany
The state owned Swedish spirits giant V&S Vin & Sprit, with its immensely successful Absolut brand, recently launched an ad campaign in Germany that showed a sultry red lipstick impression with a silhouette of a bottle of Absolut between the lips. The headline said “Absolut Herbertstrasse”. Herbertstrasse is a street in Hamburg that, similar to Reeperbahn (which is a parallel street) is known for its prostitution. Various press sources have reported that the head office in Sweden decided to pull the campaign when commentators in Sweden saw it as an indirect support for prostitution. Particularly embarrassing since Sweden was very vocal in protesting against prostitution in Germany during the football world cup. Commentators from Vin & Sprit say that they have cancelled the campaign but that the German organisation cannot understand what the fuzz is about. Read "Absolute Hypocrisy" on The Local.

More trouble for V&S Vin & Sprit: fined for illegal advertising in Sweden
Even more advertising trouble hit the state owned vodka producer V&S Vin & Sprit in Sweden when they were fined 500,000 SEK for having used inappropriate imagery in ad campaigns in Sweden: two arms making a toast, and a pizza box, according to the newsletter World of Wine News. It is not only in England that the ad supervisors are diligent.

American wine overtakes French wine in the UK
According to the latest sales figures wine from the US have for the first time sold in bigger volume than wine from France and now holds second position in the UK. Consumers increased the consumption of US wines with 6.1% over the summer. The increase was largely driven by good sales of rosé wines, in particular Gallo apparently. However, the biggest exporter to the UK is actually Australia. Vitisphere.com (Photo: of the US Embassy in Paris)

Blanche d’Armagnac
Perhaps it is clever marketing. We have heard about Blanche d’Armagnac since quite a while back and have written about it previously here. But you can still not buy it. This new, “white” (clear and unoaked) spirit from Armagnac will only be available in 2007. It will be interesting to taste it one day. In the mean time, read this Q&A interview with one of the producers’ representative and you will find out the details of what it is. Read the full article on our site.

A wine university in the Rhône Valley
L’Université du Vin – it could not be more straight forward. The University of Wine in Suze La Rousse is housed in a magnificent old medieval chateau. They have several different university programs focusing on e.g. wine tasting (sensory evaluation), marketing and sales, wine law, viticulture and oenology etc. But they also organise wine courses for non-professionals: shorter wine tasting courses over e.g. a week-end or just a day. More info Universite-du-Vin.com (Photo:Suze-la-Rousse)

Uruguay wines continue to progress
Uruguay is radically different (and perhaps less known) than Argentina and Chile, in terms of wine growing. If you find vast vineyards over immense prairies and multi-million dollar investments in wineries in the two bigger countries, in Uruguay wine production is much more “European” in that most producers are relatively small family enterprises. Many have over the last few years had quite some success on export markets: Bodega Pizzorno, Juanico, Pisano, Bouza, Castillo Viejo, De Lucca, Filgueira, Stagnari, Plaza Vidiella etc. Read an interesting article on Uruguay on WineBusiness.com and take a look in our Uruguay picture galleries.

Mechanical harvest better than manual?
Many have opinions on this matter. Often, people believe that manual harvest, with “real” vendangeurs is better, not necessarily without knowing why. We would rather say, like in most things in wine, that it depends. Manual harvest has the benefit that the harvesters can do a selection already in the vineyard but that requires skilled and trained workers, which is not always the case. And mechanical harvest automatically makes a selection: unripe grapes, or overripe grapes are loft on the vine by the harvester, provided it is correctly tuned. But this is just one aspect. Here is someone who argues that mechanical harvest is unquestionably better: WineBusiness. com

Champagne increases ”rendement butoir” to 15,000 kg/ha
This month’s least engaging headline? But this refers to a theme that is also often talked about in very generalised, and sometimes mistaken, terms. “Lower yields are of course much better”. Right? Not necessarily. In Bordeaux yields are often around 45-50 hl/ha. Sometimes the grower say ”we have very low yields, not more than 30 hl/ha” and you are expected to nod admiringly. But lower is not always better, especially for white wines (or think about hyper-concentrated, jammy “new world heavyweights” with 15+% of alcohol). To come back to the headline: it means that in Champagne they now allow a yield close to 100 hl/ha, certain years and under certain conditions. (To be precise: “rendement de base” is 10,400 kg/ha and “rendement butoir” has been increased from 13,000 kg/ha to 15,500 kg/ha. A press is filled with 4000 kg of grapes and from that you get 2550 litres of grape must. Do the maths.) Perhaps something to think about.

The first wine harvest at Versailles
A long time ago there were plenty of vineyards around Paris. Now there are only a few (mostly symbolic) left. But some have actually been replanted more recently. So, for example in Versailles, a few tens of kilometres outside of Paris. Three years ago they planted 1850 vines and this year they gave their first harvest. It will become 200 bottles of rosé wine and it will be called Cuvée Marie-Antoinette. (Photo: One of Paris' vineyards - not the one in Versailles though - with a view over the Eiffel Tower)

The German wine law updated
One of the changes is that VDP Erste Erlage will be an umbrella description for the best German vineyards (”lage”). You can find details of the changes at Die Prädikatsweingüter

INAO on strike
INAO (Institut National des Appellations d’Origine) is the official French control organisation of the AOCs (wine and other things). The staff has gone on strike to underline the importance of a “credible policy to safeguard and promote products with an official seal of quality” and to protest against a proposal that would unite several different “quality control” organisations (e.g. INAO) under one roof. Perhaps a good occasion to entirely revise the system and give the consumer a bit more say? Vitisphere.com

Parker employs British wine taster
The wine guru Robert Parker has hired a relatively unknown British wine critic to write for him. Neal Martin has been running an independent wine commentary site called Wine-Journal.com that will now close. An added twist is that there has for a long time been a certain antagonism between Robert Parker and the British wine writing establishment. Perhaps this will lighten things up? Read more details on Wine-Journal.com

Pichon Lalande sold to Roederer
It has been in the making for quite some time and now it’s done. Chateau Pichon-Lalande (one of the so-called “super seconds” in Pauillac) has been sold to the Rouzaud family. The deal also includes Chateau Bernadotte (previously Le Fournas Bernadotte) and Glenelly in South Africa. Rouzaud will buy the majority shareholding from the current owner, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing. The Rouzaud family owns Champagne Roederer and also Ch de Pez and Ch Haut Beausejour in St Estephe, Champagne Deutz with Maison Delas in the Rhone Valley, Ramos Pinto (port), Domaine Ott (Provence), Roederer Estate and Scharffenberger in California. Read more on Decanter.com and on Vitisphere.com

”Chirac’s” wine cellar sold for euro 1 million
Paris’ current mayor, Delanoe, perhaps does not drink much wine. In any case he thought the stock was a bit too plentiful at the Mayor’s residence, much of which had been bought by his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, France’s current president. Much of the wine was recently sold at an auction that totalled €970,000. Evidently there was a distinct political aura over the bottles since many sold for far more than market prices. Some examples: 2 bottles 1986 Dom de la Romanée Conti: €10,000, 3 bottles Ch Mouton-Rothschild 1989: €2600, 1 bottle Ch Petrus 1989: €4000. Hmm. Decanter.com

Youngest ever Master of Wine
Ken Mackay, a mere 28 years old, is the youngest ever Master of Wine. He recently gained the right to add the exclusive letters MW after his name. His day work (assuming that nights are spent studying) is as buyer for Willoughby’s, a wine company in Manchester. There are 250 MWs today. Masters-of-Wine.org

This month’s must have (?) wine gadget
A palm computer and a subscription is all you need. Then you can register your tasting notes electronically. In addition, cooperating wine merchants (or other tasting organisers) can supply an electronic list of the wines to taste to make the data entry even easier. After that you just tap in your tasting notes with the palm computer stylus (or keyboard?) according to a predefined format. When you get back home you just synchronise it with your home (or office) computer. More info: TastingBuddy.com

Interested in wine pictures?
Perhaps you work as a picture editor or a wine or travel editor? Or perhaps you just like photos of vineyards and wine regions? Then you should try our new “wine picture inspiration”. Once a week we send you an inspirational email with the latest additions to our Wine Picture Blog. Register for the Weekly Wine Picture Inspiration here.

An extensive tome, more like an encyclopaedia than a regular book, and here you will find most (if not all) of the interesting chateaux in Bordeaux. Each sub-district has a very informative introduction and very good maps. A book that the passionate Bordeaux lover should not be without.

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