Truffles,
olive oil and wine in the Rhone Valley, 14-18 February
The black Perigord truffle is one of the most highly acclaimed (or at least
most expensive) food ingredients. The price varies between €1500 and €4000
per kilo… To find truffles you need a truffle dog (sometimes, but rarely a
pig) and access to a truffle forest during the short season between the end
of November to the end of February. BKWine organises a “truffles hunting
trip” in the southern Rhône valley in February 2007. We will spend half a
day with a truffle hunter and his dog. After “the hunt” we will enjoy a
truffles lunch with the mushroom part of every dish from start to finish.
The whole trip is three days long and we will also visit an olive oil
producer and several interesting wine domaines.
More info on the site
News from the Guest Writers
We have posted a new article on Provence from wine of our guest writers,
Virpi Sorvisto. The article is in Finnish (Virpi lives in Finland and also
works with BKWine with our Finnish wine tours) and you can read it here:
Guest Writer Virpi Sorvisto
We
also have the pleasure to welcome a new guest writer on BKWine, David Furer.
David is an American living in England since a long time back. David writes
for several different media in the UK and internationally. David’s first
article on our Guest Writer Page talks about Côtes du Rhône Villages. Read
it here:Guest Writer David Furer
Wine in Luxemburg
It is no doubt one of the smaller wine producers in Europe but there
certainly is wine in Luxemburg. The Mosel river runs through Luxemburg,
close to the border to Germany, and wine is made along the river. It is
mainly white wine, but they also make some sparkling wine. Read more about
Luxemburg wine and the country’s wine producers (including an article by our
new guest writer David Furer) here:
Ambassade de Luxembourg
Prince
Charles chosen to illustrate the new Mouton label
The new vintage of Chateau Mouton Rothschild (2004) will have an
illustration by Prince Charles of the British royal family. The painting is
a watercolour depicting pine trees on the Cap d’Antibes on the French
Riviera. The reason for choosing Prince Charles is that 2004 marks the
centenary of the “entente cordiale” between England and France.
Decanter.com
Calvet sold to Grands Chais
de France
Neither of the two names probably sound very familiar to most people.
Some might recognise Calvet since it is an old Bordeaux négociant. On the
other hand, if you say “JP Chenet” it should ring a bell. Chenet is probably
the biggest selling French wine brand on export – you known, the wine in the
quirky, tilted bottle. And JP Chenet is the main brand produced by Grand
Chais de France. Even if Calvet is steeped in Bordeaux history its recent
life has been troubled and it has already changed hands a few times. Now it
will become part of the biggest French wine producing group (not counting
Champagne), which might give it a bit of stability. The Calvet employees
took the opportunity to stage a strike against the deal.
Decanter.com
Canadians rushes after wine
and food stamps
This
is not a new government food support program. Or in sort it is. The Canadian
Post Office has launched a set of stamps illustrating Canadian wine and
cheese. Five million copies were printed and three quarters of the edition
has already sold out in three months. According to the Canadian Post an
edition usually lasts a year. The stamps were designed by Derwyn Goodall
based on photography by Robert Wigington.
WineBusiness.com and
Canada Post
EU court rules against free
trade in wine
The European Court of Justice ruled against free movement of goods in a
case brought by a Dutch wine buyer. He had bought wine in France (with low
wine taxes) and had them transported by lorry to Holland. The Dutch
authorities had slammed Dutch (higher) taxes on the wine. The EU court ruled
that the unfortunate Dutch consumer indeed had to pay the Dutch taxes. So,
unless you transport the wine yourself you will most likely have to pay the
taxes in the country of destination. (Doesn’t it work in a different way for
e.g. cars?) Importers, trade and governments seemed to be relieved in the UK
and in Sweden where consumers were looking forward to buying cheaper wines
from abroad.
IHT.com
Prices rocket for white
Burgundy at the Hospices de Beaune auction
The
traditional Hospice de Beaune auction is sometimes seen as an indicator of
where prices for Bourgogne wines are heading. That bodes ill for wine lovers
this year. The prices for white Burgundy was on average up 63% compared to
last year, whereas the reds only saw a slight increase. It is the just
finished 2006 vintage that is sold in barrel at the auction. The most
expensive barrel was the Beaune Premier Cru Cuvée Dames Hospitalières, under
the hammer for 200.000 euro (for 228 litre). Even if it is primarily a
charity auction it is often taken as an indicator for commercial prices.
Another factor though might be that the auction is now run by Christie’s
(the London-based auction house) who is putting a lot more energy into
marketing the event than what was done previously.
Decanter.com,
Vitisphere.com and
Reuters
Effervescents du Monde 2006
– the world’s best sparkling wines
”Effervescents du Monde” is a wine competition for sparkling wines from
all over the world. A jury gives medals to the best wines. This year the
Great Gold Medal went to – no one. The “standard” Gold Medal was given to 24
wines from all over the world. Full info on the medal winners here:
www.effervescents-du-monde.com
Times are not good in
Bordeaux
Sure,
there is a small group of Bordeaux producers that fetch stratospheric prices
for their wines – the top estates, some of which raised their prices
recently with a few hundred percent year-on-year… But for many other Claret
producers the reality is less cheerful. A recent study by the Chambre
d’Agriculture de Gironde, based on a sample of 105 producers in
Entre-deux-Mers, shows this: average turnover has decreased 27% in 8 years;
operating income is on average one seventh of what it was then; 36% of the
estates made a loss in 2004/2005; only a quarter of the producers can pay
themselves a salary that exceeds the French SMIC (minimum salary); sold
volume has decreased by 38%. And yet there is much good wine made there!
vitisphere.com
Up – and down – for
Bulgarian wine
In Bulgaria ti looks bright for the wine industry though, according to
official sources at the National Wine and Vine Chamber. Exports over the
first 8 months reached 48 million litres and the end of the year is expected
to produce even stronger export sales. This follows on an increase by 25% in
2005. On the traditional export markets sales fell dramatically though
(France -44%, Great Britain -81%). The new demand comes primarily from
Russia, the Czech Republic and from Asia. According to
cee-foodindustry.com
Canadian ice wine already
harvested
Thanks to unusually cold weather at the end of November, the ice wine
has already been harvested in parts of Canada. On November 26 the
temperature fell to -17 degrees centigrade in Okanaga (British Columbia).
Ice wine is probably Canada’s best know contribution to the wine world. Ice
wine is a very sweet wine made by harvesting frozen grapes. The grapes are
pressed before they can melt and the resulting must is extremely
concentrated and sweet. Apparently you need ten times as much grapes to make
a bottle of ice wine as you do for regular wine. (Read our book review on
the Canadian Wine Atlas below). Read more:
Times Colonist and
pentictonherald.ca
The new Spanish appellation
Vinedos de Espana in trouble
On August 2 a new appellation was approved by Spanish authorities,
called Viñedos de España. Consejo Regulador de Navarra has filed a complaint
in the EU against the name (why this has been done by Navarra is unclear).
According to EU regulations an appellation must refer to a geographic entity
that is smaller than the member country, so the appellation cannot refer to
the whole country. According to reports, the Spanish have referred to VDP du
Jardin de la France as a precedence (which seems a bit silly since that
refers to a sub region of the Loire Valley, in the same way as Ile de France
refers to the region around Paris). To be continued. Read more
vitisphere.com
New AVA: Tracy Hills
American officials have approved a new AVA (American Viticultural Area):
Tracy Hills. Tracy hills covers 39,200 acres (some 20,000 hectares) close to
the city of Tracy in California.
tracypress.com
Languedoc and Roussillon
join together in common appellation
The initiative has now been approved by the INAO: Languedoc (to the
north) and Roussillon (to the south) will join together in a common
appellation under the name AOC Languedoc. We’ll be back with more details
later.
The Burgundy company Boisset
invests in Canada
The
well known Bourgogne négociant Boisset has joined forces with Canada's
biggest wine company, Vincor, to invest in a new venture. It will be the
biggest investment ever by a European wine producer in Niagara, under the
name Le Clos Jordanne. They have plans to build a new winery designed by the
world famous (and already winery drawing) architect Frank Ghery. At the
moment they make wine from bought grapes in rented facilities. They make
both red and white called Le Grand Clos made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
We have, unfortunately, not tasted it.
niagarathisweek.com
New DAC in Austria:
Traisental
Austria has approved a new quality wine area, DAC, which stands for
Districtus Austria Controllatus: Traisental. On 770 hectares they grow
primarily Gruner Veltliner (63%), plus some Riesling and other grapes.
Previously Weinviertel and Mittelburgenlad have been approved as DAC.
Harvest report from Portugal
2006 was very warm and dry in Portugal. The total harvest is expected to
be 6.9 million hectolitres, which is down 4% compared to last year. The
volumes were particularly low in Bairrada, Extremadura and Ribatejo, whereas
in Alentejo the harvest was up 20% compared to last year. Overall a good
quality but with some difficulties due to the hot weather. According to
Vitisphere.com
Keep your eyes open for BKWine's tour to Portugal next year!
►► Go to Portugal
with BKWine!
More info.
New Zealand will get
official wine districts
The New Zealand official control body for wine production, New Zealand
Winegrowers, will start defining the boundaries for the countries wine
regions. This follows a new law, the Geographical Indications (Wine &
Spirits) Act, that requires that so be done. We hope that the discussions
will not be too endless.
RadioNZ
INAO changes shape
From the beginning of next year the INAO (Institut National des
Appellations Contrôlées), the French control body for appellations, will
change shape and responsibilities. To start with they change name to
”Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualité”. However, the keep the
short for INAO! Perhaps the most important change is that it’s
responsibility will be enlarged to include, in addition to the AOC, a number
of other “labels”: IGP (« Indication Géographique de Provenance »), « le
label rouge » (LR), « la spécialité traditionnelle garantie » (STG) and «
l’agriculture biologique » (AB).
Vitisphere.com
Is wine bad for your teeth?
Yes and no, judging from my own experience and from my dentist. If I
taste a lot of wines (especially whites) I certainly have the impression
that it gets to my teeth. Brushing the teeth (or eating something sweet)
after tasting a few hundreds wines is not nice thing. It can feel horrible.
It’s the acid of course. I have also heard people strongly recommend that
you do not brush your teeth after a serious wine tasting because the teeth
defences (the enamel) has been weakened so you risk damaging the teeth. On
the other hand my dentist says that it is an excellent way to keep your
teeth clean. For a more in depth view you can read the two articles on Wines
and Vines
Article 1
Article 2
A (relatively) new press and
media relations service
DrinksMediaWire
(DMW) is a relatively new service for companies in the drinks industry. It
is a specialised press release distribution and communications service. They
have many thousands of journalists and media contacts in their database. Can
be interesting if you are looking for a way to get your message out:
www.drinksmediawire.com
Have a news
item you'd like to see here or have a news tip? Send me an email:
winebrief@bkwine.com
En français
Finnish
Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!
Magnus
& Magnus, Göteborg
We
were particularly interested to receive this book for review since it is a
course book for professional/students and many of our readers work in the
wine or restaurant trade (or hope to be). As soon as you see it it certainly
gives you the impression of being a serious text book: over 500 pages in
large format, and not much “gloss”. The book is written by Americans for
Americans but that doesn’t in anyway diminish its value as a general “wine
course” study book (actually, it hardly shows at all). The coverage is very
balanced, covering all the important wine regions across the world. It
starts with a good overview of the basics: the vineyard, the winery and wine
making technology and about tasting wine. The following chapters go through
the wine regions of the world. But what makes this wine particularly
valuable for the professional are the last few chapters on “the business of
wine”: how better to sell wine in a restaurant, how to manage and develop a
restaurant wine list, and even on how to train the colleagues. Certainly a
book to recommend as a study book for professionals in restaurants and the
wine trade, but also a very good book for the “amateur” who wants a bit more
technology and structure than what you get in the glossy books.
|
|
This
pocket sized book will come in very handy for those who want advice on what
to buy. The whole book is a listing, region by region, of what the author
thinks are the best and most interesting producers across France (including
descriptive comments on the growers and their wines). Friedrich has spent
years criss-crossing France to select the wine makers to be included. Any
list of recommendations is of course up for debate, by definition since it
is a personal choice. But looking at the recommendations for some of the
districts we know particularly well we certainly wouldn’t argue with much of
it, and even could find some new names that sound exciting. Good buy if you
want a pocket size buying guide.
| Amazon.com | AdLibris |
This
is the first book we have read on Canada. And if you want an introduction to
wine in Canada, this is an excellent choice. After a short introduction and
history (and some very recent history!) the author takes you through each of
the wine regions in Canada. In each region the main producers (or perhaps
all?) are profiled, including tasting notes and practical information to
help you plan a visit. The author is one of Canada’s best known wine
writers. Excellent photography by Steven Elphick. If we could have one wish
it would be for better maps… Indispensable if you are going to Canada.
