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Swedish version available here (click this link).
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Welcome to the
BKWine Brief nr 45, April 2007 |
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Some misconceptions and
misunderstandings
- “When it comes to budget wines, France is way behind.”
Perhaps that is true when it comes to the really, really budget level
wines – the ones that we wouldn’t even think of recommending in the
Brief. Otherwise it’s not really true. There are plenty of wines made by
inspired winemakers around France that cost far from a fortune. The
difficulty is that they are often small produces, with not much of a
marketing budget and that will therefore never reach supermarket
shelves. On the other hand – you as reader of the BKWine Brief already
have a good route to find them…
- “An open bottle of wine gets spoiled in a few days.”
(Perhaps you should count yourself lucky if there's still something in
it.) Well, it depends on what kind of wine it is. Yes, if it is that
very old and fragile wine that has been lying in the cellar for ages,
then I would certainly recommend not to save it too long opened. On the
other hand, if it is a “normal” bottle of wine it will keep very well
for quite some time. Put a cork in the open bottle and put it in the
fridge. Or if you want to be extra careful, pour it into a smaller
bottle. It will survive well into the next weekend (well, can’t take any
responsibility for if you finish it before that).
- “The wine we ordered in the restaurant wasn’t very nice so we sent
it back.”
Sure. It can happen. But it is very rare. The only reason to send a wine
back in a restaurant is that it is faulty. It’s not a question of if you
don’t quite like it or if it wasn’t what you expected. The only valid
reason to send it back is that it’s defective. And then – if you order
an odd or a really old wine you, as a buyer, have to expect that it
might be tired or strange, which also means that it’s not a valid reason
to send the wine back.
Special offer 1:
Portugal
Portugal has developed into a very exciting wine country. That’s why we
do one more wine tour to Portugal this year. Just in time for that trip
a new book on wine and food from Portugal will hit the shelves. It’s The
Wine & Food Lover's Guide to Portugal written by Charles Metcalfe
(ex-editor and co-founder of Wine International) and his wife Kathryn
who have written it. In co-operation with Charles we are happy to be
able to offer to the readers of the BKWine Brief to buy the book at a
preferential price directly from Metcalfe. Let us know if you are
interested and you will get the book delivered as soon as it is off the
presses (Sep/Oct). And we hope that you’ll come on the Portugal tour
too! (But the book offered is open to anyone who’s interested – you
don’t have to come on the tour.)
(But don't forget the
Burgundy trip that also is scheduled for this autumn. It promises to
be very interesting!)
Special offer 2: Bettane-Dessauve’s Tast
As I mentioned in the last Brief, in collaboration with Bettane &
Dessauve we can also offer a one year subscription to the “Tast”
newsletter published by two of France’s leading wine tasters. To readers
of the BKWine Brief they offer a discounted subscription price of 55€
(instead of 80€); more than 30% discount. Use the promotional code
BKW07.
Click here for more info. Or you can follow this link to download
the sample issue TAST #11 (2 MB pdf).
Vote for
the BKWine Brief
 Please
continue voting for the Brief on the blog ranking on LocalWineEvents. We
would be delighted to move up a few more notches. You are allowed one
vote per DAY, so even if you have already voted you can vote again. (You
have to click “vote for this blog” on the page you come to when clicking
on the button right.
Britt
PS: Recommend to your
friends to read the Brief or forward it to them ! |
All images are clickable!
All previous
issues of the Brief are here:
Archive |
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News from BKWine |
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 Wine Tours
 |
 June
6-10: Bordeaux
For a wine lover a trip to Bordeaux is a must! Here you find world famous
châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives
(less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux!) and
young enthusiastic wine makers.
More info
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| 26-30 September: Côte
d'Or, the heart of Burgundy
 Over the course of a long weekend we will take a close look at the heart
of Burgundy: la Côte d’Or de Bourgogne, the Golden Slope of Burgundy. Our
visits will give you expert insight into the important aspects of Burgundy
wines: soil, geology, viticulture, and vinification.
More info!
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| 17-21 October: Portugal –
Alentejo
Portugal have been making great strides in improving wine quality over the
last decade and the Alentejo region is one of the most dynamic (albeit one
of the least known). There are many ambitious wine makers in the region,
both traditional Portuguese "houses" and modern ventures. And this is also
where you find the vast Portuguese cork oak forests and the delicious Pata
Negra ham.
More info! |
 Finnish
Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!
 Tours
on the schedule (in Finnish):
You can find the pictures on
www.bkwine.com/wine_pictures/photo_galleries.htm |
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Recommendations |
| A selection of
what we have tried, tasted or visited recently. □ Wine
Bars and Restaurants
Paris:
15cent15, Hôtel Marignan
Champs Elysées, Paris
Hôtel Marignan Champs-Elysées is a new luxury boutique hotel in central
Paris. The main restaurant in the hotel is Spoon by the fabled chef Alain
Ducasse and they recently opened a “lounge”, this oh-so-trendy concept in
the restaurant world today. The lounge, called 15cent15, also run by Ducasse,
is a good place to have a less ambitious lunch in a relaxed and comfortable
setting with a definite “club” feeling. Lunch dishes cost between 15 and 25
euro and there’s an interesting selection. For example, a wonderfully
succulent salmon tartar (18 euro) or a foie gras poëlé (very quickly fried
foie gras – 16 euro). In the evening the 15cent15 transforms into a tapas
bar with a wide choice from 5 euro. The wine list has a few interesting
wines by the glass (could be more), e.g. a white Côtes-du-Rhône from Domaine
Perrin (of Beaucastel fame) that is very nice, nutty and herbal. Perhaps
they could overall have been a bit less traditional in their wine selection.
There are not really any nice and imaginative surprises – more safe bets.
And why does a boutique hotel choose as a house champagne one from the huge
co-operative Nicolas Feuillatte…?
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Read more recommendations on
restaurants and winebars on
my Restaurant and Wine Bar page. |
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News from the Wine World |
Cote de Duras
Parisians love the accent of the wine growers in Duras in south-western
France. To make a sure success of a marketing campaign for products from the
region – bring up a native, they seem to think. So this year we will
probably see a lot of Durassiens (?) in Paris. It is the 70th anniversary
since they received their appellation Contrôlée. Nevertheless, it is a
rather little know district, but this they intend to change. The Duras wines
will of course be the leading stars in the promotions but they will also
feature other local gastronomic products, for example the famous ‘pruneaux
d’Agen’ (dried plums). More info (on the unfortunately not very up-to-date
site in English - the French version is more informative):
www.cotesdeduras.com
The “original” Malbec travels to South America
Not surprisingly the Compagnie France Malbec is located in Cahors where
the main grape variety is – Malbec. Ghislaine Baltenweck and her husband
owns a small vineyard, but their main activity is a ‘négoce’ where they buy
grapes from 400 other producers and sell mainly on export. They make three
different wines, Impernal, Le Paradis and Malbec de France - Plant du Roy.
Their main market in South America and China! There’s already a big “local”
production of Malbec in South America – it’s one of the main grapes in
Argentina – but the Baltenwecks hope to convince the consumers that “the
original” is worth trying, even if they admit that Cahors is still not very
well known internationally. For the Cuvée Malbec de France-Plant du Roy they
have designed the bottle with an original orange coloured label and capsule,
apparently specifically to attract female Brazilian consumers. The wine is
quaffable but very well structured – it is after all a 100% Malbec.
Taste Bordeaux 1949
 A
little envelope arrived the other day. An invitation to a wine tasting of
’49 Bordeaux. Eleven wines: Cheval Blanc, Lafleur, Pétrus, Latour, Lafite,
Mouton, Montrose, La Mission,… Nice, we thought, so we checked the agenda
for May 11. No problem. Oh, need to check the price. Ah, 2,900 euro. Yes,
that’s right. But then it includes a two star dinner at Carré de Feuillant
of course. And VAT. If any of you is interested I can make my seat
available. More info:
www.christies.com
Wines from the Balkans
 First,
we have made a big picture update on the site with lots of pictures from
vineyards and wineries in the Balkans: Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, and
Bosnia-Herzegovina:
www.bkwine.com/wine_pictures/photo_galleries.htm
You can read more about Balkan
wines in Business Week that recently had an article on Balkan wines called
Make Mine a Macedonian Wine (with the added benefit that they interviewed
and quote BKWine in the article):
businessweek.com
Wine from Myanmar
More unusual wine destinations: Myanmar, or as it used to be called, Burma,
has it’s first vineyard. It’s a German business man who have planted grapes
in this isolated country. The area is said to be resembling the landscape in
Tuscany and the vineyard is planted with various varieties, including
Sauvignon Banc and Moscato. We have not yet tasted the wine… (On the other
hand, it might also be a question of if you really want to drink wine from
this strange country.)
CNN.com
Latest news on the catwalk:
clothes from wine; or wet-tshirt-competition as an art form
An Australian researcher has developed a “textile” from wine. If you
leave wine in an open container a film develops on the surface. In a similar
way the “Micro’be” textile is produced. It still has a few production and
utilisations issues though: it smells bad and it has to be kept wet so as
not to crack (that though, some might argue, is perhaps an advantage). “Wine
ware” has already had it’s premiere on the Paris catwalk.
bioalloy.org and
cnn.com
Vinho Verde – distance
learning
Would you be interested in learning more about the Portuguese Vinho Verde?
Then you can take the e-course on this Portuguese wine that has just been
launched by the Vinho Verde institute in cooperation with a local university
and the Minho region. It’s all internet based and the course finishes with
an exam and a diploma. The only odd thing, perhaps, is that you actually
have to pay a fee to participate in this otherwise clever marketing
promotion. More info:
vinhoverde.pt/eLearnVerde
Feminine wine?
 Marketing
ploy? For sure. But we find it quite interesting how people try and be
creative to stand out a bit from the crowd, so we’re glad to offer these
‘ployers’ some space in the Brief. For the international women’s day Yvon
Mau, a big Bordeaux négociant, assembled a jury of women wine personalities
(sommeliers, oenologists, writers,…). The task of this all-female jury was
to select wine for a new cuvée that Mau will launch called “Premius au
Féminin”. We have not tasted the wine unfortunately, but at least Mau
(Jean-François, the current generation) seems to be enjoying himself at the
centre of the jury. Who knows, next year BKWine might even get to
participate in the selection…?
”Les 5 Côtes” – and then
there were 4...
 Schizophrenia
is a common affliction when it comes to reasoning around French wine rules
and regulations. Yes, you want to cooperate with your neighbouring regions
better to promote the wine, and yes you want to have as small and specific
(and obscure) appellations as possible. An unusual initiative was when
recently five Bordeaux “côtes” appellations (Côtes de Castillon, de Francs,
de Blaye, de Bourg and Premières Côtes de Bordeaux) joined forces in view of
uniting the five appellations into one with the name Côtes du Bordeaux –
easier for the consumer to recognize perhaps. Harmony is no longer – Bourg
has pulled out of the collaboration because they did not like the idea that
they would no longer have their Côte de Bourg AC, even if they would be
allowed to add the name to the new AC (Bourg-Côtes de Bordeaux). Who’s next?
As reported in
vitisphere.com
St Emilion classification
annulled
 Just
as we speculated in the last Brief the new classification of Saint Emilion
has been declared invalid by a court in Bordeaux. Like the precedent (the
Cru Bourgeois classification whose cancellation we reported last month) the
court has judged that the panel who defined the classification was partial:
it included representatives for (or advisors to) the estates that were at
the same time subject to the decision. Seven chateaux that had been excluded
had taken this issue to court. In the French system it is actually quite
common that producers judge their own and their neighbours’ wine, e.g. in
the agreement tastings for appellations. So even in this case we should
perhaps ask – who’s next?
Wine Business International,
journee-vinicole.com, and
decanter.com
Château La Tour Haut Brion
ceases production
The wine Château La Tour Haut Brion will no longer be produced. The wine
has a history traced back to the Middle Ages when it was called La Tour de
Rostaing. Today it is owned by Château Haut-Brion (Domaine Clarence Dillon).
The vineyard is 5 hectares. In the future the wine will instead be used for
Ch La Mission Haut-Brion’s second wine La Chapelle de La Mission Haut Brion
and perhaps later in the La Mission itself. Another illustration of how the
Bordeaux classification system is actually more a classification of brand
names and not of vineyards…
decanter.com
Montenegro joins OIV
 The
new republic of Montenegro (previously part of Yugoslavia) has joined the
OIV, Office International de la Vigne et du Vin, the international wine
bureau (the cooperation organisation for wine producing countries).
Montenegro has a good potential to become a new tourist destination, with a
beautiful coast and impressive mountain ranges, which will no doubt drive
wine consumption and production. BKWine had the pleasure to visit Montenegro
and its vineyards last year – you can see some more pictures from the
country and the vineyards here.
bkwine.com/wine_pictures/
New AVA: Snake River in
Idaho
On April 9 Snake River Valley will officially become an AVA, American
Viticultural Area. Snake River Valley is in the state of Idaho(!) and covers
a total of some 21,400 square kilometres. The area is described as high
altitude, cool desert. But there’s only some 30 wine producers in the whole
state though, with a vineyard area of around 1800 acres (730 hectares). That
brings the total number of AVAs to 236.
pr-inside.com
Altia signs agreement with
Constellation
Altia Corporation is one of the Nordic region’s biggest wine and spirits
importers in the Nordic region. It is owned by the Finnish government. The
state owned company is probably better known under various of its operating
subsidiaries: Philipson & Söderberg, Bibendum, Premium Wines, Strøm, etc.
Altia has just signed a new cooperation agreement with Constellation Brands,
the world’s biggest wine 7 spirits company, to represent them on the Nordic
market. The Constellation portfolio includes many well known brands: Hardys,
Banrock Station, Ravenswood, Robert Mondavi, Paul Masson, Talus and Nobilo...
But can’t help wondering why the Finnish state should run such businesses…
Have a news
item you'd like to see here or have a news tip? Send me an email:
winebrief@bkwine.com |
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Book Reviews |
The Art &
Science of Wine
By James Halliday & Hugh Johnson
Mitchell Beazley – new edition of a classic
 Don’t
be put of by the title. It is not an overly technical or scientific book.
The two authors – giants in the world of wine writing – are a guarantee that
it is a good and informative read. After reading the book you will have a
very good understanding of wine, wine growing and wine making. You might not
be an expert winemaker, but there are schools for that. The book is split in
three sections: In the Vineyard, In the Winery, and In the Bottle. Starting
with things like terroir and irrigation, over winemaking techniques for
different types and styles of wines, to what makes wine age and the very
topical subject of wine closures – this book will give you a lot of insight.
It’s actually quite a unique book – no other wine book explains the
technical details behind winemaking in such an enjoyable form. Certainly
very worth reading.
Buy the book:
Amazon.co.uk |
Amazon.com The Wine Atlas of Australia
By James Halliday
Mitchell Beazley
 A
must if you are hooked on Australian wine. It’s a back-breaker of a book,
over 300 pages in large format, but it covers virtually all there is to know
about Australian wine. Each chapter is dedicated to a region, starting with
a map and a a general introduction (climate, grape varieties, soil etc).
then comes a selection of the most important (all?) producers in the region.
This section also includes a lot of useful travel information: address
(including web address), tasting possibility, if the winery has a restaurant
etc. The book is beautifully illustrated with plenty of pictures. As I said,
a heavyweight from the southern hemisphere.
Buy the book:
Amazon.co.uk |
Amazon.com
Rare Malts, Facts, Figures
and Taste
By Ulf Buxrud
Quiller Publishing
 Initially,
I was a bit hesitant. Is it more of a promotional book? – All whiskeys come
from the same company, Diageo and their “Rare Malts Selection”. Then I said
to myself, if you can write a book about, say, Château Margaux, why not
about an outstanding whiskey producer? So, shedding my hesitation, the book
is a fascinating read: a long list of whisky distilleries are described and
their whiskies tasted and commented. Some of the distilleries no longer
exist so to book is also in sorts an historical account. All written by Ulf
Buxrud who is an exceptional whisky enthusiast. The illustrations are
perhaps not always up to par, and I’d happily remove some of the pictures of
bottles and bottle boxes and have space for some more illustrations of the
places and environments, but I might be nitpicking. To read and to savour
for the dedicated whisky lover.
Buy the book:
Amazon.co.uk |
Amazon.com
How to build and start your
own wine cellar
By Chris Miley
Redwine Publications,
www.redwinepublications.com,
www.winecellarsecrets.com
An ebook (pdf) on wine cellars. It actually includes some general wine and
wine history sections but most of it about how to build a wine cellar. It’s
not quite a DIY manual of how to build it. Rather it is a collection of tips
and recommendations on things you should think of and things that are
important for a wine cellar. For example, there’s a chapter on cooling units
and how to choose a good one. A short but useful ebook if you want some
inspiration for building your cellar.
Don’t forget
that we have a whole section on the site with reviews and recommendations of
good wine and food books. Pages full of inspiration for the wine and food
lover:
the book shelf.
Click here for more book reviews on my site. You will also
find links to on-line book shops on that page. |
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Link Tips |
Some wine sites
that you might enjoy visiting:
| Marquis de Griñon – a
technology savvy wine producer:
CNN.com |
Send us suggestions on sites to
be included here:
winebrief@bkwine.com |
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Agenda |
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- -
France:
- -
Sweden:
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4-6/9, Gothenburg:
Wine & Spirtis Expo
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15/9, Malmo: Prowine wine show,
www.prowine.se
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13/10, 2007, Östersund:
Munskänkarna's wine fair, glenn (at) makenzius (dot) se (NEW)
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- - UK,
Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark,...:
Wine auction
agendas:
Something we've missed? Send us suggestions for events to be added here:
winebrief@bkwine.com |
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Post Scriptum |
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 Copyright
©
Britt Karlsson, BKWine
www.bkwine.com
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