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Swedish version available here (click this link).
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Welcome to the
BKWine Brief nr 49, August 2007 |
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This is a summer when I
feel very English: always talking about the weather. Will it change or
not? For most people a summer like this year’s is disappointing but for
wine growers it can have much more drastic consequences (as, of course,
it has had for many non-wine growing people in England too). It is still
far from certain if wine growers will face any such dramatic
consequences this year. July has been very cool and rainy in many places
in France, but if August and September turns out a little bit better
there should be no grave consequences. So, let’s hope for the best.
It has become illegal to put Cru Bourgeois on the label in Bordeaux
(read more below). The new Cru Bourgeois classification of 2003 was
annulled and many people thought that they would simply revert to the
old classification from 1932 (still much more recent than the still
valid general Médoc classification of 1855). But no. Let’s hope that the
chateaux have not pre-printed too many labels. And what will happen with
the classification in Saint Emilion? They had a new classification in
2006 that also has been annulled by the courts (after complaints from
some of the chateaux that were not included, just like with the Cru
Bourgeois). And since the “old” classification in St E only was valid
from 1996 to 2006 there is no more any classification on Saint Emilion.
Or?... And what about Pessac-Léognan/Graves? They have been working on a
new classification since a few years back. Will they dare go ahead with
that in the current climate, knowing what it can lead to? We asked some
time ago one of the wine growers in Graves how they would do a
classification. He said that the only real "measure" to base a
classification on is how much the consumers are prepared to pay for the
wines. But for the consumer it is very easy to see how much a wine costs
so why do we then need the classification(s)? Perhaps time to scrap them
altogether?
Being summertime, this month’s Brief is a little bit shorter. But
considering this summer, perhaps it is time to start thinking about next
vacation.
I certainly recommend that you take a look at next year’s first wine
tour, which actually is a wine, truffle and foie gras tour. The final
and official program has just been released. It may sound luxurious, and
that’s exactly what it is. On top of the gastronomic highlights we will
stay at a very nice little chateau-hotel (I’m keeping up the British
theme here – this is an understatement). If this trip won’t brighten up
a dreary February for you nothing will. And I’m happy to say that it is
also at a very affordable price. More info below.
In the last Brief I wrote some comments about wine scoring with some
references to Wine Spectator that had scored the same wine very
differently at two different occasion. Wine Spec’s Executive Editor
Thomas Matthews wanted to clarify a what had actually happened and wrote
us the following note:
“Just a point of
clarification: The wine referred to in the San Francisco Chronicle
article (not WSJ, as cited in the blog) on wine rating, which received
different scores from Wine Spectator in two tastings, was not exactly
the "same wine." It was a Chateau St. Jean Cabernet Sauvignon tasted on
two occasions nearly 10 years apart. It's no wonder it received
different scores -- as wine lovers know, wines change with age, and only
the very best improve over such a long period of time. From our point of
view, the two different scores show the integrity of our evaluation
system, reflecting real differences not necessarily obvious, given the
wine had the same label. I don't argue that wine ratings in themselves
should be the only information wine drinkers use to choose the wines
they decide to buy and enjoy. But using an expert's experience as part
of a personal evaluation seems reasonable. We do it for many goods in
many fields. Why not wine?
Thomas Matthews
Executive editor
Wine Spectator”
If you are curious you can
read what our reply was in the blog here:
http://www.bkwine.com/blog/2007/07/wine-points-pointless.html
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 |
|
 Wine Tours
 | 26-30 September: Côte
d'Or, the heart of Burgundy
Closed.
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| 17-21 October: Portugal –
Alentejo
Closed. |
Spring 2008
program sneak release
|
February 13-17, 2008:
Truffle, wine, duck and foie gras in the south west of France -
luxurious all-inclusive tour
 We
go truffle hunting together with specially trained truffle dogs. We lunch
sumptuously on truffles. We taste the regions wide variety of duck
specialities and even learn to make our own foie gras. And, of course, we
visit several exciting wine producers both in Bordeaux (Saint Emilion) and
in Bergerac.
More info ! |
 Finnish
Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!
 Tours
on the schedule (in Finnish):
| 26.-30. syyskuuta:
Viinimatka Alsaceen
More info here!
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| 17-21
oktober: Portugal – Alentejo |
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.
□
Producers
Mas de Perry, Languedoc
 Geneviève
and Didier Ponson-Nicot and the two children manage this charming family
property just north of Montpellier. Stéphanie, the daughter is responsible
for the wine making and Olivier, the son, for the vineyards. They make a
very good Grenache Blanc-Marsanne cuvée and a very unusual and interesting
on 100% Ugni Blanc – late harvest (but it’s a dry wine) and 3 hectolitres
per hectare… Mas de Perry is probably a domain that we will hear more of in
the future.
Click here for contact details and more recommendations.
 
Domaine Vincent Paris,
Cornas
 Vincent
Paris made his first wine in 1997 and was soon mentioned as one of the
future young stars in Cornas. Now it is perhaps time to remove future.
Vincent’s uncle is the well known producer Robert Michel, maker of some of
the finer Cornas wines, so he has some family traditions to build on. He was
fortunate to inherit some very old vines, which, together with low yields
and a meticulous work in both the vineyard and the winery makes for very
full-bodied and concentrated Syrah wines.
Click here for contact details and more recommendations.
  
Read about more recommended
producers on the site:
Favourite Producers
Read more recommendations on
restaurants and winebars on
my Restaurant and Wine Bar page. |
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News from the Wine World |
Wine in
plastic bottles
Sainsbury’s, the big British retail supermarket chain, will start selling
wine in plastic bottles. One of the arguments is that it will reduce carbon
dioxide emissions. And it is easier to handle for the retail chain too:
lower weight and fewer broken bottles. If all wine in England was packaged
in plastic instead of in glass it would equate to 28,000 fewer cars on the
roads in terms of carbon emissions.
guardian.co.uk
Bag-without-box
Otherwise, the latest packaging innovation is wine in plastic bags. Not
the ones you carry home the bottles in of course. Many people are familiar
with wine packaged in plastic bags: all bag-in-box wines are in reality
package in plastic bags, only the bag is hidden inside the box. Latest
packaging news is to dispense with the box (environmentally friendly!) and
sell the wine in a nicely decorated bag with a tap. Why not?
Machine identifies corked wines
 The
restaurant Latour in new Jersey, has developed a machine (in collaboration
with UC Davis) that can identify if a wine is corked or not – without
opening the bottle! The machine takes a sample of the air around the cork
and the capsule and detects traces of TCA. Much like some airport security
machines can detect explosives through air sampling in your bag.
winespectator.com
The EU wine reform
In early July the EU launched its proposal for reform of the wine
sector. Today large amounts of money are spent on various measures, that may
not always improve the competitiveness of the wine industry, for example
financing distillation of wine that no one wants to buy. The proposal has of
course generated a lot of reaction from the main wine producing countries in
the EU, but perhaps less violent reactions than could have been expected.
Mariann Fischer Boel is on a tour of Europe to promote her proposal. We will
come back to the proposed measures when we’ve had a closer look.
beveragedaily.com
The main themes in the EU reform
 Until
then, here are the main themes of the reform:
- abolition of market management measures (e.g. “crisis” distillation)
- ban on sugar for enrichment (chaptalisation)
- grub up 200,000 hectares
- end planting restriction (by 2013)
- allow more (generally accepted) oenological practices, e.g. oak chips
- better labelling rules
- national financial envelopes (with national control)
- more marketing budget
More details on the reform here.
Dutch wine threaten by EU reform?
Dutch wine growers are worried that the proposed ban on adding sugar to
the must will make it impossible to make wine in Holland. Virtually all wine
made in Holland is chaptalised, since the vines themselves don’t produce
enough sugar in the grapes this far north, according to Dik Beker from the
Dutch Winegrowers Guild. But perhaps one can wonder why one should make wine
at all in a place where the vines cannot ripen enough naturally… Oh, you
didn’t know there was wine made in the Netherlands to start with. There are
135 growers who produce 800,000 litres of wine annually. We have tasted it…
RadioNetherlands.nl
Record early harvest in Italy too
The very warm weather, already early in the year, has led to that an
exceptionally early harvest is expected – the earliest harvest for 30 years.
Early ripening grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio) will be harvested already
at the beginning of August, and late harvesting varieties (Cabernet,
Nebbiolo) will be harvested in September and not in the customary October.
wantedinrome.com
Wine making as in roman times
 An
American wine producer has started making wine in huge terracotta amphorae –
the way wine was made in roman times it is said. It is Del Dotto Winery in
St Helena that has invested in earthenware instead of stainless steel, to
get an added historical touch for the wines. 6000 cases are made.
winesandvines.com
(PS: We can perhaps add that also Domaine Viret in the Rhône valley
experiments with making wine in terracotta amphora (picture).)
Bordeaux named World Heritage Site by Unesco
 Large
parts of the city of Bordeaux has been given World Heritage status by
Unesco. It is primarily the old city centre and its river-facing facades
that have been honoured. The city has for several years been undergoing
massive restorations which have given the old city a new lustre and life.
unesco.org and also
decanter.com ”Cru
Bourgeois” banned
The latest chapter in the classification carrousel in Bordeaux: DGCCRF
(“La Fraude”), the French administration responsible for counteracting fraud
(and other things), has issued a decreed to the effect that it is no longer
allowed to use the name “Cru Bourgeois”. This follows on the court decision
earlier this year that annulled the new Cru Bourgeois classification (se
earlier Brief). In other words, we will no longer see “Cru Bourgeois” on the
labels. It is likely to take effect for wines from the 2006 or 2007 harvest.
decanter.com But
”Cru Bourgeois” will perhaps rise again
So it is forbidden to use the classification Cru Bourgeois. What to do?
Why not create a “label” that could be called “Label Cru Bourgeois”? Then it
wont be a classification but simply a label. Well, that is at least what the
producers’ union (the owners of the Cru Bourgeois) are proposing, according
to Frederique de Lamothe. She says further, according to Decanter, “we still
need some mark of quality to reassure consumers”… Is this perhaps what the
English call “smoke and mirrors”? What about letting the consumers decided
for themselves what is quality and what is not? Too daring perhaps.
decanter.com The
World’s best Tempranillo
 More
and more grape varieties get their own competition. This year is the third
for Tempranillo. The judgment took place in Shanghai (!) at the end of June.
Two Great Gold Medals were Awarded: Carmelo Rodero TSM 2005 Bodegas Rodero,
Ribera del Duero and Amarén 2002 Bodegas Luis Cañans, Rioja.
enologo.com/tempranillo/ and the results can be found here:
http://www.enologo.com/tempranillo/awards2007.pdf
Wanted: Stolen wines
We’ve had a report of stolen wines that the owner would very much like
to get back: “”2 Double Magnums Latour 1982, 9 Magnums Latour 1982, 12
bottles 1982 Latour, 12 bottles Margaux 1986, 3 Magnums Lafite 1986,
Richebourg DRC 1988 1 Magnum, Comtes Champagne Taittinger 1973 rose 2
bottles Romanee Conti 2003 1 bottle La Tache 2003 DRC 1 bottle Montrachet
2003 DRC 1 bottle Quinta Noval Nacional 1963 1 bottle Talbot 1982 3 bottles
and so on”. If anyone would happen to offer you such wines for sale contact
us and we will forward to the thirsty owner. 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 |
| No new book
reviews this month but don't forget that we have a whole section on the web
site dedicated to book reviews and recommendations. See below.
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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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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1/10, Stockholm, Spanish Wine
Fair,
spanskaviner.se
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3/10, Göteborg, Spanish Wine
Fair,
spanskaviner.se
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13/10, 2007, Östersund:
Munskänkarna's wine fair
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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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Share with other wine enthusiasts
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 Copyright
©
Britt Karlsson, BKWine
www.bkwine.com
info@bkwine.com
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