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Swedish version available here (click this link).
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Welcome to the
BKWine Brief nr 51, October 2007 |
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Most early forecasts for
this year’s harvest has been moderate to pessimistic. A summer that has
been in many places not very warm (to say the least) and humid has not
meant ideal weather for the grapes. But – you should never cry foul too
early. Since the beginning of September the weather has generally been
very nice: sunshine, not much rain and good temperatures. This has given
the grapes the extra push at the end to reach excellent maturity in good
health and most wine growers we have talked with recently have sounded
optimistic, or even very optimistic. A few week’s good weather at the
end of the season can make a big difference. But… never cash in before
the deal is done. Last week we were in Bordeaux. The weather was
splendid and the early ripening Merlot grapes were being brought in.
Cabernet ripens later and still needs a few weeks on the vines. And what
happens? At the end of the week the weather unexpectedly changes and we
get rain (the grower we visited say “I finished harvesting Merlot last
night”…). If it is a short shower it won’t be a problem but if it keeps
raining until the Cabernets are ready to be harvested it won’t be too
good… Fortunately, the weather forecast mainly predicts good weather.
Perhaps the wisest thing to do for a wine grower is to say like
Catherine Papon Nouvel at Château Gaillard: “I don’t worry about the
weather. If I did I’d be a nerve wreck. The weather isn’t my
responsibility and I can do nothing about it. What I do worry about is
what happens in the vineyard and in the wine cellar. That’s my
responsibility!”
BKWine in print
If you’re curious to know a bit more about BKWine (and the story of how
I created it) you should take a look at Sterling Airways’ in-flight
magazine Sterling Magazine. In the latest issue they have an article on
me called
Living Abroad: Paris Uncorked
BKWine on radio
I was recently “subject to” (it almost felt like that) a radio
appearance too. Lynn Krielow Chamberlain, “The Wine Fairy” (www.winefairy.com)
on Wine and Dine Radio interviewed me about the upcoming Truffles, Foie
Gras and Wine tour. You can listen to the interview
here on Wine and Dine Radio. I explain about the tour, about
truffles and some other things.
BKWine on TV
Or at least almost. We have started to experiment with videos:
interviews with wine makers, vineyard visits and more. You can find the
very first experiments on our YouTube Channel:
www.youtube.com/bkwine. More will come. (Don’t be too harsh on us.
It’s our very first adventure into moving pictures. But we’d love to
hear your feedback!)
Spring wine tours
Do take a look at the spring 2008 program below. Two exciting tours on
the schedule at the moment.
At the moment we’re almost constantly on the road (wine travel
‘oblige’). Therefore this Brief is a bit shorter. We’ll be back later in
the autumn with the usual producer recommendations, restaurant and book
reviews and more. Including of course new finds from our travel.
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
Spring 2008
program:
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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 !
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June 11-15:
Champagne, Chablis and Burgundy. 3 Classical French wine regions!
030806-2-k082-0035This trip will take you from Paris to three of the most
famous French wine regions: Champagne, Chablis and Burgundy. In just a few
days you will get to taste and learn about some of the top French wines!
More info. |
 Finnish
Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!
 Tours
on the schedule (in Finnish):
| 17-21
oktober: Portugal – Alentejo |
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News from the Wine World |
Languedoc
launches October campaign in Scandinavia – events for importers
 The
Languedoc region and the label wines from “South of France” is launching a
campaign in Scandinavia to find more importers. They organise tastings and
presentations in the four Scandinavian capitals in October:
- Stockholm, 8 October, Sheraton Hotel
- Oslo, 9 October, Grand Hotel
- Helsinki, 10 October, Hilton Strand
- Copenhagen, 11 October, Hotel d'Angleterre
This will be followed by two days in Montpellier (Languedoc) on October 26
and 27 where importers will have the opportunity to meet the producers and
visit the vineyards.
More information on their site. Or contact Katharina Dopke: 00 33 1 41
86 41 36, email: fia-[at]-adhes.com.
PS: May we mention that we (BKWine) are just publishing a new book on
Languedoc wines? More info here:
http://languedocboken.wordpress.com/english/
Small harvest in Italy
Italy expects to make the smallest harvest for 50 years, partially due to
bad weather in the south. In the south there has been frequent rain which
has cause diseases in the vineyards reducing the yield. In the north, the
weather has in contrast been very hot. It is expected that this will lead to
rising prices on Italian wines.
AP
Super premium tasting
 In
the US they categorise wines according to quality (price) level. The top
category is Super Premium (or is it Super Super Premium?). The upcoming wine
seminar at Sotheby’s could perhaps be labelled a super premium tasting
albeit without American wines. Seven vintages of Château Margaux (back to
1983, including 2000 and 1990) and two of Pavillon Rouge. The tasting is led
by Serena Sutcliffe, great Bordeaux connoisseur and director at Sotheby’s.
Date: November 21 in London. Price: £375. Contact
rebecca.frawley-at-sothebys.com for more info.
This months indispensable
wine gadget: The key to Pontet Canet
 It
is of course a USB key – a computer memory with a 1GB capacity. The key has
the shape of a bottle from Château Pontet-Canet (Pauillac, Bordeaux). On the
key there is a wealth of information about Pontet-Canet, including tasting
notes, as well as a computer program to manage your wine cellar. Price: €33.
We have not had the occasion to test it…
www.bewineconnected.com
Virtual wine course
Berry Bro:s & Rudd is perhaps the world’s oldest wine merchant, founded
in 1698. It is headquartered in London at the same address as where it was
originally started: 3 St James’s Street. This venerable heritage does not
prevent BBR from being one of the most forward-thinking and technology savvy
merchants, e.g. with an unusually contents rich and user friendly site (www.bbr.com).
they have just launched a “virtual wine course”, a series of six videos to
introduce you to wine. The series is hosted by Rebecca Lamont, head of their
wine school. The wine course is available both on BBR’s site (www.bbr.com/virtualwineschool)
and on their
YouTube-channel.
PS: Don’t miss that BKWine also has a YouTube wine video channel:
www.youtube.com/bkwine
BBR Fine Wine Blog
Not content with launching a virtual wine course BBR continues with a
Fine Wine Blog written by various BBR staff. Some headlines from the first
posts: “Biodynamic Wine Production – hocus-pocus or genuine?” and
“Champagne; too successful by half?” Seems interesting to follow what it
will turn into and seems not too focussed on just selling their wines.
http://bbrblog.com/
Five bottles of cognac per
second – a new sales record
Sales of cognac reached a new record last year: 160 million bottles,
which is the largest volume ever since the appellation was created in 1936.
Sounds like good news from a region that otherwise seems hard hit by
competition from whiskey and more “trendy” drinks. Sales were up 9.3% (and
+16.4 in the Far East). It is to a large extent the consumption of cognac as
an aperitif (in mixed drinks) that is driving the progression.
More harvest news: great
year for Châteauneuf-du-Pape
 The
summer has been exceptionally sunny and windy in Châteauneuf (as opposed to
some regions further north). They have had a bit of rain during the harvest
but it has not caused any serious problems (it was rather welcome after the
very dry summer). The producers’ federation expects it to be an outstanding
vintage (following on the also very good 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006). As
Marc Perrin at Château de Beaucastel says: “The weather is fantastic. Very
sunny and very windy. The grapes are very healthy and if things continue
this way, 2007 will be a great vintage in the Southern Rhône.”
New information source on
Alsace
The Swedish wine enthusiast Per Warfvinge fell in love with Alsace wines
and created a very interesting site on Alsatian wines, unfortunately only
available in Swedish. After no doubt substantial work he has now translated
the whole site to English. A gold mine for he who looks for information on
Alsace:
http://www.alsace-wine.net/
Sweden’s first Master of
Wine
Ulf Sjödin became Sweden’s first Master of Wine. His normal day job
(when not working on the MW exam) is marketing manager at V&S Wine, the wine
division of the government owned wine importer and spirits producer V&S
Group. After three years hard work he passed the three hurdles: the
practical exam (read: wine tasting), the theoretical exam and a paper to be
written on an individually chosen subject (Ulf chose, not surprisingly, to
write on wine pricing in Sweden). Congratulations! More info on MW here:
http://www.masters-of-wine.org/
Wine films and wine
photography festival
 The
International Grape and Wine Film Festival is a competition for films about
wine, e.g. informational videos. It also includes a competition for wine
photography. Several different prices are give by the jury. The Jury’s
Special Trophy went to Joëlle for a film called Le Sang du la Vigne (the
blood of the wine). The winner of the photo competition, on the theme
‘gestes de vignerons’, was Christian Watier. Here's the full list:
winning entries Here are some
samples of the competing photos. We may perhaps add that one of the
BKWine contributions can be seen in the top left corners! And also that you
can find our own wine videos here www.youtube.com/bkwine
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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Agenda |
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France:
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Sweden:
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3/10, Göteborg, Spanish Wine
Fair,
spanskaviner.se
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8/10, Stockholm:
Presentation of Languedoc wines to importers,
FIA
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13/10, 2007, Östersund:
Munskänkarna's wine fair
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- - UK,
Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark,...:
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15/9, Copenhagen:
Rhône festival,
www.rhonevinfestival.dk |
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21-23/9 Mosel, Rheingau, Nahe:
VDP auctions ,
www.vdp.de |
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9/10, Oslo: Presentation of
Languedoc wines to importers,
FIA
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10/10, Helsinki: Presentation of
Languedoc wines to importers,
FIA
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11/10, Copenhagen: Presentation
of Languedoc wines to importers,
FIA
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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
info@bkwine.com
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