Japanese wine
to be sold in Europe
Shizen, Cuvée Denis Dubourdieu 2006 is the first (we are told) Japanese wine
to be sold in Europe. It is made from the Japanese grape variety Koshu and
will be available in the United Kingdom, at the one-star restaurant Umu in
London. The name? Well, Denis Dubourdieu is a famous Bordeaux based
oenologist and consultant who has advised the producers.
vinimarket.com
World’s most extensive (?) wine bar selection opens in Finland
Wine
& View is a new wine bar at the Helsinki airport who claim to be the world’s
only wine bar with over 1000 fine wines available to taste by the glass.
Some examples: Chateau Pétrus 1975, Chambertin 1961, or a vintage port from
1864… (don’t even dare to think of what they might cost) They also have more
“normal” wines to taste, both from Europe and the New World. And even from
China. Open from 6 AM (!) to 8 PM, Mondays to Saturdays at gate 28,
sspfinland.fi.
French wine exports growing
2007
was a good year for French wine exports. In value, exports grew y 7.7% and
in volume by 2.9%. The total value (including vermouth and spirits) reached
9.5 bn euro (2006: 8.9 bn, 2005: 8.0 bn, 2004: 7.7 bn), compared with a more
modest import number of 1.3 bn euro. Wine represents 70% of the exports but
only 40% of the imports. Burgundy recorded the highest growth (+21%)
followed by sparkling wines and champagne (+10%), and Rhône (+9.1%). Last
place was given to Beaujolais (-8.5%). The biggest export markets:
1. Great Britain (1 437 M€)
2. USA (1081 M€)
3. Germany (622 M€)
4. Belgium (574 M€)
5. Japan (382 M€)
6. The Netherlands (338 M€)
(Source : Ubifrance)
Wine auctions in Holland
One more wine auction house can be found in Holland. They are called
Winefield’s Auctioneers and are located in Amsterdam. They have four
auctions every year.
www.winefield.nl. And they also do wine education (e.g. WSET courses).
Vineyard technology:
micro-climate monitoring
Grape Networks is a California based company that has developed a
solution for wireless monitoring of the microclimate in vineyards. You
install a number of sensors in the vineyard that collect environmental
parameters. These are then transmitted wireless to an analysis application
and can then be accessed from any standard computer. The benefits are an
improved water management (e.g. to reduce irrigation), better control over
chemical use and less wasted resources. More info:
GrapeNetworks.com (One could have thought that they might use Banyan
Vines but that is hardly the case…)
Greener wines? – two new
papers
Environmental
issues are very much in vogue today, not least in wine. The American
Association of Wine Economists have just published two new papers in on the
subject: ”Eco-Labeling Strategies: The Eco-Premium Puzzle In The Wine
Industry” by Magali A. Delmas and Laura E. Grant, and ”Ceago Vinegarden: How
Green Is Your Wine? Environmental Differentiation Strategy Through
Eco-Labels” by Magali A. Delmas, Vered Doctori-Blass and Kara Shuster. Both
are available (free) on the AWE web site in the Working Papers” section:
wine-economics.org
Less green house gases with
the right tools?
Californian,
New Zeeland, South African and Australian winemakers’ associations in
collaboration with Provisor Pt Ltd have developed a tool to analyse the
green house gas emissions from wineries. The tool is based on an Excel
spreadsheet file and helps the wine producer analyse the emissions in three
groups: 1. Direct emissions (from tractors, heating/cooling equipment etc);
2. Indirect emissions from purchased electricity, gas and such like; and 3.
Indirect emissions from other sources (packaging, external transports etc.).
The tool is free (but we don’t know if it is reserved for Californian
producers) and is, according to the information, easy to use to give the
winemaker a better picture of the greenhouse gas emissions. More
information:
wineinstitute.org or
foodweek.com.au. You can also download the tool directly from the
Winemaker Association of Australia
wfa.org.au
Al Gore speaks on wine,
global warming and climate in Barcelona
Well,
that’s what was the intention and what was announced. Unfortunately it
turned out that he was in Barcelona, for the conference on wine and climate
change, only thanks to a satellite link from Kentucky. He praised the wine
industry as having taken some admirable initiatives to reduce emissions but
still stressed that there is much left to do. We wouldn’t have expected
anything less, would we? Read more:
Decanter.com. Or
watch Al Gore’s presentation here.
Weighty arguments against
fat bottles
Two wine heavy weights, Jancis Robinson and Oz Clarke, have both
recently lambasted the tradition of using extra-heavy bottles for prestige
cuvees. Many producers use thick and heavy glass bottles for their top wines
to give an added sense of luxury. Robinson has launched a name-and-shame
campaign on her web site and Clarke attacked the heavy bottles in a speech
at the climate Change Conference in Barcelona recently, saying that it is
irresponsible and a waste of resources. 'I think its one of the biggest
nonsenses when the empty bottle weighs as much as a full bottle from another
winery,' Clarke told Harpers TV according to Decanter. Perhaps we will soon
see Chateau Pétrus in PET(rus)bottle? Read more
Decanter.com
Champagne and Bordeaux act
against carbon emissions
Bordeaux
recently launched the initiative ”bilan carbone” (~the carbon score sheet),
a project to analyse the carbon emissions caused by the Girondin wine
production. They already know that 756 million bottles of wine are produced
each year but how much CO2 does it produce? That’s what will be studied in
the project, in order to identify the sources and find ways to reduce it.
Already in 2003 champagne launched a similar project (“the first of it’s
kind”) that has identified that each bottle of champagne represents some
700g of carbon dioxide (or 200g according to another source). 39% of the
carbon comes from the packaging (not surprising considering it’s champagne
we’re talking about), 24% from the work in the vineyard and winery, 13% from
transports, 11% from various machinery (?), 8% from purchased material and
substances, and 5% from “administration” (!). One way to reduce the carbon
footprint would of course be not to pull the cork since the bubbles in the
bottle is CO2… More info:
Decanter or
TrueWines or
AFP.
Languedoc ships wine by sail
boat to reduce emissions – saves 140g/bt
Frederic Albert has founded the Compagnie de Transport Maritime à la
Voile (Maritime Sail Ship Freighters) and will be shipping his first cargo
of wines from the Languedoc region in the south of France to Ireland soon.
The sail ship transport will reduce the carbon emissions with an estimated
140g per bottle! The first leg of the transport, from Languedoc across the
country to the western harbour in Bordeaux will be by barge on the Canal du
Midi. Albert says he has a long waiting list with wine producers who want to
ship with his boat. The first shipment is made by a boat built in 1896, in
fact the last French merchant sail ship to be built. He plans to expand his
fleet to include seven ships – an investment estimated to around 40 to 50
million euro.
AFP
Michelin publishes guide on
Tokyo restaurants
The first Japanese edition of the red guide has recently been published.
It is a combined team of seasoned (pun intended) European critics and newly
recruited Japanese restaurant critics that has written the guide. Read more
here:
iht.com
International Syrah
Symposium in Lyons in May
Scientific,
oenological and marketing expertise gather in Lyons on May 13-14 to discuss
all aspects of the future of the Syrah grape. Tuesday is focused on the
viticulture and oenology of Syrah and the Wednesday is dedicated to
marketing of the end product, the wine. More info
www.syrah.symposium.tv
Wine search engine: Able
Grape
Sometimes
it is difficult to find what you are looking for among the millions of
search results you might get on Google. Able Grape is a new search engine
that exclusively gives you results related to wine. We have not yet had the
possibility to test it extensively to see if it makes a difference, but it
certainly looks interesting. It also has some more sophisticated features
that your plain vanilla search engines. The inventor of the search site is
Dough Cook who had the idea to it when he was studying for the WSET (Wine &
Spirit Education Trust) Diploma. He also had the technical background to do
it, having previously worked with search technologies at Inktomi and Yahoo.
(It helps when you want to systematize 10 million pages!). Try the Able
Grape wine search engine here.
AbleGrape.com
Wine is like fish, but more
fun
An American study has show that a moderate alcohol consumption has a
similarly positive effect on the health as eating fish that is rich in omega
3 fats. The study compared wine drinkers with fish eaters and concluded that
drinking wine in moderate quantities had the same beneficial effects as
eating lots of fish. Just imagine if you eat oysters and Muscadet! According
to Alcohol Update and the American Heart Journal.
Prize winning wine books –
and one with a special offer from BKWine!
”Wine
Behind the Label” by Philip Williamson and David Moore won the 2007 André
Simon award for best drink book in the UK. “The Wine and Food Lover’s Guide
to Portugal” by Charles Metcalfe and Kathryn McWhirter was given a special
commendation by the jury. An interesting detail is that both books were
self-published by the authors! As a reader of the BKWine Brief you can also
benefit from a special discounted offer of the very excellent book on
Portugal! Read about
the offer that we have agreed with the authors to the Portuguese wine book
here.
About Malbec – Cahors and
Argentina collaboration in April
Argentina is actually the worlds largest producer of Malbec (sometimes
called Auxerrois) with 24,000 ha. But historically it is Cahors in
south-western France that is considered the cradle of this variety. The two
wine regions have joined together for an event to make this
not-very-well-known grape variety better known: The International Malbec
Days that take place in the city of Cahors on April 4-6. An excellent
opportunity to taste many interesting wines from this unusual grape variety.
Don’t miss it if you are near-by. The International Malbec Days
french-malbec.com
Terrorists attack starred
restaurant
The
Midsummer House in Cambridge is a restaurant starred by the Michelin Guide.
It was recently attacked and vandalized by terrorists who belonged to The
Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The vandals destroyed doors and windows of
the restaurant and spray painted slogans on the walls. The restaurant has
chosen to remove foie gras from its menu rather than risk being attacked
again by the terrorists. One wonders if the vandals have seen how the birds
are treated in a modern poultry breeding plant. Perhaps there are more
important issues than foie gras.
Decanter.com
Do you have (or know of) a
beautiful or special wine cellar?
VdH
books is a Belgian publisher specialized in making beautiful books,
primarily on art. They are preparing a book on wine cellars – special wine
cellars that stand out du to their design or history. Do you have such a
cellar (lucky you!) or do you know someone who has? The publisher welcomes
suggestions. Contact Astrid, contact info:
vdhbooks.com
So, who’s the world’s
biggest wine & spirits buyer?
Well, many people think it is one of the big monopolies that still
exist, for example Systembolaget in Sweden or the LCBO in Canada. But no.
Biggest is actually Tesco, the UK retail chain. They sell alcohol products
for €4.3 bn (£3bn). That almost twice as much as the LCBO (€2.5bn, C$3.7)
and well over twice as much as Systembolaget in Sweden (€2bn, SEK19 bn).
There’s an interesting
interview with the world’s biggest wine buyer, Dan Jago at Tesco, in Wine
Business International. (For those of you interested in the Scandinavian
market we might also add that the Systembolaget does not buy from producers.
They do not have an importer’s license in Sweden and are therefore not
allowed to import. They must buy all wines and spirits from a licensed
importer, of which there are several hundreds, but only a handful of any
size and consequence. The biggest importer is of course V&S Vin & Sprit,
just like Systembolaget currently owned by the government, albeit up for
sale.)
Champagne Jacquesson changes
hands?
Jacquesson
is a small, high-quality champagne house with a tradition of producing
original and character-full champagnes from its 26 ha vineyards. The house
is led by the Chiquet family headed by the jovial Jean-Hervé, responsible
for external affairs, and his brother Laurent who is the wine maker. But the
family only owns 51% of the house, the remaining 49% in the hands of the
Scottish financier Michael Mackenzie. Rumour has it that Mackenzie is
interested in selling his stake and that the Belgian magnate Albert Frère
might be the buyer. Frère is already deeply involved in the higher echelons
of wine, for example as co-owner, together with Bernard Arnault (LVMH) of
Chateau Cheval-Blanc in Bordeaux. What the price might be we do not know but
perhaps we could venture a guess of something in the order of €50 million…
According to Weinwirtschaft.
”Bordeaux 1er Cru” – what is
it?
Most
wine lovers would probably not hesitate, with a longing in their eyes, to
say that Bordeaux Premier Cru refers to the top five chateaux in the 1855
classification: Chx Margaux, Mouton, Haut-Brion, Latour and Lafite. But
brace yourself for this… The producers syndicate for Bordeaux Supérieur has
tabled a suggestion that the appellation “Bordeaux Supérieur” (one notch
above “simple” AC Bordeaux) should change name to “Bordeaux 1er Cru”.
Apparently due to an EU rule that will prohibit the use of “supérieur” on
labels. What a splendid suggestion – create an appellation name that will
totally confuse consumers. Let’s hope that it will face the same fate as
“Chaume 1er Cru”, an appellation crated with the approval of the INAO in
2003, only to later be annulled by a court order as inappropriate and
confusing. (We may add that as an alternative to “Premier Cru” the name
“Grand Cru” has been suggested…! Perhaps they should be a bit more concerned
with us consumers and with selling their wines rather than with silly word
magic?)
Yves-Damecourt.com and
NewBordeaux
Amazon starts selling wine
Amazon.com, the world’s largest internet shopping site, will start
selling wine. They are in the process of recruiting a buyer to be
responsible for the sector, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Amazon is best know for it’s book selection but sells a very wide range of
products in the US. Wine shopping sites in the US have had a very difficult
time to get off the ground, largely due to the sever restrictions that exist
on selling wine on the internet and on selling and transporting wine from
one state to another. Read more:
ft.com
Vinordic on April 23-26
Scandinavia’s biggest (semi-annual) wine and spirit show will this year
take place on April 23-26. They have extended the fair to cover four days,
two of which are reserved for trade only and two that are also open to the
public. More info
vinordic.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
Douro
is one of the world’s most famous wine rivers. Here, in this dramatically
beautiful landscape in northern Portugal, grapes are grown on steep,
terraced slopes. The climate is dry and hot and the grapes are picked
perfectly ripe. These grapes are made into port wine and increasingly into
a full bodied, tasty red table wine.
