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Swedish version available here (click this link).
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Welcome to the
BKWine Brief nr 57, April 2008 |
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Snow in Chablis. It's not
exactly what you expect in April but we had it a week ago when we were
there. On the other hand, perhaps it doesn't make that much of a
different since you spend most of the time in the wineries, tasting. Or
in some nice and cosy restaurant sampling the local food with the wine.
But this time of the year
is a particularly sensitive period in the vineyards. The buds are
starting to break. If you get some cold frost nights it can cause
serious damage in the vineyard. Various anti-frost measures have been
invented by nervous and concerned winemakers: Oil burners to heat the
air, spraying water to create an insulating ice shell (yes, it works),
big propellers to move the cold air and other things.
The big news this month
(from a Scandinavian as well as an international perspective) is the
sale of V&S Vin & Sprit. It is the Swedish government who sells it to
Pernod Ricard. It will put an end to a strange period in Swedish alcohol
policy history. Vin & Sprit is one of the world's most successful vodka
brands – Absolut Vodka. It has a tremendous market share, not least in
the US, not least thanks to clever and not very subtle marketing. At the
same time, the company is owned by the Swedish government who maintains
that it is essential for the public health to maintain a monopoly market
in the country for wine and spirits, on the one hand, and on the other
hand V&S pours large quantities of vodka over the rest of the world. A
logic that has been difficult to understand. But that will now come to
an end with the sale of Vin & Sprit. The only thing to regret is that
they did not abolish the monopoly too.
Wine
Tours
We have now finished the
planning of next season's wine tours and are very happy to present the
full program to you in this BKWine Brief. We will have three exciting
tours this autumn:
- Bordeaux in early October
- Douro in Portugal later in October (when it's still nice and warm, we
hope), and
- Champagne with both wine and gastronomy in November
Read more details about the tours below or visit my site.
Britt
PS: Recommend to your
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All previous
issues of the Brief are here:
Archive |
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News from BKWine |
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Autumn 2008
program
 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!
 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.
More info!
 Champagne...
Luxury, celebration and of course excellent wines. But champagne is not
just wines. There is also an outstanding gastronomy that we will pay
special attention to on this trip. We will visit some world famous
champagne houses and some small high-quality family producers. And we will
enjoy the Champenoise gastronomy at our dinners (in a one-star
restaurant!) and at the lunches, some of which will be with, and as guests
of, champagne producers. Is drinking champagne all through a meal a good
idea? Decide for yourself!
More info!
Finnish
Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!
Tours
on the schedule (in Finnish):
 | 3.-7. syyskuuta 2008:
Pohjois-Rhônen-laaksoon
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 Nauti
pidennetystä kesästä ja tutustu samalla Syrah- rypäleen salaisuuksiin.
Täällä Pohjois-Rhônen –laaksossa tuotetaan lähinnä punaviiniä, saamme myös
tilaisuuden tutustua alueen kukkaisiin Viognier- viineihin sekä
täyteläisiin Marsanne/Roussanne-viineihin. Lisätietoa !
More info here!
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
Vignoble Tour de Verdots
AOC Bergerac
 David
Fourtout is the winemaker and owner of this excellent winery in Bergerac, a
little bit east of Bordeaux. In the recently built winery building he has
installed specially designed fermentation tanks to achieve the characters he
wants. One floor down, underground, he has the barrel cellar that where you
can get a close look at the soil thanks to the naked walls, as well as a
curious underground river. He makes arrange of wines from modestly priced
every day drinking wines to very ambitious super-cuvées. Don't miss his "Le
Vin selon David Fourtout" (The Wine according to DF)!
Watch the interview with David on BKWine TV!!
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Mas Champart
Saint-Chinian
 Isabelle
and Mathieu Champart is a charming wine maker couple who fell in love with
the spectacular scenery in Saint Chinian, one of the appellations in the
Languedoc region, a bit to the north of Béziers. They make both red and,
more unusual for the region, whites. Their whites have an excellent acidity
and freshness in spite of the very hot climate. Their Vin de Pays is made
from 100% Viognier with nice fruit and quite aromatic – as it should be. The
white Saint Chinian is made from Marsanne, Roussanne, Bourboulenc and
Grenache Blanc, giving it a complexity and body mixed with a hint of oak
aging. They also make excellent reds of course. My favourite is the cuvee
Côte d'Arbo, lots of spices in this wine made primarily from Syrah grapes.
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Read about more recommended
producers on the site:
Favourite Producers
□ Wine
Bars and Restaurants
Paris:
Racine
Paris 2a
A small wine bar in one of the old 'passages' (indoor shopping gallery)
close to the big boulevards. The peculiarity with this wine bar is that all
wines are organic, many are even biodynamic and most are made entirely
without sulphur (unusual). In other words, very interesting wines and
sometimes also very good. But sometimes you can also understand why it is
actually a good idea to use some sulphur in the wine making… You can also
get some small things to eat: cheese, charcuteries and a few hot dishes.
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 |
Vin & Sprit
with Absolut sold to Pernod Ricard
Finally, the Swedish state has sold V&S Vin & Sprit, the producer of Absolut
Vodka. After an outdrawn bidding process the French company Pernod Ricard
has come out as the winner. They will be paying SEK 55 billion (€5.62bn).
They outbid Bacardi, Fortune Brands (the Absolut distributor in the US) and
EQT (a private equity group in Sweden). The importance of the deal is of
course the brand Absolut, one of the best selling vodkas in the world. With
the acquisition Pernod Ricard with become the second biggest spirits
producer in the world. Read more in the
Financial Times.
(A historical note: Vin & Sprit used to be the monopoly importer in Sweden.
In the 90s, when the monopoly for importing wines and spirits was abolished,
it became a still state owned importer on a competitive market. It was
already the owner of the Absolut brand – an old Swedish vodka brand. It is
still a wine and spirits importer but the Absolut accounts for the vast
majority of revenues and profits. In parallel Sweden has retained its
monopoly for wine and spirits retail. The retail monopoly is managed by the
chain of stores called "Systembolaget".)
Old vines – and again
 The
vine on the Place de la Victoire in Bordeaux was planted sometimes towards
the end of the 18th century and it is still standing. Like all other vines
it needs pruning and this year it was trimmed on March 15 by three pruning
experts. The grape variety is the rare Cruchen Nègre. It was planted by the
family Duverger and one family member still lives in the building where it
is. As far as we know, the grapes are not used to make wine but if they were
it would certainly by TVV – très vieilles vignes.
www.bordeaux.fr
Another very old vine can be found at the restaurant sous le Cep d'Antan
(under the ancient vine) in Monsegur in the Bordeaux district. It is
believed to be 380 years old! Perhaps the oldest vine in the world? Does any
reader know of an older vine?
www.souslecep-dantan.com
(Thanks to Chronique Souvent Bordelais for the info.)
Record exports for Austrian
wines
Austria continues to develops its wine exports. In 2007 it is estimated
that exports will reach 56 million litres or €105 M. Contributing to the
positive figures is the fact that the average price of a bottle sold on
export has also increased. The biggest markets are Germany, Switzerland and
the USA.
www.winesfromaustria.com
Record wine exports from the
USA
2007 was a record year also for American wine exports. Wine worth $951M
(€606M) were shipped, up 8.6% in value. Californian wines completely
dominate US exports accounting for 95% of all exports. 50% of exports are to
the EU (up 7%), about a quarter goes to Canada followed by Japan,
Switzerland and Mexico.
American wine sales increase
with the US too
Domestic sales of American wines increased to 1,700 million litres, up
2%. Measured in value, sales within the US was worth $18.9 billion.
Californian wine snapshot
Wine is, according to a press release from The Wine Institute, the
number one finished agricultural product in retail value in the US. Here's
some more statistics:
-- California produces 90% of all wine in the US
-- California is, if one regards it as a country, the world's fourth wine
producer, after France, Italy and Spain
-- There is 2687 wineries and 4600 grape growers
-- 213,000 hectares (527,000 acres) of vineyards
-- 3.2 million tons of grapes are harvested to a value of $1.82 bn
-- Chardonnay and Cabernet are the leading varieties followed by Merlot and
Zinfandel
-- 60% of the grapes are red and 40% are white (green)
The Swedish wine and spirits
monopoly makes 39 million in profit
 The
gross profit at the Swedish monopoly retailer was 39 million euro (366 M SEK)
in 2007. It is a drastic decrease from 2006 when the profit was 64 M euro
(602 M SEK). The Systembolaget explains the difference with that the trading
margins were decreased in 2007 and they made less profits from selling real
estate. In spite of the lower result Chief Executive Anitra Steen says "2007
was a successful year for Systembolaget. We fulfilled our tasks assigned to
us by the government and answered to customer expectations." Well, 39 M Euro
is perhaps not that bad, not least if you consider the constantly repeated
mantra at Systembolaget that "we are not a profit motivated company". In
fact, the profit target is set by the owner, the government (perhaps without
being very motivated by what it will be?) and then it is relatively
mechanically achieved by the monopoly. From that perspective it can indeed
be an advantage with a monopoly.
France in the lead in
Denmark – for the moment
France, Italy and Spain are holding on to their positions on the Danish
market although they have lost a few percentage points in market share. This
is the top list (source:
vinavisen.dk and Vin og Spiritus Organisationen i Danmark,
www.vsod.dk):
1. France, 19.7% (-1.1% från 2006)
2. Italy, 14% (-0.9%)
3. Chile, 14% (+1.1%)
4. Australia 12.5% (+1.9%)
5. Spain, 11.3% (-1.5%)
6. South Africa, 6.4% (+0.4%)
7. Germany, 5.7% (-0.5%)
8. Argentina, 4.4% (-0.1%)
9. USA, 3.5% (-0.8%)
10. Portugal, 1.4% (+-0%)
Australia biggest exporter
to Sweden
In dramatic contrast to Denmark, let's take a look at Sweden and the
sales statistics. The "old world" is struggling considerably more here, and
in particular France. Here's the top ten exporters of wine to Sweden in
2007:
1. Australia, 16.5% (an increase with +31.7%, i.e. in 2006 the market share
was 13.3%)
2. South Africa, 15.7% (+10.3%)
3. Italy, 15.4% (+7.6%)
4. Spain, 14.7% (-3.6%)
5. France, 9.7% (-0.3%)
6. Chile, 7.1% (+7.9%)
7. USA, 5.1% (-9.8%)
8. Germany 4.8% (+4.9)
9. Hungary, 3.4% (-7.6%)
10. Argentina, 2.5% (+15%)
(NB: The increase/decrease is expressed differently for Sweden and Denmark
so those numbers are not directly comparable.)
If instead you look at the number of products from each country the picture
is quite different. Retaining the order above here's how many items are
listed from each country:
1. Australia: 484
2. South Africa: 537
3. Italy: 1238
4. Spain: 717
5. France: 2418
6. Chile: 285
7. USA: 487
8. Germany: 418 (of which 7 are red)
9. Hungary: 55
10. Argentina: 149
It should be noted that the numbers do not represent the number of items
that are available in reality on this monopoly market. Many references on
the list are out of stock or not available for other reasons so the number
is generally far above the real number of available wines.
Petition for cork-cork
 A
group of environmentally minded people have launched a petition to preserve
and promote the natural cork, and in particular the forests that produce the
cork bark. A change to screw cap risks damaging the today extensive and well
managed cork oak forests. The group says that the oak forests are important
for example for the threatened species the Iberian Lynx and the Iberian
Imperial Eagle, and that in Portugal the oak forests reduces the CO2
emissions with 5%. The famous nature photographer Yann Artus-Bertrand (e.g.
The Earth Seen From the Sky) and Jean-Marie Pelt, president of the European
Ecological Institute are two names behind the petition. The site
www.petitionpourleliege.org and
the petition text in English.
WiFi and climate control in
the vineyard
In the last Brief we talked about GrapeNetworks who has developed a
solution based on climate and humidity sensors connected through a WiFi
network to improve vineyard management. It allows for better resource and
water management and potentially less use of harmful substances in the
vineyard. There's now a video available that you can watch to learn more
about the solution.
www.grapenetworks.com
Cash in on your old bottles
Parisians in need of cash can now go to the pawn shop and leave their
wines. Crédit Municipal de Paris, who opened shop for wine deposits
recently, received wine valued at €45,000 in the first 48 hours. Someone
came with an old bottle of Bollinger champagne (€1000), another person with
a 1961 Pétrus (part of a lot valued at €17,000), and much more. The wines
will be stored in an 18th century cellar in Paris until the are recovered by
their owners or sold.
Times.co.uk
and
www.creditmunicipal.fr
Blogging wine economists
The American Association of Wine has launched a new blog on the theme of
wine, economics and marketing. Some of the subjects discussed already are:
the extension of Champagne, wine in China and valuing Bordeaux vintages.
Read more:
www.wine-econ.org/
World's best Chardonnay
 The
competition The World's Best Chardonnay was recently held in Burgundy. 60
wines were awarded gold medals and 202 had silver out of 953 contestants.
The gold medals were well spread out over the world: South Africa,
Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Spain, Canada, Greece, Israel, Italy,
Moldova, Romania, and Switzerland. The full results here.
www.chardonnay-du-monde.com
World's best sommelier
interviewed on WineFairy.com
 In
2007 Andreas Larsson was crowned world's best sommelier. He was recently
interviewed on the American internet radio WineFairy.com. Listen to the
interview with Andreas on what his favourite wines are, and on his other
great passion, music and his favourite music personalities Bach and John
Coltrane
on WineFairy.com (mp3 download)
And if you want to see him "live" you can
watch our video interview with him on BKWine TV (in Swedish though).
Big Brother Champagne
 The
small village Champagne in Switzerland has been the subject of posts
previously in the Brief when they attracted the attention of the Champagne
region and CIVC in France. French Champagne did not like that the Swiss
village used the same name, believing that it could confuse consumers, and
made a deal with the Swiss government that force the Swiss wine producers to
stop using their village name on the bottles. (Instead they tried selling
their wine under the names Libre-Champ and C-ampagne, albeit clever but with
not much success.) Champagne (the French version) has also stopped a maker
of biscuits in the Swiss village to stop using the name and to refer to the
biscuits as made from a traditional recipe from Champagne. Recently the
locals of the village staged a protest where a forklift symbolically draped
in a French flag uprooted the sign with the village name at the edge of the
village.
Watch the "dramatic" video on YouTube. (And watch
more wine videos on BKWine TV)
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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29-31/5, Collioure: Scientific
wine conference,
www.vdqs.net
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Sweden:
- - UK,
Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark,...:
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13-14/5, Lyon: Syrah Symposium,
www.syrah.symposium.tv |
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31/3-2/6, Vienna: VieVinum
Austrian wine festival,
www.vievinum.at |
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30/6-2/7, Stavanger, Norway:
Bocuse d'Or,
www.vinoteca.no |
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30/6-2/7, Stavanger, Norway: Nordic
Sommelier Championship,
www.vinoteca.no |
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14-16/8, Oregon: Wine
Economists Conference,
www.wine-economics.org |
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20/9, Copenhagen: Rhone Festival,
www.rhonefestival.dk |
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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