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Swedish version available here (click this link).
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Welcome to the
BKWine Brief nr 64, November 2008 |
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It’s quite some time now
since most vineyards finished harvesting. We’ve been around many
different districts this season: Tuscany and Veneto in Italy, Alentejo
and the Douro Valley in Portugal, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, Languedoc…
If I try and summarise our impressions I’d say that most people were
very nervous, or worried, when the harvest approached. Summer had in
many regions been miserable (albeit not too wet). But when harvest
approached, the weather gods turned around and produced good and
sometimes fabulous weather (two short weeks ago we were in the Douro
Valley and we had lunch outside every day during our three day trip. In
the shadow. It was too warm in the sunshine…) Fears of a failed harvest
did not come true – the good weather before and during harvesting
“saved” what could have been a vintage to forget. Even the Bordelais
seemed content, where many had been looking depressed in August. We
spoke recently with François Despagne (Ch Grand Corbin Despagne, Saint
Emilion) who said the result was much better than anyone would have
dared to hope. But in most cases the quantity will be small, due to the
bad weather at flowering. That, at least, is the outlook. Then we will
have to wait until we can taste the wines to really know.
Many see other dark clouds
on the horizon today. The financial crisis will not fail to have an
effect on the wine business too. But exactly how is difficult to say. We
will no doubt see more bankruptcies and hard times for many winegrowers
(even if it already today is very tough for producers of “smaller”
wines). The ones who have not been hit by the current wine crisis (that
is a fact since a couple of years) are above all the very top Bordeaux
estates and the champagne producers. But even they are starting to feel
concerned. If you visit some top Bordeaux chateaux (top meaning perhaps
60-100 of the almost 10 000 Bordeaux chateaux that exist) or in
Champagne you get a feeling of wealth and tranquillity. Not a struggling
French farmer in sight.
But read about some of the
latest comments from some of the major growers and traders (further
down) you will understand that even they start to feel a chill. Just
like in Champagne that we wrote about in the last Brief.
Time to think about
Christmas presents?!
A bit more cheerful as a
subject. We have several book reviews in this Brief that can perhaps
inspire you to some hard and heavy gift packages in the Christmas
stocking. From a book for the geology addict to one for the wine drinker
who is convinced (or wants to be) that no wine needs to cost more than
$15.
You can also find a link to
a gift item site where everything has to do with wine. A side table made
from old vines? Earrings? A t-shirt? It’s all there. The only thing that
seems to be missing is women's wine lingerie… Read more further down.
And a wine tour is of
course the pre-eminent gift! We can make an “open” gift voucher
according to your specifications (nicely printed in colour) or you can
choose a specific tour of course. And it’s never wrong to give oneself a
gift, is it?...
Talking about tours:
It is high time to book if
you are interested in next season’s first tour, the unique truffles,
foie gras, duck and wine tour. Register-before date is December 1 so
don’t delay. We’ve just published handful of videos that will give you a
flavour of what the program contains. See more below.
And a little bit later in
the year you have the Portugal tour if you prefer.
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 2009
program
 | February
11-15: Truffle, wine, duck and foie gras in the south west of France |
 Have
you always dreamed of going truffle hunting? Now you have the opportunity.
Join us in February on this trip to the south west of France – le Sud-Ouest.
We truffle hunt, learn how to make foie gras and, of course, taste a lot of
good wines too.
More info on this wine tour!
| March
25-29: Alentejo in Portugal, one of the most exciting and modern
Portuguese wine regions |
 In
Portugal you find tradition and innovation side by side. Many of the
wineries are recent and with leading edge technology, but that does not
prevent them from sometimes treading the grapes by foot. The traditional
style of Portuguese wines has been generally replaced by a decidedly modern
winemaking style. The best producers build on tradition, e.g. by using
Portuguese grape varieties, and use modern technology to make fruity and
very drinkable wines, and certainly some very high quality cuvees.
More info on this wine tour!
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
Côtes de Duras
Côtes de Duras is today perhaps
a not very well know district, located only 45 km from Saint Emilion, but
that may well change. There are many similarities with St Emilion, both
regarding the grape varieties used and the wine styles. What is very
different, though, are the prices. Here you will pay substantially less than
in Bordeaux for wines that are in many cases equal in quality. Here are some
growers that we can recommend:
Domaine de Ferrand, Côtes de
Duras
 Denis
and Marie-Thérèse Vuillion were getting close to retirement and started to
think of what to do with “the rest” of their life. They found the answer in
a 13 ha vineyard in Côtes de Duras. As part of the deal they also got 9 ha
of plum trees (the region is well known for its “pruneaux d’Agen”, dried
plums). “Duras might be a small appellation”, says Denis, “but there are
great variations in terroir, which makes it interesting to aim for quality
wines. And even if the appellations are not well known when people come here
and taste they are very positive”. Tasting their different wines my
attention was particularly caught by an aromatic Sauvignon Blanc 2005 with
good length in the mouth (3.50 euro), a red unpretentious Domaine de Ferrand
2005, entirely without oak aging, with lots of fruit but with a nice tannic
touch at the finish (4 euro), and a sweet Moelleux 2005 made from
late-harvested grapes partially affected by botrytis (noble rot). Very good
with aromas of honey and a refreshing acidity (8 euro).
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Cave Berticot, Côtes de
Duras
A small co-operative with some 1000 hectares. They have invested heavily
in quality development in recent years and now work closely together with
the individual growers. Stephan Clement, the winemaker, comes from Champagne
and finds it quite natural that things work very differently here. He has
introduced pigeage in 18 of the fermentation tanks. this ‘pushing down the
cap’ (pushing down skins and pips that float to the surface into the must
during fermentation) gives increased extraction, more than remontage
(pumping over). It is much more common in e.g. Burgundy than in this region.
The white Duc de Berticot 2003 has been aged for 9 months in oak barrels; it
has a good balance, some citrus-sweet aromas on the nose and lots of
vitality. The red Défendu (=the forbidden) 2005 is made from old vines,
primarily merlot, is fruity, quite full-bodied and very nice (9 euro).
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Domaine des Allegrets, Côtes
de Duras
 Julien
Blanchard is young but already a very accomplished winemaker and we will no
doubt hear more about him in the future, if I am not entirely mistaken. His
wines are very well made, with both complexity and balance. He owns 60 ha
and half of his production is white (overall, they make quite a lot of white
wine in Duras). His white Divine Alliance 2007 (an ‘alliance’ between
sauvignon blanc and the barrique) was made with skin contact initially and
barrel aging on the lees. The result is a full-bodied wine with aromas of
grapefruit, flowers, peach, and with a good freshness. The red Voyage
d’Oenos 2005 (the year Julien got married; ‘voyage de noce’=honeymoon) is
well structured but also very easy to drink. The sweet Moelleux 1999 was
made from 100 year old vines with Semillon grapes with noble rot (botrytis).
It fermented and then aged in barrique for 24 months and is heavenly
delicious with touches of apricot and orange peel and still a very
refreshing acidity (20 euro).
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Read about more recommended
producers on the site:
Favourite Producers
□ Wine
Bars and Restaurants
Languedoc
Bistro Alex, Vinipolis,
Florensac
 Wine
tourism is en vogue and the wine co-operative in Florensac in the Languedoc
has made some big investments to become more welcoming to passing tourists.
It is located near the motorway between Montpellier and Perpignan so it is
easy to reach. They have opened a big and modern wine shop where the floor
is made of glass to give you a view of the wine cellar and oak barrels
below. They have also opened an excellent restaurant called Bistro Alex. The
chef behind the cooking is Jean-Claude Fabre who previously was in charge of
the Chez Léonce Michelin starred restaurant. One of his specialities is fish
and seafood and nearby is the Bassin de Thau which is one of France’s
biggest sources of fresh oysters. The cuisine is innovative and very good.
To accompany the food there are plenty of wines from the co-operative. Try
for instance the delicious viognier.
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 |
Golfer Annika
Sorenstam to launch wine brand
 Annika
Sorenstam is one of the world’s most celebrated golfers (and happens to be
Swedish). Her next project is to make wine in partnership with Wente
Vineyards in California. The wine will be launched as Annika syrah and will
be available in may 2009. The price will be around $75. "As someone who
thoroughly enjoys fine wine, I am thrilled to be partnering with the Wente
family on this project," said Sorenstam. "It is exciting for me to be able
to share this passion of mine with other wine lovers."
New videos on the Sud-Ouest,
truffles and more
If you’d like some inspiration for our upcoming truffles, duck, foie gras
and wine tour in February, here are a few videos that we’ve just published:
Chateau
des Vigiers, a beautiful chateau-hotel where we will be staying
A visit to a
duck
farm, with foie gras workshop and a really nice gourmet lunch
On
truffle hunting
If you want to experience this in real life, including even more gastronomic
and vinous specialities from Le Sud-Ouest you should come on our tour -
register before December 1!
And for the linguist, a couple of French winemaker interviews:
Chateau
Tour des Gendres, one of the best known estates in Bergerac
Domaine
de l’Ancienne Cure, an independent-minded producer with excellent wines
More new wine videos on the
BKWine TV channel
We’ve been working hard lately to give you new video footage. Here are
several other new clips:
Alpha Wine Estate
An interview with Angelos Iatridis, founder and winemaker at
Alpha Wine Estate, one of the leading wineries in the new wave of wine
producers in Macedonia in Northern Greece.
Kir-Yianni Estate
Interview with Stellios Boutaris at the “boutique” winery
Kir-Yianni Estate. ”Boutique” due to Stellios quality ambitions rather
than to its size (which is not all that small)
And two more videos in Swedish:
Britt
talks about Languedoc:
An interview with the Swedish owner/winemaker at
Chateau l’Arnaude in Provence
YouTube tips
Some YouTube tips to help you get more out of YouTube (right now we have 58
wine clips on YouTube):
| The BKWine Channel:
all our videos are available on the BKWine TV channel:
www.youtube.com/bkwine |
| Subscribe: Subscribe
to our channel and you will get an email notification each time we publish
a new video. There’s a yellow ‘subscribe’ button on the page. (You have to
have a YouTube account, but it’s free and easy to register, and it is not
at all necessary to upload a video when you have an account) |
| Choose a subject: You
can choose videos on specific themes, e.g. Bordeaux, Portugal, Italy etc.
Go to our Playlists
(menu link on the top of the channel page) and choose the subject |
| Choose a language: If
you want to see videos only in a specific language (English [E], French
[F], or Swedish [S]) choose the corresponding Playlists
or the link to the language sections on the BKWine TV channel page |
| High Quality: most
videos are also available in “high quality”. Click on the link “watch in
high quality” just under the video box. Much better playback but you’ll
need a good broadband. Try it! |
| Feedback: You make us
happy if you rate our videos or give us other feedback: give star ratings,
write comments, or put videos on your favourites list |
| Share: If you like a
video you can share it with friends. Click “share” to send them an email. |
| Advanced…: If you are
a true enthusiast and have a web site (or blog) you can “borrow” our
videos. Just copy the “embed code” on the video page and use it on your
site. |
Get in touch if you have any
questions.
Does filtered wine taste
less good?
 It
is very common that wine is filtered before bottling. There are even
oenologists who say that any winemaker who does not filter is irresponsible
and careless. In the opposite corner we have the crowd that says that
filtering, and the “finer” the worse, removes subtleties and nuances in the
wine. Just look at all the wines that proudly boast “unfiltered” on the
label (we had a Greek one last night). So, what’s the truth? As usual with
wine, there is not necessarily any definite “truth”. It depends. On many
things. If you’re interested you can get one point of view in the article
”If Filtration 'Strips' Wine, What's Getting Stripped?” in Wines & Vines
. (The author comments that it is difficult to judge if it makes any
perceptible difference or not, but that can hardly be the case. Just sample
the same wine filtered and unfiltered. Surely someone has done that…)
End of The Good Times for
top Bordeaux wines?
 Will
the financial crisis lead to harder times for the most exclusive wine
chateaux in Bordeaux? Some people think so. Jeffrey Davis says to Wine
Business International that he has noted a decline in the demand in top US
restaurants. Others also note a weakening demand. But it’s perhaps not only
the financial crisis that is in play: the primeur “campaign” for the 2007s
were very slow; the dollar is weak etc. But it may take some time before the
pain is felt. Many merchants ar getting paid this year for deliveries of the
very expensive 2005s, bolstering revenues. Yann Schyler, of negociant
Schroder & Schyler and Ch Kirwan is expecting a difficult 2009: “The sales
of top-of-the-range wines have stopped since a few months back. Customers
have other things on their minds. Airlines, for instance, who used to buy
bottles between 8 and 12 euro are now looking for wines at 3 to 8 euro”, he
sais to the Sud-Ouest newspaper.
(And perhaps this should not come as a big surprise, after e.g. the drastic
price hikes in 2005 when some wines went up in price with 500% or more…)
Read more:
wine-business-international.com and
www.straitstimes.com
18 month low for wine prices
The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine is an index (just like stock indexes) tracking wine
prices. It has reach an 18 month low in October, falling 12% in that month
alone. Some examples: Lafite 2004 -28%, Montrose 2003 -23%, Ausone 2000 -22%
and so on. The somewhat broader Liv-ex 500 (including 500 wines) was not hit
at all as hard, down only 1.8% in the month. Jack Hibberd, research manager
at Liv-ex, says to Decanter: “the [wine] market is not immune”.
www.decanter.com
Does hiring a famous
winemaker make the wine more expensive? – Yes.
 If
a vineyard hires a “famous” winemaker, does it have an impact on the price
of their wines? The answer is, not surprisingly, yes, according to a recent
study. The effect is immediate and possibly double. Immediately when a
famous winemaker is hired (or it is announced) the price goes up, long
before the winemaker star has had the possibility to have any influence on
the quality of the wine – in economic terms this is called the symbolic
effect. Later, when the new winemaker has had an impact on the wine there
can also be a “substantive effect” if the quality goes up too. Peter Roberts
and Christopher Rider from Emory University and Mukti Khaire of Harvard
University have recently written a paper on the subject that will be
presented at the Association of Wine Economists congress: “Basking in
Reflected Glory: Symbolic and Substantive Implications of Winemaker
Mobility”. The results show that the “symbolic” effect, i.e. the immediate
effect before any possible change in quality, is an increase in price of 3%.
More surprising, perhaps, is that the finding that there is (even later) no
change in quality, as measured in WineSpectator ratings. In other words,
hiring a famous winemaker makes the wine go up in price but it makes no
difference for the quality of the wine… Read more…
wine-econ.org
Campaign for more organic
wines in France
The French minister of agriculture, Michel Barnier, has presented a plan to
increase the portion of organically grown (wine) grapes in France. The aim
is to reach 6% of the total area by 2012. There will be new restriction
against using chemicals as well as initiatives to stimulate growers to
switch to organic. According to Agence Bio there is today (2007) 2.6% of
organic vineyards in France. It is Burgundy (perhaps surprisingly) that has
seen the most rapid growth in organic wine farming: plus 28% in 2007,
compared to the country average of +16%. Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon
are two other regions that have seen big increases.
www.frenchwinesbulletin.co.uk
French Wine Growers’ Fair in
London 21-23 November
130 ”authentic” and “traditional” French winegrowers will exhibit on the
First French Winegrowers Fair in London on November 21-23. It takes place at
the Barbican Exhibition Centre in central London. You pay a small entrance
fee (£10) and then you can taste as much as you like of the more than 500
wines that are presented. There will also be tastings, a special section on
organic wines and on French wines made by Brits and more. You can also buy
wines on-site (trolleys are provided) or have them delivered to your home.
Sounds like an entertaining event. Especially the authentic winegrower!
www.frenchwinegrowersfair.com
Millesime Bio – organic wine
fair, 26-28 January
 Millesime
bio is the annual wine faire dedicated to organic wines (need we add once
again that it should be read “wine produced from organically grown grapes”.
There are no such thing, strictly speaking, as “organic wine”). The next
edition (the 16th!) takes place on January 26-28, 2009. This time it will be
in Montpellier, making it easier to access for long distance visitors.
Perhaps they are also expecting larger crowds ‘organic’ being much the rage
these days.
www.millesime-bio.com
WineMeetings Cannes in
February
A little while ago we talked about the WineMeetings Cannes event. It is a
meeting place for buyers and negociants. Their new web site is now online:
www.winemeetings-cannes.fr
Provence and Rhône wine
fair, Blue Wine Expo.
Blue Wine Expo is a professional wine fair that presents 120 independent
winegrowers (‘vignerons indépendants’) to buyers, importers and the
restaurant trade. A good occasion to make new contacts with winemakers from
Provence and the southern Rhône valley. In Marseille on January 26-27. More
info
www.bleuwinexpo.com
VinExpo Asia-Pacific: May
25-27, 2010
The next Asian edition of the big (huge) wine fair VinExpo has been
scheduled for May 25-27, 2010. It will take place at the Hong Kong
Convention & Exhibition Centre. More info:
www.vinexpo.com
Wine gadgets for Christmas?
What about a pair of ear-rings in the shape of grape bunches? Or a cocktail
table with legs made from old vines? Or a tshirt with the text “I’ll trade
my husband for wine”? Or keeping to the more down to earth things,
decanters, glasses and many other kind of (potential) gift items. Lots of
inspiration can be found here:
www.sterlingwineonline.com
New edition of Parker’s wine
bible, the Buyer’s Guide
Robert Parker, the world’s pre-eminent wine guru according to many buyers,
have recently published a new edition of his main book: 'Parker's Wine
Buyer's Guide No. 7' (yes, it’s the seventh edition). In this new edition it
is not only Parker who writes. He has enlisted a team of co-writers for the
comments and tasting notes. Parker himself writes about Bordeaux, California
and the Rhône Valley. The rest of the book is shared thus: : Neal Martin -
New Zealand & South America; Mark Squires – Portugal & Israel; Antonio
Galloni – Italy; Jay Miller - Australia, Chile, Argentina, Spain, Oregon,
Washington & Port wine; David Schildknecht - Alsace, Beaujolais, Burgundy,
the Loire Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon, Austria, Germany & Central Europe.
In other words, Parker is behind only a minority of the text in the book.
One can wonder if this “dilution” of Parker’s own writing will have an
effect over time on the influence that the Parker Guides have on the
international wine market. More info
www.latimes.com
The Paris wine shop Lavinia
grows with 19%
 Lavinia
is one of Paris’ most interesting (but perhaps not cheapest) wine shops,
located centrally on Bd Madeleine. They have an impressively large selection
counting some 6500 references. They also have a restaurant (with the wines
at shop prices) and a wine accessory shop. Lavinia France ended the year
07/08 with the turnover up by 19%, reaching sales of 13.5 M euro. Exports
and internet sales are the sectors that have seen the most buoyant growth.
Lavinia France is part of the Lavinia Group with a turnover of 35 M euro,
selling 1.5 M bottles, with 250 000 customers world wide.
www.winealley.com
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 |
Japanese
Whisky – Facts, figures and taste
By: Ulf Buxrud
Publisher: DataAnalysis Scandinavia AB, http://www.buxrud.se/japan.htm
 Ulf
Buxrud is a great connoisseur of whisky. He has previously written a book
about single malts from Scotland. This is his second book and in it he
explores the world of Japanese whisky. Contrary to many other spirits (and
wines), whisky is not a protected denomination of origin. So Japan is both a
great consumer and producer of whisky. The major part of the book contains
producer profiles with both history, tasting notes and even some tourism
tips for the potential visitor – a good idea! The first part of the book
gives you an introduction to whisky in Japan, including how it first came to
this country as well as a chapter on how whisky is made (with some
interesting Japanese specialities). It is a big format book (too big for our
book shelf!) and the design is elegant. Just a pity that the photos
generally are dull and poor (and some are even mounted the wrong way). In
spite of that, this is definitely a book to be slowly consumed by any
adventurous whisky enthusiast who ventures beyond Scotland.
Buy the book. More wine book reviews.
Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course
By: Andrew Jefford
Photo: William Lingwood & Alan Williams, et al
Ryland, Peters & Small, £19.99, ISBN 978-1845977238
 This
is an introduction to wine and wine tasting. Andrew Jefford accompanies the
reader through a series of “projects” where each is focused on learning
something about wine. You can start with Project #1 “how to taste wine” and
then go through the book to learn (a bit) about winemaking, about grape
varieties and about the world’s major wine districts. Each section also
contains some practical exercises to make the whole even more enjoyable. The
book is elegantly produced with overall a very good photo material (and
Jefford seems to have enjoyed the tasting shoots with his three beautiful
co-tasters). The text is well written and easy to follow, not going very
much in detail of course. In other words, it’s an excellent introduction to
wine and wine tasting that can be followed up later (in the Christmas
present sack for instance) with one more book with more details on wine
regions and wine producers.
Buy the book. More wine book reviews.
The Wines of Burgundy
By: Clive Coates
University of California Press, £35, ISBN 978-0520250505
 This
is a massive book: 1872 grams and 878 pages. There are books that you simply
cannot avoid. This is one. If you are looking for a book about Burgundy you
simply have to consider this one. Partially because in spite of La Bourgogne
being one of the world’s premiere wine regions there are relatively few good
books on the area. But this is one. Few writes know Burgundy as well as
Clive Coates does. Since a few years back he is even living amongst the
vines in his favourite wine district. The book follows a classic format: In
the introduction Coates explains a bit about how Burgundy works growers,
negociants etc) and gives a (brief) introduction to how wine is made in
Burgundy, both traditionally and with newer trends. Then follow chapters on
all the communes with details on the history, the soil, and, importantly
with (brief) profiles of the growers. The second part of the book (filling
almost two thirds of the pages) is a review of vintages from 2006 back to
1959 with an avalanche of detailed tasting notes. The book is a thoroughly
revised version of his previous book “The Côte d’Or”. The previous version
had a bit more focus on the growers and (somewhat) less on tasting notes. We
would have preferred that Coates kept more of a focus on the growers, and
perhaps even expanded those descriptions compared to the previous edition,
rather than having some 500 pages with tasting notes (who can stomach
that?). But in spite of this slight criticism, this is an important book for
any serious Burgundy enthusiast!
Buy the book. More wine book reviews.
Grand atlas des vignobles de
France
By: Benoît France (ed)
Solar France, 54 eur, ISBN 978-2263046605
 This
is a rather unique book. Even if the title says “atlas” it’s not your
average map book. Instead it focuses on and goes into detail on soil and
soil types in virtually all French appellations and illustrates it with 184
colourful maps. If you want better to understand soils, geology, and terroir
in France then this is a book for you (provided you read French). But the
book also covers in depth, with descriptive texts, all French appellations,
including their characteristics, grape varieties, climate, history etc. Even
the most remote and obscure appellations can be found. You can find the most
amazing details and titbits. Did you know, for instance, that the now trendy
grape petit verdot only coveres 0.4% of Bordeaux (which is still much more
than carmenère that only has 0.1%)? The presentation is not always easily
digested: lots of dense text and detailed maps. And you can excuse the
somewhat chauvinistic introduction (“French wines are best” – not any worse
than what you hear in many other instances from other countries) and its
conviction that the appellation system is the answer to today’s wine
industry woes (it’s just as often an obstacle to making and selling good
wines). The book contains such a wealth of detailed information that it will
be a valued addition to any serious (French speaking) wine lover’s book
shelf.
Buy the book. More wine book reviews.
La Vigne Assassinée –
l’Avenir du Vin
By: Christian R. Saint-Roche
CIDE
ISBN 2-9525036-1-3
 The
title reads ”the assassinated vine” but it’s not a crime novel even if it is
a thriller of sorts. How can the French wine industry get out of the current
crisis? One of the questions Christian St-Roche raises is why in France it
only negative aspects of wine that get voiced. What has happened with wine
as a foodstuff, he asks. How can the anti-wine lobby have grown so strong?
Why are the good-for-the-health aspects of wine never mentioned? Why have so
many French people stopped drinking wine? (37% never drink wine and the
proportion who drink wine with dinner has fallen dramatically.) But he also
writes about the importance of terroir wines, about the good and bad points
of the appellation system, and about how one could make the young generation
at least occasionally abandon MacDonald’s and Coca-cola and instead learn to
enjoy the more slow-moving pleasures of drinking a good wine with a good
dinner.
Buy the book. More wine book reviews.
The Wine Trials – A fearless
Critic Book
By: Robin Goldstein
Fearless Critic Media
 The
sub-title of this American book is “Brown-bag blind tastings reveal the
surprising wine values under $15”. The message in the book is that you don’t
need to spend a lot of money on the wines you buy because if you tast them
blind you will not think a more expensive wine is any better than a cheap
wine. The author bases his views on a series of blind tastings (with bottles
presented in brown paper bags, hence the title) that he has made all over
the US, including both experienced wine tasters and “the man in the street”.
Half of the book is dedicated to presenting 100 wines under $15 that beat
the $50 to $150 wines in the blind tastings. Robin Goldstein means that it’s
time to start trusting one’s own taste and not be more concerned with
prestige or with what others think. Interesting in many ways even if some of
his conclusions are odd. But yes, the basic message is right – trust your
own taste and not someone else’s.
Buy the book. More wine book reviews.
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:
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21-22/11, Paris: Le Grand
Tasting, Caroussel du Louvre,
www.grandtasting.com
|
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26-28/1 2009, Montpellier:
Millesime Bio, organic wine fair,
www.millesime-bio.com (NEW)
|
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26-27/1 2009, Marseille: Blue
Wine, Provence / Rhone iwne fair,
www.millesime-bio.com (NEW)
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31/1-2/2 2009, Perpignan:
Rencontre du Muscat,
www.vinsduroussillon.com
|
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19-22/2, Cannes: Convention
internationale des vins & spiritueux,
www.winemeetings-cannes.fr
|
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21-25/6 2009, Bordeaux: Vinexpo,
www.vinexpo.com
|
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2-4/7 2009, Angers: In Vino
Analytica Scientia,
www.angers.inra.fr
|
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22-24/2 2010, Montpellier:
Vinisud,
www.vinisud.com
|
- -
Sweden:
|
...
|
- - 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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this Brief to your friends and suggest that they sign up for a free
subscription! |
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 Copyright
©
Britt Karlsson, BKWine
www.bkwine.com
info@bkwine.com
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