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In Bordeaux 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. On this trip we will visit both some big, famous Grand Cru Classé-châteaux and smaller ones that are less known, but very quality conscious. More info on this wine tour to Bordeaux.

More info on the BKWine wine tours here!

Custom wine tours

We also make custom designed wine tours – on-demand tours for you and a group of friends, for your company (maybe to scout new winegrowers?), for a special event… We can combine winery visits and wine touring with other activities: gastronomic workshops, visit to an oyster farm, truffles hunting, cheese making, and more. We’ve done tours for wine clubs, for sommelier educations, for corporate events, for wine importers, for wine course study groups… just to mention a few.

You'll get a tour designed exactly according to your requirements and tastes, made by one of the most experienced wine people in the business. We personally visit some 200 wineries and taste thousands of wines every year; we write on wine for various wine magazines (we had more than 30 articles published last year); in 2007 we published a ground breaking book on the wine of the Languedoc and this year we have another one coming. And we have organised hundreds of wine tours over the years.

 More info on the BKWine wine tours here!

 □  Producers

Colombaia, DOCG Chianti Colli Senesi
It’s a small property of only 4 hectares that has recently converted to biodynamic farming. They will have completed their Demeter certification next year. The production is artisan, they avoid adding any substances and in the vineyard they have a horse instead of a tractor. The wines are very interesting and expressive. Colobaia Bianco Toscano IGT is made from malvasia and trebbiano and has a good body. The reds are mostly from sangiovese and are typical Chianti wines with good structure, some tobacco and solid acidity and some fruit. Definitely food wines rather than parlour wines.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Château Moulin du Cadet, Saint Emilion, Bordeaux
Another small biodynamic recommendation this month. Classic, quite tannic and structured Bordeaux wines is the hall mark of Pierre Blois at Château Moulin du Cadet in Saint Emilion, just a short walk from the village. He has 5 ha, biodynamic since 2004. “Farming biodynamic means that you really have to be present in the vineyard all the time”, says Pierre. “You spend more hours in the field compared to conventional farming. And you also have to have staff that believe in the methods!” He’s very happy with the results. His vines are healthier and his wines have become more “lively” and with more minerality, he says. Very good wines, of a classic Saint Emilion cut.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Read about more recommended producers on the site: Favourite Producers

 □  Wine Bars and Restaurants

Bordeaux:

Chai Pascal Bar à Vins, Saint Emilion
This charming wine bar opened in the old town of St Emilion a year ago by Pascal Fauvel, who runs the place, and Catherine Papon-Nouvel, the owner of three St Emilion chateaux: Château Gaillard, Château Petit Gravet Ainé and Clos Saint Julien (see our video with Catherine here). Catherine’s wines are of course on offer but also many of her colleagues’ wines, both in St Emilion and from other districts. It’s a very relaxed place and if you want something to eat with your wine they offer platters with Basque charcuteries, cheese and smoked salmon. Open every day 11AM to 11PM in season, closed on Sundays the rest of the year.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Rhone:

Cave Saint-Marc, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
If you want to discover the vineyards of southern Rhône the small town of Villeneuve-les-Avignon is a good base. It’s almost like a suburb of Avignon, just across the river, but actually an old town in it’s own right. When the Pope was residing in Avignon in the 14th century the cardinals lived in Villeneuve and many of the impressive old buildings date from that period. A good place to taste the local wines, Tavel, Lirac, Côtes du Rhône etc, is in the wine bar cum wine shop cum restaurant Cave Saint-Marc in the centre of the town. It seems to be THE meeting point for locals. Try for example the delicious ‘petits farcis’, spicy stuffed vegetables. The cuisine is, as one would expect, decidedly Mediterranean – aubergines, tomatoes, spices and herbs dominate.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

 □  Wine of the Month

Criteria: an interesting wine (not too cheap) and one that you can enjoy with dinner or friends (not too expensive). And very good!

Åsa recommends: Cartizze, Desiderio Brisol & Figli
Time for bubbly. The beginning of summers gives of lots of excuses to open a bottle of sparkling wine. It may be end-of-school celebrations, barbecue with colleagues, or simply an evening with friends and family. In any case, the sparkling, or spumante, Cartizze from Desiderio Bristol & Figli is a good choice. Cartizze is made in eastern Veneto, in the Valdobbidene valley, 100% from the prosecco grape variety. It’s a “cru” wine with a fine delicate mousse, wonderful freshness and aromas of pears and apples. It has a touch of bitterness that adds balance and elegance. Serve it at around 9 degrees for aperitif. Around 20 euro. www.bisol.it

Jack recommends: Coptertino Rosso
This month I have a recommendation in the ’budget’ range: 2001 Copertino Rosso (6-7 euro). Too cheap for the fine cuisine for the nice dinner you might think. But give it a try to the cheese, and do try it with a not too strong parmesan. It is made from the negro amaro grape, ripe, leathery aromas, some cherries, a touch of burnt charcoal, well balanced with some dried fruits and nuts. Perfect to drink today rather than to age further. It is made by a cooperative in Puglia in Italy.

Sopexa, the French marketing agency for wine and other agricultural products, has conducted a big survey called the Wine Trade Monitor. The study is based on 1400 respondents in 16 countries. The survey will be repeated annually. It will be presented at Vinexpo in Bordeaux later in June but already today BKWine Brief can reveal some of the most interesting conclusions from the study (NB: it only covers still wine, no sparkling, no spirits):

The report from Wine Trade Monitor study will be presented in detail at Vinexpo by Sopexa on June 24 – worth a visit if you’re in Bordeaux. More info: www.e-sopexa.com

Valencia: rice and wine – but no paella

At the end of April I was in Valencia to taste wines, lots of wines. I was there for the big wine competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles which this year, inn spite of its name, was held in Valencia, the third biggest city of Spain. I didn’t know much about Valencia before going there, but I did know one thing. Valencia is known for its paella. And I love paella so what a wonderful occasion to taste the real thing, I though. But it turned out to be a difficult “fish” to catch. Sadly, I never actually managed to get a real paella during my days in Valencia and it wasn’t for lack of trying or for lack of rice. Valencia has the biggest rice paddies outside of south eastern Asia. A bit south of the city, close to a sweet water lagoon called Albufera, they have huge plantations of rice that end up in the paellas, and many other rice dishes. The Valencianas eat rice at least three or four time a week and all self respecting cooks claim, of course, to make the original paella valenciana. And come to think of it, it’s an excellent party dish for summer if the barbecue (cook) goes on strike.

But is there any wine in Valencia? There certainly is – plenty of wine in all colours, both around Valencia and the neighbouring city of Alicante, where thirsty tourists down much of it. If you want to go up a notch in quality you might want to make a trip to Utile-Requena, a few tens of kilometres inland at 900 meters altitude. The climate is hard, very warm summers and very cold winters. The dominant grape is bobal, a local variety. It is sometimes blended with tempranillo and garnacha. They make a lot of rosé, rosada, and some good, powerful and fruity reds. The big and modern Bodega Murviedo is a good source. Try for example their Corolilla Crinaza, a 100% bobal. Most of Spanish cava (sparkling) come from Penedes but Utile-Requena also produces some. Coto d’Arcis Cava Brut nature, without dosage, dry and delicious, and Hoya de Cadenas Cava Brut made from 100% macabeo, appley with a fresh acidity, are two that stuck in my memory.

Another name to remember in DO Valencia is Bodegas Enguera. Started in 1999, they are an organic vineyard. The label design is modern and so are their wines. Easy to drink, soft but with a good backbone structure. Cañada Negra 2008 is a blend of tempranillo and syrah that has been given a short aging in Hungarian oak. Benali 2007 is a monastrell/syrah mix with 16 months in French oak barrels.

Spain is not always sunshine. Taking a walk in the old city centre, the rain starts pouring and I take refuge in a small bar. I ask for a fino sherry and I get a glass of not unknown Tio Pepe. Nothing wrong with old Tio of course and it was delicious together with a few olives. So even if this was really about Valencia I’ll finish with a call to all of you to drink more dry sherry (as well as Valencia wine!). Dry sherry is the perfect aperitif now in summer time – and any other time. You can’t find dryer than fino and it is the perfect aperitif to get your appetite going for dinner. And that’s what aperitif is for, isn’t it?
-Britt

Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – prize winning wines

At the end of April Valencia was host to the 16th edition of the annual wine competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. CMB has grown from a modest start in 1994 to become one of the world’s biggest wine competitions. The first edition had 861 wines. This year they had over 6000 wines and spirits from 54 countries. There were 250 judges from 41 countries (BKWine representing Sweden). Italy, Spain, France and Portugal were the winners of the “Best Wine of Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2009”. The top scores went to:

Congratulations! And also a big hand for, for example, the excellent and modestly prices Bordeaux Château Thieuley who won a gold medal for a white sauvignon-sémillon wine; Gerovassiliou from Greece with a gold medal for his syrah 2006; Château Pech-Latt in Corbières with a silver medal for Tamanova 2006; and Château Saint-Jacques d’Alba in Minervois with a gold medal for their La Chapelle 2006. One of the big surprises (when the names were revealed after the blind tasting) was two fantastic wines from La Mancha in Spain: Condesa de Leganza Reserva 1998 and Varones Tempranillo Gran Reserva 1996. But were awarded well deserved gold medals. There are many, many other wines that we would like to mention (e.g. some excellent whites from Sicily – another big surprise!) but space does not allow it. Instead we recommend a visit to the web site www.concoursmondial.com where you will find the full list of winners.

More wine prizes : women journalists trophy

Coup de Coeur des Femmes Journalistes is the name of another competition where we recently were part of the judging panel. The competition is run by the wine cooperatives in four of the départements in southern France: l’Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales and Gard. In other words, it covers Roussillon, Languedoc and parts of the southern Rhône valley. We were a group of 20 female journalists from all over France and we tasted the wines that had been awarded gold medals in the annual ”Concours Régional des vins de la coopération”. Our task was to select and agree on a “coup de coeur”, our favourite, for each colour. Discussions were animated (you can imagine) but an agreement was finally reached. The selected wines will be the representatives and “standard bearers” for the cooperatives for the coming year.

Our Coup de Coeurs:

Les italiennes montent à Paris

« The Italian women arrive in Paris »… that’s what they did a few days ago. 12 female winemakers from all over Italy came to Paris t present their wines. They come from all over Italy and the common denominator is that they’re all organic. They call it “natural wines”. Here was Helena Dante from the biodynamic Azienda la Colombaia (se more under this month’s producer picks) and Isabella Pelizzati-Perego from Azienda AR.PE.PE in Valtellina in northern Italy. She grows 10 ha of nebbiolo. ”I like to follow the old traditions”, she says, ”with long skin maceration (30-40 days) and long barrel aging”. The wines are light in colour but very complex and with depths of flavour.

Daniela de Gruttola at Azienda Cantina Giardino in Campania in the south also makes very interesting wines from the white greco variety. The wines get long skin maceration, 7 days, which is unusual for whites. The result is a deep golden colour with lots of body (“gras”/fat they would say in France) and a touch of caramel (albeit dry). From Sicily we have Arianna Occhipinto from the winery carrying her own name. Her reds are full of character, made from nero d’avola and frappato. We particularly liked her Siccagno, a pure nero d’avola cuvée, with good fruit and excellent balance. Her’s the list of all 12, worth looking out for:

The end of the greatness of Vino Nobile? Italian wine bloggers in furore…

… due to a proposal from the local wine authorities (consorzio) for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to increase from 20% to 30% the allowed contents of “international” grape varieties. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is almost synonymous with sangiovese. At least for most people. The grape is locally known as prugnolo gentile and is closely linked to the regions soil and history. Today a Vino Nobile must contain at least 70% of prugnolo gentile, and can also have up to 20% of canaiolo nero, and 20% other red grapes, such as cabernet, merlot or syrah. The proposal is to increase the allowance of “foreign” grapes to 30%. Why transform this historic wine into a copy of the recently invented “super Tuscans”?, ask the Italian wine bloggers, as well as the well known wine journalist Franco Ziliani. Is a wine not unique because of its heritage and its traditions, which in this case is closely linked to sangiovese? Who would gain from changing VNdM to a more international style? These are the questions that the bloggers and journalists ask Federico Carletti, owner of the big winery Poliziano and also president of the Consorzio. They have not yet had any answer. We will continue to follow the issue. www.sommelier.it, www.vinoalvino.org, www.winesurf.it

French export markets
The latest export numbers we found was from 2006: a total of 14 million litres were exported (excluding sparkling wines). 58% were red or rosé and 42% white. The main export destinations:

Are you a wine blogger? – Your chance to win a wine scholarship!
Do you blog about wine since more than 6 months (ancient in the blogosphere!)? Then you have the chance to win a scholarship from the Wine Academy of Spain and from Catavino. You will be offered a three day intensive wine course focused on Spanish wine, organised by the Spanish Wine Academy. At the end of the course you have the chance to win a week-long wine tour to Spain. (It’s not limited to US entrants but the courses are in the US, and in Sweden.) Don’t miss this chance! More info: www.catavino.net PS: Tell them BKWine sent you!

The World’s wine markets by 2030
The American Association of Wine Economists has chosen “The World’s wine markets by 2030” as the theme for next year’s AAWE conference. They are calling for papers on the subject. Potential speakers should contact Kym Anderson. The conference will take place in Adelaide on February 7-9, 2010. More info http://www.wine-economics.org

Chocolate and vanilla calvados
At the upcoming Vinexpo Château du Breuil will launch two new products: First a calvados “Chocolate Blend”, which, if we understand it correctly, is not a chocolate flavoured calvados but one that has been specifically blended to go well together with dark chocolate. And then we have a Calvados-Vanille, which is not really a calvados but an aperitif (only 16% alcohol), with a base of calvados and flavoured with vanilla. Tempted? (We neither, we admit. Why would you, when plain old ‘normal’ calvados is maybe the best digestif you can get!) But we have tasted neither of the new products so we’re not in the right position to judge. More info: www.chateau-breuil.fr

Charity auction in Piedmont
On 23 May, 2009 Piedmont’s grand Albergo dell'Agenzia, home of Slow Food's Wine Bank, hosted the 7th annual wine & art auction 'Sorsi di Pace' to benefit the charity Emergency. Each of the 24 magnums of Barolo, Gattinara, Ghemme, and IGT wines were adorned with work from a different contemporary artist. The auction raised 16,000 euro, all of which goes to assist those in need in Sudan and other African countries.

Les Echos de Bordeaux
If you want to practice your French, and read about wine, you can subscribe to the newsletter Les Echos de Bordeaux. Les Echos is published by Agence Fleuri, which is a marketing agency focussing on wine. More info here: agence-fleurie.com (to subscribe to their newsletter you need to go to ‘Nous contacter’)

EU abandons reform plans for rosé wines
Some time back the EU countries agreed to a big reform of the wine sector. One thing that was agreed was to allow rosé wine to be made by blending white and red wine. This is already permitted, but only in Champagne. The idea was to make it a generally allowed practice. When time approached to reconfirm the agreement some wine producer woke up and started protesting, especially in France, and then also in Italy and Spain. They claimed that it would mean a catastrophe for rosé wines. Why it would be so horrible was difficult to understand. But due to these protests it has been decided to withdraw this proposal so it will not be allowed to make blended rosé. Except in Champagne of course. Now we are waiting for the producers to start campaigning for a change in the rules in Champagne. Or was it simply a way to try and protect one’s position against evil new competitors? Read more www.independent.co.uk

A new issue of Fine Wine ezine
A new issue of the ezine Fine Wine has been published. You can and about e.g. red and white from Provence. Find it here www.finewine.nu

La Clape becomes AOC/AOP
On May 29 La Clape was approved as an AOC/AOP. the wines used to be sold as “Coteaux du Languedoc – La Clape” but now they will be, simply, “AOC La Clape”. The district is close to the coast in the Languedoc, mostly on a small mountain that used to be an island but is now connected to the mainland. Many interesting wine producers and certainly wines that merit to become better known. If they will achieve that by removing ‘Languedoc’ from the label remains to be seen.

Top Burgundies to be sold on charity auction on-line
June 26 is the date: 1000 cases with 4 magnums will be sold on a charity auction. The entire sum will be donated to Restos du Coeur and to other charitable organisations in Burgundy. The grapes for the wines have been donated by some of the regions top growers: Domaine Anne-Claude Leflaive, Masions Louis Jadot (Jacques Lardière), Joseph Drouhin (Véronique Drouhin), Dom. de la Romanée Conti (Aubert de Villaine), Faiveley (Erwan Faiveley), Dom Dujac (Jeremy Seysses), Dom Roulot (Jean-Marc Roulot), and Louis Latour (Louis-Fabrice Latour). The four wines are premier crus, made from a blend of grapes coming from the different domains. More info www.climats-du-coeur.com

World’s best syrah
Syrah du Monde is the competition for wines made from the syrah grape. It is of course held in the Rhône valley. This year’s top ten wines included syrahs from South Africa, Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Switzerland (!), USA and Italy. Not bad. You can find the full list of winners here: www.syrah-du-monde.com

France lowers the VAT on restaurants
France has decided to lower the VAT on restaurant meals from 19.6% (the standard VAT) to 5.5% in an effort to stimulate the sector that is suffering from the difficult economic times (and since many years from the French 35 hour working week). The new VAT should take effect already on July 1. The VAT on wine will unfortunately not change but remain on 19.6%.

New – last? – summersault in the tragicomedy of the Saint Emilion classification
A new court ruling (will it be the last in a dozen or so?) has established that both the classification from 1996 and the one from 2006 will be valid. In other words, the chateaux that were classified in 1996 will all retain their honorific label and those that were upgraded in 2006 will keep it too. However, no downgrades will be done. Of course. Depressing. One wonders if the main purpose of classifications (in general, and this in particular) is to blow smoke in the eyes of the consumers. Read more: www.decanter.com and www.winealley.com

INAO approves new appellations: St Pourçain and Bugey
On may 28 INAO approved two new appellations: Saint Pourçain, and Bugey with Roussette de Bugey. Saint Pourçain is made from gamay or pinot noir grapes and covers some 600 ha. Bugey extends over 500 ha a little east of Burgundy. AOC/AOP Bugey can be red, white or rosé, or even sparkling. Roussette du Bugey is a white wine made only from the altesse grape (locally known as roussette).

- - France:

- - Sweden:

- - UK, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark,...:

Wine auction agendas:

Copyright © Britt Karlsson, BKWine
www.bkwine.com
info@bkwine.com