BKWine TV: Domaine Sainte Croix on BKWine TV

It’s been a bit quiet on the video front recently here at BKWine. Too much stuff to do… But now we’ve just published a new video on BKWine TV: An interview with Jon Bowen who makes wine together with his wife at Domaine Sainte Croix in the Languedoc (Hautes Corbieres). We met Jon & Elizabeth for the first time at Vinisud recently (apparently, Jon reads the Brief and he had sent us an email suggesting that we come and taste their wines Which we did. Marketing works!). So we did a short video with Jon (with our new technology). Perhaps we should also mention that they make excellent wine. Watch the video interview with Jon Bowen at Domaine Sainte Croix on BKWine TV.

BKWine Pick: Domaine des Terres Georges, Minervois

Domaine des Terres Georges, Minervois

Three years ago we discovered this winery when we were researching our book on the Languedoc wines. We asked one of the producers we met if he had any personal recommendations and that’s how we got their name! And when we recently re-tasted their wines we can only conclude that their search for perfection continues and makes progress. The wines are exceptionally well made and very delicious. Roland and Anne-Marie Coustal have 12 ha in the southern part of Minervois. Their first vintage was 2001, after taking over Anne-Marie’s family’s vineyards. They still do all the work themselves, except for the harvest. A new cuvée is the Et Cetera. ”It’s our entry level wine and it’s very successful”, says Anne-Marie, ”many wine shops buys this one first and then they discover our other wines”. It is made from 60% carignan and 35% grenache and is very drinkable, unoaked with good fruit and structure and a bit of the typical Languedoc herbs and spices (5.50 euro). Very good is the Racines 2007 from 100% carignan, lots of character fruit, elegance – a genuine Languedoc. Exceptional value for money at 9.75 euro. Quintessens 2007 is a 100% syrah, dense structure, long and good complexity on the palate. The varietal character does not dominate; the wine is still very much from the Languedoc.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

BKWine Pick: Domaine de Pialentou, Gaillac

Domaine de Pialentou, Gaillac

Domaine de Pialentou is a family owned property in the appellation Gaillac in the French South-West, near Toulouse. It is beautifully situated in the small village of Brens by the river Tarn. The Gervais family started to convert it to organic farming in 2007 and this year (2010) they will get their certificate. Now they have grass growing between the vines, making for less compact soil and natural fertiliser. They have planted hedges to attract “good” insects. They have 12.5 ha and make several different cuvees. They use several local and not very well known grape varieties, as is often the case in this region. And they even have a Swedish connection: the mother of Agnès Gervais, who runs it today, is Swedish. A favourite of ours is the white Mauzac Blanc Sec, made from the local grape of the same name. Very good, appely with individuality. Unfortunately only made in small quantities. Some of their reds can be a bit rustic, worth looking for is e.g. the Nuance de Cocagne, a syrah wine with spice, mixed with the local braucol and duras grapes. Or Les Gentilles Pierres where braucol gives a lot of fruit and merlot gives roundness, and cabernet sauvignon gives structure, with some spice added with the syrah. Gaillac is a little known district that is certainly worth discovering.
Click here for address and more recommendations.

Chile earthquake report #2: Colchagua badly hit

Many areas in Chile were very badly hit by the quake. New reports say e.g. that one of Chile’s biggest cities, Concepcion, was moved three meters to the east by the earthquake. Colchagua is one of the wine regions that were badly hit by the quake. Here is a report we’ve had from Andrea Ilabaca at MontGras Properties (www.montgras.cl):

“As you have seen, the earthquake that we lived through last Saturday, February 27th is one of the strongest in the world’s history. It’s said to be about 500 times stronger than the one that Haiti suffered in January.

Now, as we wait for Mother Earth to re-accommodate herself, we are living with the replicas; dozens of quakes a day, some even up to 6.5º on the Richter scale.

Colchagua was hit hard… and is on the ground. Till today there is still no electricity or running water.

Hundreds of Santa Cruz’s houses and buildings destroyed, on the ground.
The Santa Cruz Cathedral lost one of its towers and suffered major damages.
The losses and damages that our wineries suffered are great.



New bottles lost; Barrels down like bowling pins; Stainless steel tanks down; Santiago offices in a mess; Loss of wine; Thousands of bottles with and without wine lost; Fallen tanks near bottling line; Tanks laid down to rest.
…. BUT OUR DRIVE IS EVEN GREATER.




Fallen tanks immediately removed; Everything was taken out of the winery; Damaged bins, removed; Workers preparing orders; Everything was replaced and re stacked; All equipments cleaned and checked; Wine shop restacked and cleaned; Bin room restacked; Damaged bins and pallets removed; Service patios cleaned; Barrel chai restacked; Service patio cleaned, additional generators rented.




Each bin checked; Team work in re-establishing safety and order; Tanks checked to be able to receive 2010 vintage; Immediate removal of damaged tanks; Label supply room in order; Excellent morale of our workers.



The work carried out last week, since the day of the earthquake has been tremendous. The commitment and high spirit of our workers, despite the losses they may have suffered, is truly admirable.

Our Santiago office, Visitors Centre and our wineries are fine and operative. We shipped 3 containers last Wednesday. We are harvesting normally since last Thursday and tomorrow, we start our normal bottling process.

Fruit reception since last Thursday; Harvest, fruit selection and vinification underway!



Initially, we were pessimistic about the amount of the losses. Only for your information, we now estimate them to be around US$ 3 million, although we hope to have an exact figure this week and gratefully, we do have insurance coverage.

We are standing strong! But our country and region have been very affected. For us to recover quickly, please remember:

The best way to help CHILE is by preferring our products.

The best way to help MontGras Properties, is by paying all invoices soon to expire and with anticipated payments of placed orders.

The best way to help the workers and neighbours of the Colchagua Valley, is to send your donation via wire transfer to the Corpbanca account, or cheque to our corporate office. With this money, we can start building homes in the piece of land we have donated to our workers.

Don’t forget us, we do need your help!

The entire MontGras Properties Team”

The text refers to donations to Corpbanca. We don’t have any details of that activity, other than that it has been put in place to help raise money for workers and neighbours in the Colchagua Valley. If you would like to make donations we suggest you contact MontGras to get the details: www.montgras.cl. Andrea ends with a note that they are among the fortunate: “Luckily, we faired quite well under the circumstances, as other neighbouring wineries lost everything and suffered greater damages. But our greatest asset by far, is our people. They truly make the difference!” (Photos provided by MontGras Properties)

Chile earthquake report #1: things are slowly getting back to “normal”

This is information on the situation in Chilean vineyards from Helen Albano of Brandabout SA, www.brandabout.cl, a marketing and promotion organization for Chilean wines:

“Last week was a very eventful week in which information surrounding the real situation in the effected regions and the vineyards was both difficult to get hold of and understand the implications for the next few months. Towards the end of the week however and today, the picture has become much clearer and I would like to share this information with you.

Please remember that the worst affected areas are the coastal areas immediate around Conception which were badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. These are the principal areas which are shown on television, showing complete devastation and they are not the areas in which the vineyards are located.

We have now been in touch with approx. 90% of our client vineyards in Chile. Almost all of them have experienced some losses to their infrastructure in their bodega, a minimal loss of wine and in a few cases also suffered structural damage to their commercial offices in Santiago.[...]

In Santiago, business has now resumed and is operating normally. The road networks are good and there are no visible effects of the earthquake except in very isolated areas – mainly the older parts of Santiago. All communications channels are now working and we have good internet, mobile and fixed line telephone connections. All the shops have resumed business and restaurants have re-opened.

The main highways to the North (Ruta 5) and to the coast (Ruta 68, Ruta 78) are completely open and not affected by the earthquake. To the south of Santiago, the main highway (Ruta 5) is open but suffered some damages. Journeys south now take longer than expected with some diversions in places. With the high amount of government and military aid traffic on this road, it is expected that the main communication channels will be repaired very quickly.

Vineyard areas:
-- Elqui, Limari – ok, not affected
-- Aconcagua – very limited damage in some vineyards
-- Casablanca – ok (no reports so far)
-- San Antonio – ok, (no reports so far)
-- Maipo – very limited damage in some vineyards
-- Cachapoal – affected in some areas
-- Colchagua – affected
-- Curico – affected
-- Maule – affected
-- Bio Bio – no report so far

All of the vineyards are now accessible and we are looking forward to business resuming with them in April. [...]”

Welcome to the BKWine Brief nr 80, march 2010

New issue of the BKWine Brief out. Here's the intro:


It has been an eventful few weeks lately. Most dramatic, and tragic, is the earth quake in Chile. It has cased much damage in the wine districts even if it may be less catastrophic in most wine regions than what was initially feared. In this Brief we have two reports from Chile, written by people in Chile. One gives an overview with at least a few positive notes, the other is more personal and talks about more damage. Read them below. In May BKWine expects to go to Chile and we will come back with more info then.

We have been in the south of France recently, in Montpellier, at France’s second biggest wine fair, Vinisud. As always, a very interesting show where we met old acquaintances and made some new friends. You will find a short summary below and we you will be reading more about those wines and winemakers in coming Briefs.

We will soon be leaving for South Africa. Tomorrow, actually. South Africa has seen a tremendous success over the last few years. It has for some time been the biggest supplier of wine to Sweden and has just recently overtaken France on the UK market. In Sweden the success is no doubt partially due to that the South Africans happily sell their wines in bag-in-box. 60% of all wine in Sweden is sold in BiB (mainly) and other non-bottle containers. Secondly, in Sweden there is one big buyer (the monopoly) and in the UK the big supermarket chains are taking a bigger and bigger portion of the wine sales. For a big (or very big) buyer it is often easier to buy from big suppliers, such as you find in South Africa, but have a hard time finding in France or Spain. That’s some structural reasons for the success. But more important is probably the fact that there is much good and excellent wine produced in South Africa. And we are very excited to go there to discover it on site!

So, let’s go pack the bags!

Britt & Per

PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief or forward it to them ! More on wine:
Guest writers on BKWine.com
Wine videos: BKWine TV
Wine photography



Read the full Brief here (or get a subscription!): BKWine Brief.

Prizes to wine bloggers

The wine show Salon des Vins de la Loire gives since a few years (or is this the first time?) prizes to the best wine blogs. It is French speaking wine blogs (albeit not purely French blogs as the prize list will show) but it can be interesting to look at as inspiration even if you are not very francophone. Here are the winners:

- The internet surfers' prize and prize for best design: Aurélia Filion, http://busurleweb.com./. We’ve previously written about Bu sur le Web in the Brief (it’s her with the entertaining videos and wonderful “accent”). It is also worth noting that the best design is very, very minimalist. Well chosen!

- Best writer: Hervé Lalu, http://hlalau.skynetblogs.be/

- Best interactivity: Emmanuel Delmas, http://www.sommelier-vins.com/

- Special Loire prize: Jacques Berthomeau, http://www.berthomeau.com/

- Best blog: Anne-Laurence Chadronnier, http://rougeblancbulles.blogspot.com/

BKWine TV: [E] Jon Bowen at Domaine Sainte Croix

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine_tours.htm --- Jon and Elizabeth Bowen make wine at the Domaine Sainte Croix in the Languedoc region in the south of France. They are in the sub-region called Corbieres (or Haut Corbieres), not very far from Spain. Theyre near Narbonne and Perpignan. They started out six years to produce vins de terroir, coming from the UK. They became convinced that there is a great potential in the wines from this region after having worked for other wineries as winemakers for some time.

They make a very interesting white wine, called La Serre, made from grenache blanc and grenache gris. It is a very elegant and mineral wine that expresses the character in the soil. Their main production is red though with the cuvees Le Fournas, their entry level wine, Magneric, Carignan, and Celestra. All wines are made from blends of carignan and grenache grapes. They also have some syrah and mourvedre and a few other grape varieties planted. Yes, they make a wine called Carignan that is a grape variety that is mostly known for uninteresting volume wines, but here at Domaine Sainte Croix it makes dense, character-full wines.

They are also in the process of becoming certified organic. This is one way Jon and Elizabeth Bowen try and express the full character of the soil and the vineyards in the Hautes Corbieres  and part of the belief that "fine wine is made in the vineyard". Another aspect is that they use wild yeast. All those things contribute to the stringency and elegance of their wines.

More on Domaine Sainte Croix: http://www.saintecroixvins.com

Music: DovEporTar, Il sigaro a metà, http://www.jamendo.com

By BKWine, http://www.bkwine.com. Interviewer: Per Karlsson, BKWine. © Copyright BKWine, Per Karlsson.

See all our wine videos on our BKWine TV channel: http://www.youtube.com/bkwine

Not fun in Champagne

As expected 2009 was a difficult year for Champagne – the wine district that otherwise over recent time has suffered very little (none, to be precise) of the hardship that most wine regions have seen. Sales were down with “only” 9%. Some earlier predictions pointed in the direction of -25% or more but that was avoided. In total 293 million bottles shipped. The French market remained stable compared to 2008 and since it represents more than 60% of total sales it certainly dampened the down turn. Where the Champenois lost most ground in Europe was in the UK, Italy and in Spain. The total for Europe fell with 17%. For the “rest of the world” the fall was 25%. These numbers are in volume. If counted in value the fall was more: -17% world-wide, since prices have been falling and the expensive luxury cuvees have been difficult to sell (perhaps an opportunity to by the Clos d’Ambonnay on the cheap – ”hey, buddy, only $2000 for a bottle”?). All this will have effect of course: Vitisphere.com reports that e.g. Piper-Heidsieck is letting go of a quarter of its employees (they’ve lost 42% of the revenues). CIVC, the producer organisation, is less gloomy: they think 2010 might be better since their estimates are that global consumption was much higher than shipments from Champagne. In other words, stocks down the distribution chain are being depleted. Well, we’ll have to see in a year’s time. Vitisphere.com

Today’s scoop

We read in The Guardian a long (it feels) article about a wine expert called Tim Hanni who, according to what the Guardian says, recommends that wine consumers should ignore what the wine critics say and drink what they like themselves… And where is the news item? Read more about this revolutionizing opinion: www.guardian.co.uk

A big (BIG) wine bottle

But we don’t mean just big, we mean REALLY, REALLY BIG. Want Wines in Liaoning in China has produced a bottle containing 1,850 litres of wine. It measures 5 meter in height. 'We are very proud, and the wine is very good. We have all had a glass from the bottle to celebrate,' said a company spokesman according to Metro.co.uk. Well, it would hardly make any difference if the pilfered a bit of that wine before putting in the cork. Read more and see it on picture here: www.metro.co.uk

Don’t put monkeys in the microwave oven

It may sound obvious. But in Sweden there is a bag-in-box wine called Three Monkeys, and it might not be wise to do even with that. Some bright and investigative mind decided to test what happens if you but a BiB in the microwave oven. (Perhaps his theory was that it might improve?) Ahead he went. Even better: he filmed it all and put it on YouTube. The effect of microwaving a bag-in-box wine is, to say the least, spectacular! Watch the video on YouTube. The question is: is it true or is it fake? What do you think?

Catastrophe relief organisations refuse donations from wine importers

In the newsletter WoW News we read that several catastrophe relief organisations in Sweden have refused or returned donations from wine importers who have wanted to support the work in Haiti. SOS Children’s Villages is one of the (heartless?) organisations. “We don’t accept money from companies who works with guns, pornography, tobacco or alcohol”, says Pia Watkinson, spokesperson at SOS Children’s Villages. One wine importer, Arvid Nordquist, wanted to donate 120,000 kr to the work on Haiti but was refused. Other organisations in Sweden who refuse donations from wine importers are Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, and Amnesty International. A depressing standpoint and reflecting an odd view of the world and priorities. We can only suggest that you think twice to which organisations you choose to donate in the future.

How to turn water (?) into wine; or how to turn 67 million bottles into 160 million

Perhaps they hoped no one would notice (although it is rather ‘bulky’). It appears that Sieur d’Arques in Limoux in the south of France has sold 160 million bottles of pinot noir to E&J Gallo to go into their very popular brand Red Bicyclette. The problem is that, according to official statistics, there are only 67 million bottles produced in the region. So a hawk eyed (was that really needed) inspector started to ask questions. (Apparently, Gallo had not thought much about the odd situation.) Today, both French and American customs and regulation authorities are very interested in the matter. Both fines and jail sentences seem to be in line. Tom Fiorina at The Wine Route tells the story both amusingly and in detail on his blog: ”Red Bicyclette scandal: there’s un pigeon born every day” (and don’t miss the illustration!)

Cork dogs to fight TCA?

Corked wines is still a problem. It is often the fault of the foul smelling chemical TCA. Even if the situation seems to have improved over recent years (fewer corked wines) it’s still a problem. A reader of the Brief suggested that one could teach dogs to identify TCA and find bad corks before they find their way into a bottle. Dogs can find both narcotics and truffles so why not TCA? Yes, why not? So we posed the question to Carlos de Jesus, marketing director of Amorim, the world’s biggest cork producer. It turns out that our reader was not the first to have the dog idea. The answer is that, yes, one could probably train dogs to find TCA. But it would have two drawbacks: First, there are quite a few corks made (billions each year) so you would need to have very fast dogs or very many dogs. But perhaps more importantly, various health and safety or food control administrations might not see in a favourable light dogs poring over food closures (envision a sniffing and slobbering hound…). That’s why they are likely to stick to the expensive gas-chromatographers and mass spectrometers they already have invested in.

New Zealand wine producers regroup to raise prices

A new grouping of New Zealand wine producers has been created to promote quality wines from the island country. It is called The Specialist Winegrowers of New Zealand (TSWNZ!). In the first instance they focus on promoting the best varietal wines, that they see as the strength of NZ but also grape blends are admitted in the group. The initial members are Destiny Bay Wines, No1 Family Estate, Vinoptima, The Hay Paddock och Wooing Tree Vineyard. One of their aims is not only to promote quality wines but also to raise the prices of the wines (perhaps an odd thing to promote in a press release?). One should probably see that against the backdrop of the looming storm cloud of over-production and thus falling prices that is much talked about in NZ today. Unfortunately we’ve not had the opportunity to taste their wins. http://tswnz.com/

Another bright bottle idea?

Dom Pérignon, the luxury champagne brand made by Moët & Chandon, i.e. the luxury products group LVMH, has launched a special packaging of the Dom Pérignon bottle for night clubs. It is called “lightskin” and for a reason. It is a tight fitting plastic cover that glows in the dark (maybe so that you can find the bottle in the dark corner of the club?). The glow emanates from light diodes embedded in the base of the “skin”. The packaging is not for sale in retail. The champagne is the same as in bottles without the green skin. On the other hand, it is probably of no real importance what’s inside the glass body in this case. A clear (shining?) win for form over contents… www.clairethirion.com

Valle d’Aosta – valley wines to discover

Most people would think of ham and of skiing rather than wine. But they do make wine in Valle d’Aosta. As a matter of fact, all 20 Italian regions produce wine. But the quantity is not large; only 2 million bottles are produced per year. But the quality is high, from what we could judge from a tasting in Paris. So if you go there, make sure to dive into the local wines. 60% of the production is white, some of it sparkling of excellent quality. The grapes are often local varieties, almost unheard of elsewhere. For example fumin, petit rouge and prié blanc. But they also do some excellent dry pinot gris, sweet moscato and red syrah wines.

This is Italy’s smallest region and it is almost exclusively mountain country. The vineyards are at the foot of Mont Blanc, the mountain the Italians share with France. The slopes are steep and difficult to work, sometimes with terraces. This is indeed high altitude wine growing: up to 1300 m above sea level. Modern wine production is a quite recent phenomena and they had their first DOC in 1991. Therefore the vines are often young which, according to the Italian sommelier Moreno Rossin, gives wine with a fresh fruit, often suitable to drink young.

The red fumin was an interesting acquaintance to make. It’s one of those rare grapes that have coloured grape pulp (a ‘tinturier’ in French) and it makes a wine with an intense fruity cassis flavour. You could try the Fumni 2007 from L’Atouéyo de Saraillon Fernanda, a DOC Valle d’Aosta. An excellent sparkling wine is the one made from prié blanc grapes from La Cave du Vin Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle (certainly a mouthful of a name). Aromatic with lots of pears (poire william) and a fine mousse and smooth taste. More info http://www.regione.vda.it

American wine tasting in Paris

This spring (hopefully spring by then!) we will also see a very interesting wine tasting take place in Paris. This time the focus will be on Zinfandel from all over the United States. 92 wineries and over 200 wines will be on show. The tasting will take place at the residence of the ambassador on March 24. Only for trade and media. For more info, contact Marie-Claire Fauveau: tel 06 12 49 85 93- mcfauveau-arrobas-wanadoo-point-fr

The world’s lightest bottle

Tesco, the big English supermarket chain, has launched what is said to be the world’s lightest glass wine bottle, weighing only 300 grams. A normal bottle weighs in at around 450 g. A champagne bottle is around 850 g and some show-off cuvée of body building wines (assuming body building drinkers) have bottles that weigh more than 1 kg! More on the feather-weight bottle on Jamie Goode’s blog.

Jeanjean and Laroche becomes Advini

Some time ago we wrote that Laroche, the big wine producer based in Chablis, created by Michel Laroche, has been bought by the even bigger producer Jeanjean based in Languedoc, and that the merged company will get a new name. The new name has now finally been revealed: Advini. Jeanjean is perhaps not a familiar name for many readers but the group includes, in addition to Laroche, names such as Ogier, Rigal, Gassier, Cazes, and Antoine Moueix.

More on Worcester Sauce

We’ve been writing about the wine blog called Worcester Sauce, written by Stuart George, since some time now. The big question has been, why is it called The Worcester Sauce Blog? The latest suggestion is that “Nobody knows what on earth goes into this stuff”. May we add that this suggestion comes from a fellow (unnamed) wine writer… http://worcestersauce.wordpress.com/

BKWine in the press

We’ve had quite a good month, as far as press coverage goes. Dagens Industri (“the FT of Sweden”) featured BKWine in a half-page article, thanks to the tasting we’re doing at Vinisud. The Helsingborgs Dagblad (the local in Helsingborg, Britt’s birth city) had a one column text on Britt at the occasion of our book presentation in the city. And on VinVin.se, the wine site of Allt om Mat (Sweden’s biggest food magazine) and Expressen (one of the biggest dailies), there was one article on our 10 Predictions for Wine in 2010, as well as an article and a review of our new book A Wine is Born. We’re quite happy with that!

More forecasts for wine in 2010

John Mariani has, just like we did in the last issue of the Brief, made predictions of what will happen in 2010 in the wine world. Here’s what he thinks:

1. Prices will continue to fall
2. More and more people will buy wine online
3. Wine blogging will continue to grow, albeit not always with credible contents
4. California misses the chance to make wines that are more elegant and subtle and continues to make alcohol and fruit bombs
5. The flood of new wines from South America and Eastern Europe may recede, unless they keep their prices down
6. New Zeeland hits problems due to over-production
7. Champagne sees continued problems too: too many too expensive wines and increasing competition from sparkling alternatives
8. Hard times for luxury restaurants and more focus on good-value wines (rather that luxury) wines in restaurants
9. More and more producers adopt the screw cap
10. Americans buy more wine under $10, the Chinese also consumes lots of inexpensive wines

Read more on www.bloomberg.com

European Wine Bloggers Conference 2010 in Austria!

Now it’s official. The 2010 European Wine Bloggers Conference (#EWBC) will take place in Vienna in Austria on October 22-24. It is an occasion for all wine bloggers to meet, as well as for everyone else who are just interested in the blogging phenomena, or just interested in wine and the internet (and I am sure there will be lots of talk on social networking this year). A definite “recommend”. More info on the EWBC here: http://winebloggersconference.org/europe/

Excursion in the country of fire in Provence 29 & 30 May

Terroir de Pierrefeu (the country of the stones on fire?) is an area in western Provence not far from the big city of Toulon. For the second time they will organise a “balade gourmande”, or gastronomic excursion to the vineyards and the countryside, a trip that will be accompanied by delicacies prepared by four different restaurants and no doubt a few nice wines too. More info http://www.terroir-pierrefeu.fr

Wood disease - maladie de bois

A big problem in many vineyards today is ’maladie de bois’ (wood disease?). It is a fungal disease that attacks the vine and finally kills it (there are several different types, e.g. esca and eutypiose). Previously, it has been effectively treated with a mixture containing arsenic, but since it turned out to be harmful not only to the vine it is now forbidden. Today the wine growers just have to wait until the vine dies and then pull it up (or pull it up earlier of course). But there is a problem – you have to make sure you get as much as possible of the roots out of the ground since otherwise the virus will remain in the sick root. And that is not easy to do. In Auvergne they have been doing tests with a mini-excavator with a contraption that can pull up the vine and almost all of the roots, and it has proven to do a pretty good job. Read more on the tests here: www.sauvat-vins.com (Photo: Sauvat-Vins)

Chateau des Estanilles changes hands

Château des Estanille, in the Faugères appellation, is one of the leading wineries in Languedoc. It was created by and has been run by Michel Louison. Louison was one of the pioneers in making quality wines in the Languedoc. The buyer is Julien Seydoux, son of Michel Seydoux, a French business man and film producers (Prospero’s Books, Cyrano de Bergerac). He also happens to own one of France’s major football clubs (Lille). (Michel Seydoux is also the grandson of one of the founders of the Schlumberger empire who today is world leading in oil prospecting technology). Seydoux want to continue on the path of Michel Louison, making wines with “elegance, finesse and superb fruit” according to the press release. The vineyard has 35 hectares and is planted with syrah, mourvèdre, grenache, carignan, and cinsault. It will be interesting to follow the development of this winery, one of the leading estates in the Faugères. http://www.chateau-estanilles.com/

Bordeaux crisis – in the USA?

One of the biggest (if not the biggest) importer of exclusive clarets to the US, Diageo Chateau & Estates, has closed down its Bordeaux business in America, as we wrote in the Brief # 77. The very extensive stock of Bordeaux wines that they had is now finding its way on to the market. For the consumer this might mean that there will be ample supply of not-so-expensive luxury wines. A sudden increase in supply (by e.g. someone who’s dumping his stock) usually leads to falling prices.

For others it can be less positive: The importers that are still active on the American markets see their stock falling in value and have difficulties in selling it without making a loss. For the wine chateaux it can also be a headache. It may become more difficult to sell new (or recent) vintages and it can also give a bad image if prices fall so that those consumers who have recently bought their wines, e.g. as primeurs (wine futures), now see the same bottles for sale at lower prices than what they paid for them previously (at supposedly favourable primeur rates).

Some wine chateaux have tried to dampen these negative effects by buying back from the market wines that they sold (perhaps more expensively) a few years ago. AFP (Suzanne Mustacich) cites as an example Chateau Gruaud Larose who has even launched a press release to try and put a positive spin on it: that it has given them the possibility to replenish their own cellar with vintages that they no longer had… Even Chateau Petrus is rumoured to have done it.

Perhaps one can compare it with enterprises who implement corporate share buy-back schemes when management considers that the stock market does not value their share high enough? What do you think? A positive or negative development?

What is ”organic wine”?

It’s not always easy to get to grips with the terminology, so here’s a short introduction. Strictly speaking one should talk about “wine made from organically grown grapes” since it is only what is done in the vineyard that is regulated, not what is done in the winery. But change is coming – the EU is working on defining what organic means also for the vinification. In spite of that we usually talk about “organic wines”. In French they say “vin biologique” or simply “vin bio”. There are a few terms that you should keep apart:

-- Organic wine: The work in the vineyard is certified by an official organisation, e.g. Ecocert. They do not use chemical treatments (except sulphur and copper) and wants to “respect nature”. The rules are common across the EU.

-- Biodynamic wine: They use special composts and herbal teas for treatments in the vineyard. Often they also follow a planting and work calendar based on e.g. the moon phases, albeit this is not strictly part of the biodynamic principles (and it is also used by non-biodynamic winemakers). All biodynamic growers are ‘par force’ organic. They are certified by private organisations, e.g. Demter and Biodyvin.

-- Natural wine: A concept that has gained in popularity recently. The concept is based on that one should do as little intervention as possible, if any. But there is no definition of what it is, so anyone can call the wine “natural”.

-- Culture raisonnée: there’s not really a good term for this in English. Sometimes “sustainable viticulture “ is used. One can describe it as “almost organic”. They try and not use any chemicals in the vineyard (like organic) but if e.g. grey rot threatens to wreak havoc with the total harvest the allow themselves to treat with chemicals. There is no official definition or certification, but many wine growers say they belong here.

It’s also worth noting that all of the above allow the use of sulphur and copper in the vineyard, if in lesser quantities than “conventional” farming. If you want to know more you can come to the organic wine tasting that we do at Vinisud, together with Vinisud, in Montpellier on February 22. The most organic region in France (in total acreage) is, not surprisingly, Languedoc Roussillon, and the least organic region is, not surprisingly either, Champagne (2008, including vineyards in conversion):

-- Languedoc-Roussillon: 8337 ha
-- Provence-Côte d’Azur: 6674 ha
-- Aquitaine (incl Bordeaux): 3763 ha
-- Loire+Centre: 2415 ha
-- Rhône/Savoie/Auvergne: 2175 ha
-- Alsace: 1261 ha
-- Bourgogne: 1231 ha
-- Midi-Pyrénées: 735 ha
-- Poitou-Charentes: 712 ha
-- Corse: 445 ha
-- Franche-Comté: 191 ha
-- Champagne-Ardennes: 191 ha

Approximately 3% of all vineyards are organic, which is more than for agriculture in general. Italy is the country with the most ecologic vineyards with 36,684 ha. France is second with 22,509 ha.

Open doors in Côtes du Bourg on May 8 & 9

On May 8 and 9 all the doors are open in Côte de Bourg, at least those of a hundred or so wine chateaux – the annual ‘portes ouvertes’. There will be plenty of other entertainment too: a wine tourism rally (whatever that means?!), cross-country biking, aperitifs on boats, wine tastings and much more. More info on: www.cotes-de-bourg.com

A wine that's gone flat

Adrien Cussonneau, a design student, won a well deserved prize for his original wine bottle. His end-of-studies project was to design a bottle on the theme “Loire profiles”. The resulting bottle turned out, well, flat. From one side it’s a classic bottle profile, from the other it is completely flat. Very elegant. The flat bottle gave him first prize in the competition organised by the Institut du Design Packaging. Congratulations! www.lecolededesign.com (Photo: the design project)

Winery for sale – in Bulgaria!

Our spook in Bulgaria reports that there is a winery for sale in Bulgaria. the place is equipped with classic winemaking stuff: concrete fermentation vats etc. the property does not have its own vineyard but there are many grape growers in the wine region where it is located. The area is known for its red wines made from merlot and cabernet grapes. I the area there is a lake that is connected to an irrigation system covering the nearby vineyards. To get more info, contact Dimitar Bankovski, e-mail: dbankovski-at-gmail-dot-com, phone: +359 889 443 745 (Photo: the winery)

BKWine Pick: Ma Cave Fleury, Paris 2

Ma Cave Fleury, Paris 2

Almost exactly one year ago Morgane Fleury opened the doors to her ’cave éco-logique’ in Paris called Ma Cave Fleury. (The celebration was on February 13 so we say Happy Birthday a bit late.) Ma Cave Fleury is both a wine shop and a wine bar – small but very charming. “Fleury” is the well known champagne producing family of that name, one of the precursors of organic and biodynamic champagne. You can of course buy their own wines here (very clean, stylish, with no sulphur and very little dosage), but also other wines with the same philosophy, in other words, most of the wines here are biodynamic and all are organic. And most of the producers are also friends of the family. You can for example find Léon Barral from the Languedoc, La Tour Grise from Saumur, Marcel Richaud from the Rhône Valley, Marcel Deiss and Pierre Frick in Alsace, Marcel Lapierre from Beaujolais. You can have a glass of wine with some charcuterie or cheese (it’s not a pure bar – they generally serve something with the wines). If you book in advance you can also get a hot meal. The location, on Rue Saint Denis, with its seedy reputation, may make you hesitate, but Morgane shrugs it of and notes that there have never been any problems. They also organise wine tastings and other events, advertised on Morgane’s blog. Go take a look: http://macavefleury.wordpress.com

Click here for address and more recommendations.

Record breaking organic wine fair: Millésime Bio

The number of visitors grew by 76% compared to 2009 to reach 3000 visitors at the organic wine fair in Montpellier that just took place. The number of exhibitors was also substantially up: plus 39% to reach 489. There were wines from thirteen different countries to taste and visitors that represented 26 different countries. The first edition of the show was held in 1993. Schedule a visit to next year’s Millésime bio: 24-26 January 2011 in Montpellier. More info www.millesime-bio.com

Wine of the Month

Åsa’s wine of the month
Riserva Castel Sant´Elena
A wine for the ”goderecci”: Riserva Castel Sant’Elena. In other words, a wine for those of you who seek pleasure (which is what goderecci means in Italian), and as often when you are looking for some real pleasure it’s not exactly cheap. It comes from old vines of merlot and cabernet sauvignon in Umbria, not far from Perugia. Open the wine and decant it at least half an hour before serving to let the aromas develop – red fruit, as black currants and other dark fruit will then reach your nose when you dip it in the glass. In the mouth it is warm with a touch of tannin and a bit of ripe, jammy flavours. It is a Riserva 2007 and it wouldn’t hurt to keep it another few years to let the tannins round off a bit. www.cantinebusti.it. Around 30 euro.

Organic wines at Millésime Bio

We were (Per was) recently at the organic wine show in Montpellier: Millésime Bio. It is a wine fair that is quite different from many others. First, of course, since there are only organic wines there (well…. there were also some almost-organic wines, in “conversion”). But also because there are no traditional show stands. Every exhibitor gets a table and the size of the table is the same for everyone, so it has a certain democratic feel about it. It also avoids you having to wade through masses of utterly uninteresting, but gigantic, stands before you get to the interesting stuff. And interesting stuff there is. Obviously, not all organic wine is quality, or even good wine, but you do find quite a lot of interesting producers at Millesime Bio. I’d say that the ration of interesting to uninteresting is probably higher here than at most other fairs, disregarding if you are specifically interested in “bio” (the French for organic) or not. It is as much an occasion to discover new things as it is to say hello to old acquaintances. Here are some of the noteworthy rencontres this year:

-- Terre des Chardons – a biodynamic (sometimes very biodynamic) southern Rhône producer in the Costières
-- Domaine de la Crois Senaillet – in Burgundy / Maconnais making mineral chardonnays, including one that is made entirely in the curious egg-shaped concrete tanks
-- Domaine Freyburg – in Alsace, affordable whites, doing comparative trials with biodynamism
-- Chateau de Gaure – Limoux and Le Tour de France, some interesting (and curious) cuvees
-- Domaine Boucabeille – Roussillon with powerful wines
-- Alain Chabanon – confirmed talent in Languedoc, very unusual merlot (!) among many other things
-- Clos de l’Anhel – young and ambitioius domaine in Languedoc
-- Jean-Babtiste Senat – a refugee Parisian with elegant yet powerful reds
-- Daniel le Conte de Floris – a refugee journalist turned winemaker turned wine bar host (Pézenas) with wines with impossible names (but worth the while)
-- Mas des Agrunelles – a young couple running three different (MdA, Mas Nicot and Dom. la Marelle) small family properties with great talent
-- Henri Milan – veteran Provence producer near Aix
-- Chateau Haut Garrigue – a young Irish couple settled in Bergerac
-- Domaine Pialentou – a half-Swedish producer in Gaillac who’s made great strides over the last decade
-- Domaine Tour des Vidaux – a German producer in Provence with a really, really big beard
-- Domaine Pithon-Paillé – Loire winemaker revived like the Phenix making serious whites and some reds
-- Manoir de la Tête Rouge – some off-dry entry level wines and some more serious wines too
-- Domaine Virgile Joly – newish Languedoc (Montpeyroux) producer including a cuvée said to be “the Jura of the Languedoc”
-- Domaine Chateau de la Selve – a very young couple in the unlikely place of Ardèche
-- Domaine Paire – making some serious Beaujolais and some lovely-named but defunct Bourgogne Grande Ordinaire
-- Chateau Pech-Latt – a very reliable source for a good Languedoc bottle
-- Domaine Grand Guilhem – at the very far end of the Languedoc with lovely wines and lovely chambres d’hôtes
-- Domaine Zelige-Caravent – a start-up Pic Saint Loup producer making e.g. Zazou à Zanzibar. Do keep it up!
-- Cascina Corte – an Italian producer of Piedmont wines with unusually good volume
-- Domaine de la Croix Vanel – making excellent Languedoc terroir wines
-- Domaine Turner-Pageot – a start-up Australian-French family venture with great ambitions
-- Domaine Coston – will be making wines from the land that Robert Mondavi was not allowed to buy some years back (not their fault!)
-- Domaine Costeplan – making some lightish and fruity white and some more substantial reds

New (or renovated) photo blog for BKWine Photography

BKWine Photography, the name we’ve chosen for our wine, travel and food photo archive, has undergone a renovation. We’ve completely re-done the design for the photo blog, the Wine Picture Blog, http://wine-pictures.blogspot.com/. Easier to read, less cluttered. For those who are curious how you do a blog renovation we’ve written a post on how we did it. We also have a separate site dedicated to the photos. It’s been there for a little while now but it is still in “beta”. Recently we also gave it it’s very own web address (url): BKWine Photography on http://www.bkwinephotography.com. Do pop in and have a look! What do you think?

BKWine Pick: Domaine Courtault, Chablis

Domaine Courtault, Chablis

Jean-Claude Courtault came from the Loire Valley to Chablis in 1974 to work as vineyard manager at a winery in Lignorelles. In 1984 he started to buy his own land and in 1987 he launched his first vintage. Now Jean-Claude has 20 hectares and he has almost handed over to his daughter Stéphanie and her husband Vincent Michelet. Half of their production is ‘petit chablis’. “We make a good quality petit Chablis because we really make an effort. We’re one of the few who really care about making a high quality petit Chablis”, says Stéphanie as we taste her 2008. It is very fresh, with citrus aromas, refreshing acidity and hints of apple. A domaine well worth keeping an eye on.

Click here for address and more recommendations.