It is best to judge organic wines on their quality, not by a philosophy Do wine consumers have greater expectations when they drink organic wines? Sometimes it feels that way. They should not. It is always the skill of the producer / winemaker that determines how the wine will taste and how high the quality [...]
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Why increase the alcohol level in the Languedoc? Stop chaptalisation!
We have said it before and we will say it again: Why chaptalise in Languedoc? This is southern France we are talking about. With sun and heat during the growing season. These wines should have enough natural sugar to provide a decent alcohol level without having to add sugar or concentrated grape must The reason [...]
Let’s talk business: Why Planting Rights is a bad idea
“Planting rights” is an archaic system that limits the rights to plant new vines and protects the incumbent wine producers from competition. In this article Per Karlsson explains why it is bad for wine consumers and also bad for the long term health of the wine industry as a whole. My primary interest in wine [...]
Is it good for the wine consumer that the producers are now allowed to blend vintages with VCI?
A new kind of insurance for the wine producer: “The individual supplementary volume” Many things can happen in a vineyard. Weather problems are frequent. Diseases can reduce quantity and destroy quality. A small harvest could be disastrous for the producer. On the other hand, the change of character in a wine according to the specificities [...]
DIX jours de panne sur le réseau internet chez Numéricable – quelle galère
Numericable incapable de fournir un service réseau internet, même modeste, pendant dix onze douze treize quatorze jours (et plus) ! Non, VINGT-TROIS (23) JOURS DE PANNE RESEAU Numericable ! ET CA CONTINUE ! Depuis plus de dix jour Numericable n’arrive pas à fournir un service de réseau de qualité même modeste chez nous à Paris [...]
Do you have to “know” about a wine to be able to judge it fairly?
Do you need prior knowledge (about the wine region, producer etc) as a wine writer to evaluate a wine? Can you taste a wine totally blind and still give a competent tasting note? Or, if you do NOT taste blind are your tasting notes still reliable? This is all interesting but difficult questions. With no [...]
Should Bordeaux (or the French) have a monopoly on the term “chateau”?
Another example of outrageous protectionism or justified worries about consumer protection? The Bordeaux producers, or more precisely the Fédération des Grands Vins de Bordeaux (FGVB), the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB, who sent the press release) as well as the Confédération Nationale des AOC (CNAOC) is incensed by a discussion between the EU [...]
Does it matter for a wine blog if the wines you write about are samples?
Is it important or irrelevant with “disclosure” of free samples etc? Sparked by a twitter discussion and by yesterday’s text on French wine bloggers I though it could (possibly) be interesting to bring up this issue with “disclosure” again. “Disclosure” is mostly interpreted as that when you write about a wine you say “I received [...]
No more subsidies for enrichment. Forbid it, that’s what should be done!
Confédération française des vins de pays (CFVDP, an association for French Vin de Pays-producers) had a congress earlier this June and they discussed among other things the discontinuing of subsidies to enrich wines with concentrated grape must (MCR). La Vigne reports that CFVDP are against the subsidies being discontinued (big surprise…) and that it finds [...]
Why the system of Planting Rights should be abolished
“Planting Rights” is an archaic system by which winegrowers are not allowed to plant new vines (extend their vineyards) unless they have “planting rights”. Without these “rights” nothing can be planted. It has been in place for many years in the big wine producing countries in Europe, to some extent as a counter-party to the [...]
“Sustainable” and “Fair Trade”. What is it? Does it make sense?
Fair trade, sustainable, organic,… Is it perhaps a meaningless terminology? “Sustainable” is actually quite a curious terminology. Not least for wine. Sometimes it is used as some kind of “super category” embracing everything that is organic, environmentally friendly and sometimes even “ethical”. At other occasions it is used to describe a more narrow type of [...]
The range of products available at the Swedish monopoly is … great, good, or poor?
The Swedish retail monopoly for wine and spirits is managed by the government owned Systembolaget. It is one of the world’s biggest wine buyers (but not the biggest). It basically controls what wines are available on the Swedish market although in recent years it has become a little fuzzier, or “liberalised”, with internet shops and [...]
Low alcohol wines are good or bad?
Less is not always more when it comes to alcohol in wine Apparently there is a huge interest in the world for wines with low alcohol contents. On www.decanter.com we read about a report by Wine Intelligence, made on behalf of ProWein, the big wine fair in Düsseldorf, which opens at the beginning of March. [...]
Champagne in Beaujolais? Are the Champenois crazy?
We all know that Champagne is protecting its name with an almost fanatical intensity. God help the non-champagne-producer who puts the name of Champagne on the label. We read in the French wine magazine La Revue du Vin de France that the latest region to experience the wrath of the Champagne producers is Fleurie, one [...]
Sexism and equality in wine packaging
What do you think is most suggestive? Stylised pouting lips and the name “Wacky Chicks”, or A young girl with a flimsy skirt (petticoat?), with a wistful man with a flower, and the name “Untouched”? A while back we told you the story of a Swedish wine importer that had had his wine banned from [...]
Prices on Bordeaux primeurs mostly going up
Prices for Bordeaux primeurs are mainly going up. Again. Is that a cause for concern? No, we argue. Most if not all chateau in Bordeaux will have announced their prices for the primeurs 2010 by now although many of the “releases” seems to have been done later than usual. Perhaps that is because they wanted [...]
Vine planting rights: a return to protectionism?
A few years back all EU countries agreed to a reform of the agricultural policies concerning the wine sector. One element was to abolish the existing system with planting rights, that decrees that a grower has to ask for strictly controlled planting rights from the authorities. One consequence is e.g. that a successful producer cannot [...]
A Perfect 10?
Mother Nature was unkind in 2010 – an earthquake in Haiti, floods in Pakistan and an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland. There was huge financial trauma; many are still recovering. But commodities and collectibles – especially wine – have carried on regardless. The art market – or at least Damien Hirst’s reputation – wobbled before the [...]
The strange story of the proposed Languedoc classification
Is the purpose of a classification to benefit the consumer or to benefit the producer? That is one of the questions one can ask when reading about the new (yet to come) classification in the Languedoc. It was recently launched officially at a trade event in the Languedoc. The answer to the question seems to [...]
Publish and be damned! Or should we have a plan economy for Bordeaux wines?
In an article last week Jancis Robinson advocated a freeze period for comments and reviews on wines tasted at the Bordeaux primeur circus next week (presentation and trade tasting of the new 2010 vintage) until after the chateaux have announced their prices. She argued that holding off on comments may have a dampening effect on [...]
Is the market for Bordeaux wine a market economy or should it be a plan economy?
Jancis Robinson, the heavy-weight British wine critic, wrote an article last week about the imminent Bordeaux Primeurs circus called “Bordeaux 2010 – when to publish?” It has sparked an intense debate both on her site and on the internet in general. Read it all here: http://www.jancisrobinson.com In her article Jancis advocates that wine journalists and [...]
How to dig a deeper and deeper hole
Or: “A Prima Donna shouts too loud”? – A Portuguese challenge First of all I want to apologise to all my Portuguese friends, winemakers and others. And to all other who love Portugal and its wines. I had wanted to leave this debacle with the 1º Encontro e Prova Internacional de Vinho / 1st International [...]
An experience in how not to market Portuguese wines
Comments on the 1st International Wine Meeting and Tasting (in Portugal) This post is really a comment on a blog post by Luiz Alberto over at The Wine Hub, but for some mysterious reason the full commentary refuses to publish on that blog. Last week there was the 1st International Wine Meeting and Tasting (1o [...]
Is it outrageous that a bottle of wine can cost 1000€ or more?
You can ask the question differently (many do): “should we all be able to buy e.g. classed growth claret at reasonably affordable prices?” surprisingly often you get the answer “yes” to both questions. Many seem to be upset about the extraordinary prices that the best (or at least most expensive) wines in e.g. Bordeaux have [...]
Freedom to the vines? Should planting rights be abolished?
A few years ago the EU countries agreed a big reform of the wine production sector. A big part of this was the abolishment in time of the “planting rights” system. (It was also suggested that chaptalisation, adding sugar to increase the alcohol level, should be forbidden but winemakers protested too much.) The planting rights [...]
VinNet: An exciting new news site about wine? Or is it illegal marketing?
It is exciting to have a new site about wine in Swedish; a site which writes news about wine and which comments and recommends wines. There are not too many sites to choose from. ” VinNet is a news site about wine, which is run by wine lovers “- as they describe themselves. “Wine news [...]
Rural sales of locally produced wines and spirits to be allowed in Sweden?
There is currently a debate raging in Sweden on an issue that seen from the outside seems peripheral to say the least. Nevertheless it has escalated to become the most important item in the Swedish government’s review of its alcohol policy. Sweden has a monopoly on alcohol sales in the retail sector. The only shop [...]
New Cru Bourgeois “stamp” launched – new rules, winners & losers
In the olden times there was something called the Cru Bourgeois classification in Médoc (Bordeaux). But then, in 2003, they decided to review and modernise the classification. But unfortunately they hit on some road bumps. Some, who were left out of the classification were unhappy and thought that the procedure had not been fair. Eventually, [...]
Luxury DRC wines from 2006 to be released in Sweden at bargain prices on October 19
The Swedish retail monopoly Systembolaget has announced that they will release the long awaited lot of wines from the Domaine de la Romanée Conti on October 19. It is various cuvées from DRC from the 2006 vintage which have been resting in the monopoly cellars for quite some time. The top wine is the Romanée [...]
Languedoc to introduce Grand Cru…
Some areas in the Languedoc, that fulfil certain criteria, will be classified as Grand Cru according to a new proposal from the producers association, the CIVL. They want to have two levels: Grands Vins du Languedoc and Grand Cru du Languedoc. Grands Vins will include Minervois, Corbières, Saint Chinian, sparkling Limoux, Malpère, Faugères, Cabardès, muscat [...]
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