The year is soon coming to its end (we wrote at the end of December) and it will soon be time to plan what drink to finish it and celebrate the new year with. Or to have for dinner on New Year’s Eve (but you can have champagne anytime!). A champagne producer that we recently [...]
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Château de Chantegrive, Graves | BKWine Pick
Château de Chantegrive is one of the few really big chateaux in AC Graves (the other big ones are in Pessac-Leognan), with 90 hectares of vines. This is also the star of the Graves appellation (and one of our big favourites). The chateau is a family owned and is run by Hélène Lévêque. It was [...]
Château Franc-Mayne, Saint Emilion Grand Cru | BKWine Pick
This is a small and beautiful estate, situated very close to the pretty town of Saint Emilion. The wines here, made with merlot as the main grape variety, are classic Bordeaux wines that age beautifully for at least 12-15 years. We had a Franc Mayne 1995 for dinner the other day and it was delicious. [...]
Château Saint Jacques d’Albas, Minervois, Languedoc | BKWine Pick
Château St Jacques d’Albas in Laure-Minervois is run by Englishman Graham Nutter and his French wife Beatrice. They came here a few years ago, “when everything was in ruins” and now they have a beautifully renovated 80-hectare estate in the heart of Languedoc. We first got in touch with Graham about five years ago and [...]
Champagne Philipponnat | BKWine Pick
In the small village of Mareuil-sur-Aÿ a few kilometres east of Epernay, we find Champagne Philipponnat in a handsome house with a magnificent gate. Philipponnat is a small, high-quality champagne house. It owns 17 hectares of vines and buys grapes from approximately the same area to meet their needs. Around 700 000 500,000-600,000 bottles are [...]
Quality Beaujolais, Domaine des Terres Dorées | BKWine Pick
In the March Brief we said that Beaujolais needs promoting. And we would like to do our part. Because when a Beaujolais wine is of good quality it is really a very pleasant wine. One of our favourite producers in the area, Domaine des Terres Dorées, recently launched two wines at the Systembolaget in Sweden. [...]
Château Vignelaure – Cabernet sauvignon meets Provence
We taste wines back to 1970 from one of the most famous Provence estates A vineyard in Provence that also traces its roots to Bordeaux recently organised a tasting with wines back to 1970: Chateau Vignelaure in Coteaux d’Aix en Provence. Britt tastes the wines and meets the new owners. Château Vignelaure is not your [...]
Portuguese wines from Bacalhôa and Burgundies from Bichot
A number of exciting wines from the Portuguese wine producer Bacalhoa, white, red and sweet, and from the Burgundy négociant Bichot, white wines, chablis, and red pinot noirs at a tasting with the Swedish importer with a representative from each of the two wineries. Peter Modin reports on the best wines in the tasting. On [...]
Château de Respide, vineyard in Graves | BKWine Pick
There is much talk about the expensive Bordeaux wines but when you know where to look you can find very well made and delicious wines for 10-12 euro. A fairly new acquaintance is Château de Respide, owned by Franck Bonnet. The chateau is in the southern part of Graves, just outside of Langon. Franck makes [...]
Château Fourcas-Hosten, Listrac – BKWine Pick
We recently had a Château Fourcas-Hosten 2003, bought a few days earlier for the sum of 12 euro. It was a fantastic Bordeaux – classic in style with cedar wood and firm tannins (despite the hot summer of 2003) – and the price was as fantastic. Who says Bordeaux wines are expensive? The chateaux in [...]
La Chablisienne – a high quality cooperative
There are a lot of wine cooperatives in France, some of them good, some of them bad. One of the best is to be found in Chablis. This cooperative is called La Chablisienne and you will find the wines of La Chablisienne easy enough, as the cooperative is responsible for about 25 % of the [...]
Château La Garde, Pessac-Léognan – BKWine Pick
Château La Garde in Pessac-Léognan is a beautiful small chateau in the style which in French is called chartreuse. The chateau was bought by Dourthe (big négociant in Bordeaux, now owned by Champagne Alain Thienot) in 1990 and the quality of the wines has improved enormously these past few years. The vineyard consists of 60 [...]
Mas du Soleilla, La Clape, Languedoc – BKWine Pick
Soleilla means sun in Occitan, the ancient language langue d’oc. Mas du Soleilla is beautifully situated, close to the sea, in the region of La Clape in Languedoc, not far from Narbonne. The climate is hot and dry, the soil very chalky and stony. The wines, which are both red and white, are generally of [...]
Champagne Tarlant – wine producer recommendation
You find Champagne Tarlant at the top of the small village of Oeuilly, a few kilometres west of Epernay. The view from their house is magnificent, as is their champagnes. Not only are they of high quality, they also have personality. “It is thanks to our passion for le terroir”, says Benoit Tarlant, the winemaker. [...]
Domaine des Terres Dorées, Beaujolais
One of our favourites in Beaujolais is Domaine des Terres Dorées. The owner and wine maker is Jean-Paul Brun and he has worked hard to make his wines some of the best in the region. The domain is situated in the south of Beaujolais, in the little village of Charnay-en-Beaujolais, not so far from Lyon, [...]
Louis Sipp, Ribeauvillé, Alsace – producer recommendation
Louis Sipp, Ribeauvillé, Alsace Louis Sipp makes dry and elegant Alsace wines from grapes grown organically since a few years back. He got his organic certification in 2008. The balance in the most important thing in the wine, he says, and he gets it easier now, with organic grapes. “The grapes are riper and they [...]
Château Lagrange, Saint Julien, Bordeaux – BKWine Pick
This Grand Cru Classé was bought in 1983 by the Japanese beverage company Suntory which got a lot of attention at the time. A Grand Cru Classé in the hands of the Japanese! Almost a bit of a scandal. But being Japanese hasn’t really done Château Lagrange any harm. On the contrary. An enormous amount [...]
Domaine Senat, Minervois
Fifteen years ago Jean-Baptiste Senat moved from Paris to Minervois in the Languedoc. He started with just a few hectares, now he has 15 hectares and is one of the most interesting producers in the region. He makes drinkable wines with a lot of character, wines that are very pleasant to drink young, although some [...]
Mas Zenitude, Terrasses du Larzac, Languedoc
Being Swedish ourselves we always find it interesting to meet Swedish winemakers. Like Erik Gabrielsson, whom we met in September at his domaine Mas Zenitude, in Languedoc. Erik is from southern Sweden and works as a lawyer in Malmö. He bought Mas Zenitude, a domaine of 5 hectares, situated outside the small village of Saint [...]
Domaine Roger Sabon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Domaine Roger Sabon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a true family domaine. Roger Sabon created the domaine in 1952. His three sons Jean-Jacques, Denis and Gilbert are all involved and now also Julien and Delphine, children of Denis, and Didier Négon, oenologist and married to Séverine, Jean-Jacques’ daughter, work at the domaine. The family has 17 hectares [...]
Domaine Virgile Joly, Saint Saturnin de Lucian (Languedoc) – BKWine Pick
Virgile July knew early that he wanted to work with wine. He studied to be an oenologist and he worked as a consultant in Chile among other places and in year 2000 he created his own domaine. He has 24 hectares and he is certified organic since the beginning. His wines are of a very [...]
Château de la Dauphine, Fronsac, Bordeaux – BKWine Pick
Château de la Dauphine is a beautiful chateau on the right bank of Bordeaux. Jean Halley owns the chateau since 2001 and he has, after having spent millions on renovations, given a new life to this estate. He now produces classic and well structured Bordeaux wines based on 80 % merlot and 20 % cabernet [...]
Domaine Pfister, Alsace – BKWine Pick
Mélanie Pfister started to work with her father at the family domaine in Dahlenheim in northern Alsace in 2006. She is an oenologist with diplomas from the wine universities in Bordeaux and Dijon. She has worked both in Germany and in New Zealand. “In the New World they tend to consider the winemaker the most [...]
Domaine Duseigneur, Lirac, Rhône – BKWine Pick
Bernard and Frédéric Duseigneur at Domaine Duseigneur are convinced that you need a soil that is alive if you want to make a wine with quality and character. The domaine is certified organic and biodynamic. “This enables us to make terroir driven wines with a fine minerality”, says Frédéric. He uses the usual biodynamic preparations [...]
Domaine Sainte Croix, Fraissé des Corbières – BKWine Pick
Jon and Elizabeth Bowen decided to settle in the majestic region Haute Corbières in southern Languedoc. In 2004 they bought their own vineyards, starting with 14 hectares divided in 24 separate plots. They have 80 year old carignan and grenache vines growing on poor limestone and schist soil. We met them at Vinisud in February [...]
Château Rives-Blanques, Limoux – BKWine Pick
The view from Chateau Rives-Blanques is fantastic: the snow capped tops of the Pyrenees mountain tops. No wonder that Carly and Jan Panman decided to settle here in this majestic environment. Limoux makes a lot of white wines and Rives Blanques makes no reds at all. But they do make several different whites: dry, sparkling [...]
Champagne Eric Rodez, Ambonnay – BKWine Pick
Ambonnay is a Grand Cru village in Champagne known for its excellent pinot noirs. Eric Rodez owns 8 hectares that he manages according to the biodynamic principles. One of the most important elements to make a quality champagne is the base wine (the still wine before the second fermentation), says Eric. In his blends he [...]
Château Tournefeuille, Lalande de Pomerol – BKWine Pick
This beautiful chateau is in the Petit family since the 18th century. The chateau is surrounded by 17 hectares of vineyards in the appellation Lalande de Pomerol. It has a beautiful view over the region – you can see the church in Pomerol, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Vieux Chateau Certan, Petrus (if you look closely)… Emeric [...]
Domaine du Vissoux, Beaujolais | BKWine Pick
Preconceived ideas are not uncommon when people talk about Beaujolais. Those who automatically think of beaujolais as a ‘petit vin’ they should try Pierre-Marie Chermette’s wines from Domaine du Vissoux. Pierre-Marie has 30 ha, 10 of which are Beaujolais “cru” (from one of the top villages). He is based in the southern part of the [...]
Domaine des Amouriers, Vacqueyras
There are several interesting producer in Vacqueyras in the southern Rhône Valley. One of them is Domaine des Amouriers. Patrick Gras and Igor Chudzikiewicz work on 25 ha of vineyards. 10 ha is in the Vacqueyras appelation, one ha is Côtes du Rhône and the rest is Vin de Pays (or now IGP). But even [...]
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