OIV, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, welcomed a new director general in January. BKWine was present, as one of two invited media, at his inauguration and we took the chance to say hello to the new general. Pau Roca is Spanish and has been representing Spain at the OIV since 1992. He was, […]
New rules came into force for vinification of organic wines on January 1st, 2019. Six new additives are allowed. Autolysate of yeast: Nourishes the yeast during the alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. Inactivated yeast: Nourishes the yeast during alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. Potato protein: Vegetable protein used as a fining agent. Provides a faster and often […]
The brand new numbers for 2018 show a positive picture. Wine production reached a record level in 2018 reaching 293 million hectolitres, a good recovery from a catastrophic 2017. The biggest wine producers in the world in 2018 are Italy, France, Spain and the USA. Global vineyard surface remained stable with Spain having the world’s […]
2014 is one of the most difficult vintages in memory in Brunello di Montalcino. It was the year when northern Europe enjoyed sun while the Italian summer was more like in Scotland. Rain, rain and rain. Add cold and ta da: you have the vintage 2014 in a nutshell. We give you here BKWine Magazine’s […]
“No thanks, not Chardonnay, but yes please, a glass of chablis” The wine producers in Chablis love the Swedes and the Swedes love Chablis. So it is. Eight percent of the production in Chablis is gobbled up in a Swedish home, in the sailboat, on the beach or on a picnic. Although the wine producer […]
Monteraponi and Montevertine celebrates with festive elegance Every year, when the two wine estates Montevertine and Monteraponi in Radda in Chianti present their new vintages, it is a celebration. A Sangiovese celebration. For if there’s something they’re good at, Martino Manetti and Michele Braganti with their other halves Liviana Midollini and Alessandra Deiana, it is […]
The California Wine Tasting in March 2019 was a big event with no less than 135 wine producers present. The title chosen for the event, Dream Big, promised a lot. One had better set priorities and my priority was to focus on pinot noir from as many interesting producers as possible. Why then pinot noir? […]
The Grenache grape is a champion of the south. It can manage scorching heat, strong winds and drought. Just a few years ago it was the most planted red variety in the world. Now it is only number five among red grapes with 163,000 hectares, after Cabernet Sauvignon (341,000 ha), Merlot (266,000 ha), Tempranillo (231,000 […]
Very literally so this year, when Anselmo Mendes held a tasting on our much-anticipated spring equinox. Given the feel of Anselmo Mendes’ wines, it was a particularly suitable combination. Fortunately, it was a sunny day but it was a northerly wind that tugged on our coats when we took shelter in Adam & Albin’s Stockholm […]
Also Chianti Classico has a “primeur season”, just like Bordeaux. But in Chianti Classico it is perhaps even more interesting because most of the wines are actually finished and bottled, and not the barely-finished-fermenting wines (with some exaggeration) that are shown in Bordeaux, which often have another one or two years in barrel in front […]
If you put great emphasis on wine and food and how it matches then you might also need to think about what you choose for water? This is, in any case, the idea behind the newly started company Minvino. They have launched four different waters, each of which is said to be adapted to a […]
There is no doubt about it. South African wines have been too cheap for too long. Therefore, it was uplifting to read the report on South African wine exports 2018 from WoSA (Wines of South Africa). The export value is finally increasing, after many years of immobility. WoSA has struggled to make this happen for […]
The dangers of becoming a super-celebrity The biggest problem with making wine is probably not to make sure the wine is good but rather to sell it. Then it can be very helpful to be known, that one in some way has a strong “brand”. An example, that is close at hand, as we have […]
The dangers of becoming a super-celebrity The biggest problem with making wine is probably not to make sure the wine is good but rather to sell it. Then it can be very helpful to be known, that one in some way has a strong “brand”. An example, that is close at hand, as we have […]
Six very fresh Masters of Wine has just received their diplomas from the venerable English institution. So now there are 384 MW in total. The happy new masters are Edouard Baijot, Nicholas Jackson, Brendan Jansen, Jonas Röjerman, Harriet Tindal and Jonas Tofterup. Congratulations to all of them. Extra special congratulations to Jonas and Jonas. Jonas […]
The French Coopers’ Association (Fédération des Tonneliers de France) recently held its annual meeting in Napa Valley, California. It was the first time they gathered outside France. That the meeting took place in Napa is not a coincidence. It was the Californian wine industry that gave new life to the French cooperage (barrel making) industry […]
A Prosecco debate rages in both Australia and New Zealand. The big question is whether Prosecco should be considered as being a grape variety or a geographical origin. Up until 2009, Prosecco was the name of the grape with which the sparkling wine Prosecco was produced in north-eastern Italy. But then the Italians changed the […]
Paris’ first major professional wine fair, Wine Paris, took place on 11-13 February. Many consider it about time that the French capital hosts a large wine fair. Wine Paris is a merger of Wine Vision and Vinisud. Wine Vision is a fair that made its debut in Paris in February 2018 with exhibitors from France’s […]
Is it worth ageing wine? “With age comes complexity but wines get more similar with time. You find more nuances in young wines. They are purer and wilder and you can taste the place where they came from and the earth in which the grapes are grown.” This quote comes from a Portuguese winemaker and […]
Is it worth ageing wine? “With age comes complexity but wines get more similar with time. You find more nuances in young wines. They are purer and wilder and you can taste the place where they came from and the earth in which the grapes are grown.” This quote comes from a Portuguese winemaker and […]
We will of course have a wine tour to Champagne this fall. If you are a champagne enthusiast then you want to go there sooner or later. There are many ways to do that. Travel on your own. Go with some tour operator, BKWine or someone else. And other options. Everything will be different, you […]
A wine does not have to have strong colour to be good, just look at pinot noir and nebbiolo. But it helps, at least if one goes with many consumers’ preconceived ideas. If one were to judge by the colour, foglia tonda would be among the most treasured grapes, but instead the grape has almost […]
Sauvignon Blanc is one of the most popular grape varieties in the world. With 123,000 hectares it is in fact the third most planted white variety in the world, after the Spanish grape Airen (218,000 hectares) and Chardonnay (210,000). France has the biggest plantings, followed by New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. It is a […]
Piedmont has a wealth of little-known traditional varieties. Time to discover them! The wine region Piedmont in north-western Italy is best known for its powerful Nebbiolo wines Barolo and Barbaresco, its fruity Barbera and sweet Moscato wines. But the region has much more to offer. Piedmont hosts an impressive range of indigenous (autochthonous) grape varieties […]
“The wine world’s outsider, literally” Imagine starting a journey in Jerez down in the sherry triangle and finishing it up among the riesling vineyards in Piesport, Germany. You will then have travelled almost two thousand three hundred kilometres and covered most of Europe’s vineyards. That’s what you might have thought anyway. If you continue the […]
Distell is South Africa’s largest wine producer. With brands such as Alto, Nederburg, Durbanville Hills, Plaisir de Merle, Pongrácz, Fleur du Cap, Allesverloren, Zonnebloem, Two Oceans, Drostdy-Hof and others, the company accounts for a not insignificant part of the entire South African wine production. Now all the premium wines of Distell will be managed separately. […]
The mythical Chilean port city of Valparaiso is a fascinating city in many ways, not least thanks to the artistic street art that gives the colourful city even more colour. Now the wine is also represented. In November, a group of talented street artist were asked by some Chilean wine producers to create large murals […]
Today, an organic wine farmer who wants to plant new vines can buy the same vines from the nursery as a conventional wine farmer. But this will change. New rules, although not until 2035, will require organic wine producers to buy organic certified plants. The nurseries are already preparing. And the authorities are busy writing […]
For the lover of statistics and/or the lover of Burgundy wines, we have found a handy and updated summary of all relevant figures concerning the wines of Burgundy, from Chablis to Mâconnais (Beaujolais not included). Burgundy has 84 appellations, which is 23% of all France’s wine appellations. Grapes are grown on almost 30,000 hectares. 50% […]
VDP stands for Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweinguter and is a highly respected association of around 200 German top producers with their own set of rules for wine growing and wine making. VDP recently launched a new category of German high-quality Sekt. This new category, VDP Sekt, can, like the still VDP wines, be made in four […]
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