BKWine Blog
Cognac has a new category: XXO. In 2017 Hennessy launched a prestigious Cognac which they named XXO. But the authorities were not happy about it as this category of Cognac didn’t exist. Thus, the sale of this particular Cognac was suspended. But Hennessy did not give up and with the help of luxury conglomerate LVMH, […]
A few years ago, we wrote in the Brief about the South African wine producer KWV who had made a wine called Earth’s Essence without added sulphur. Instead, they had used the rooibos plant, known for its antioxidant properties. Continued research in South Africa has now shown that the South African tea plant honeybush also […]
There is no end to the success of rosé wines in Provence. Producers and wine merchants are already thinking of next summer. Many producers in Provence will have sold their vintage 2018 before Christmas. And prices for Cote de Provence rosé continue to rise. The wholesale purchase price of 350 euros per hectolitre – bulk […]
Four new white grape varieties have just been approved for use in Austrian Qualitätswein (quality wine) Three of these are so-called PIWIs, which is fungal resistant crossings. PIWI is a German abbreviation for Pilzwiderstandsfähig (literally fungus resistant). The fourth grape is Goldmuskateller, a regular Vitis vinifera that also has a good resistance to rot. The […]
The family-owned Baron cooperage will plant as many oak trees as the number of barrels they produce each year, starting this year, which is 12,000 (barrels and trees). From one tree you can make more than one barrel, but not many more. The “waste” is around 80% which of course can be used for other […]
Demand for organic wine will continue to increase in France, SudVinBio announced after looking at developments in recent years and on future trends. The study has been made as a prelude to the organic wine fair Millésime Bio, which takes place in Montpellier in late January. Organic wine sales have grown annually by 16.8% by […]
The big trade fair Vinitech 2018 took place in Bordeaux in November. Every year Vinitech presents new and innovative equipment for winegrowing and winemaking. This year, for example, a biodynamic oak barrel drew attention. It is manufactured by Tonnellerie Sylvan and is made with trees that have been cut down at specific dates according to […]
In fierce competition (we guess), Cigalus 2016 from Gérard Bertrand in Languedoc had the honour of being selected as the red wine served during the Nobel dinner in Stockholm on December 10th. We have been particularly fond of Languedoc wines for a long time, so we are happy that this amazing region was chosen for […]
A European wine that is organic is easy to identify. You just look for the green EU leaf. If it does not have the leaf it is not organic. But now there are also more and more “sustainability” labels on the bottles in France. However, “sustainable” is different from “organic”. Organics is mainly about the […]
Alsace is the number one biodynamic wine region in Europe. 880 hectares are certified biodynamic. This means that an impressive 5.6% of all Alsace vineyards are biodynamic, a record in Europe. Around 70 growers are certified either with the international certification association Demeter or the French association Biodyvin. All of these producers are also organically […]
France in general did a good harvest in 2018, both in volume and in quality. The Ministry of Agriculture has just published figures for the different regions. Total production was 46.6 million hectolitres, which is 26% higher than 2017, a year affected by both frost and drought that dramatically reduced the size of the harvest. […]
Portugal is a wonderful wine country in many ways. Not least because it is unrelentingly focusing on Iberian grape varieties. The only French grape that is included in the top-10 list is Syrah, and it is in the 10th place. There is an immense variety of grapes. The 10 most grown only account for 55% […]
Older vines give more character to the wine, says Rosa Kruger, a well-known South African viticulturist. She is behind a project called South Africa’s Old Vines Project, which aims at finding old vineyards, vineyards that have often been abandoned. The idea with the project is to give a new life to these old vines. A […]
When some people think about machine harvesting, they often imagine big monsters that brutalize the vineyard. It is true that harvesting machines are often big machines, but they can be quite gentle to both grapes and vines. And soon there will be on the market a tiny harvesting machine, suitable for the small producer and […]
The European Commission has now voted on the future of copper in European agriculture. On November 27, the decision was made to lower the limit to 4 kilograms of copper per year and per hectare counted as an average over a 7-year period (in other words, 28 kg in 7 years). This 4 kilos average […]
Star Wine List is a digital guide to wine bars and wine restaurants in different cities. Currently, the guide covers Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala and several other locations in Sweden as well as Oslo, Toronto and London. And more cities are coming soon. Krister Bengtsson is the man behind this excellent tool. Read about great restaurants […]
We have, of course, also to give you some suggestions of what must be the perfect Christmas presents for those who like food and wine and travel, now that Christmas is approaching fast. We have two different suggestions for you. The really, really nice Christmas gift is of course a wine tour to one of […]
Henkell Trocken is one of the world’s most famous sparkling wines. The German company Henkell & Co is also the largest producer in the world of sparkling wines since the purchase of Spanish Freixenet in March 2018. Henkell now accounts for 8% of the world market for bubbles and is aiming for 10%. In addition […]
It has been a difficult year for many wine producers. The difficult fungal disease downy mildew has been widely present in Europe’s southern wine regions, where many producers have lost part of their harvest. The copious rains early in the season brought on the nasty fungus. However, the world production of wine in 2018 is […]
Wine producers should not deceive consumers when they promote their wines. This story is about Château de Reignac in Entre-deux-Mers. This chateau was bought in the 1990s by Yves Vatelot. His ambition from the very beginning was to make a high-quality Bordeaux. The natural conditions are there. In fact, he thinks that his soil is […]
A tour of France’s vineyards today shows that more and more wine producers prefer to let the grass and the weed remain in the vineyard instead of removing it. Today, many refrain from chemical weed control, also those who are not organic. The region of Anjou-Saumur in the Loire Valley has gone one step further. […]
Gérard Bertrand’s empire in Languedoc is growing. He recently bought Mas du Soleilla, a 22-hectare vineyard adjacent to Bertrand’s headquarters Château l’Hospitalet in the appellation of La Clape. Mas du Soleilla was founded by Peter Wildbolz and Christa Derungs, both Swiss. 2002 was their first vintage. Mas de Soleilla is, like the Château l’Hospitalet, certified […]
The most important grape in Argentina is Malbec and it has doubled its acreage in the last 15 years. It has now 18% of the vine surface in the country. Syrah has also increased its acreage substantially. The light coloured Cereza and the black Criolla Grande are decreasing but they are still planted on 20% […]
Alsace wines are becoming drier and drier. At least that was the impression we had on our recent Alsace tour. And that is very positive. In addition, it is easier to know if the wines are dry or not because producers are now more and more putting “vin sec” on the label if the wine […]
Germany is a small but important wine country. Steep slopes and a cool climate give us wines that are difficult to copy. The most planted grape is Riesling but nowadays one should also look out for Pinot blanc (Weissburgunder) and Pinot Gris (Grauburgunder). Both of these have increased their surface in recent years and are […]
Heavy rain and floods of a rare violence in the department of Aude In Languedoc in mid-October caused major damage to vineyards and wineries, in particular in the Minervois and Cabardes appellations and, to a lesser extent, in Saint Chinian. 14 people died. Several wine cellars were flooded, pumps and presses have been destroyed and […]
It is amazing how different vineyards look today compared to 30 years ago. Then, there was not one single straw of grass in the rows between the vines. Today vineyards are often vibrant and colourful with different plants and flowers to keep the vines company. But they also compete with the vines for water and […]
Climate change is a fact and the wine industry prepares in different ways for the future. INAO, the Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité, recently approved a change in the rules that allow the French appellations to plant other grape varieties than the ones that are now permitted in order to be able […]
Many consumers perceive wines nowadays as more alcoholic than they used to be. This is actually quite true. This has to do with a lot of things (and not only global warming): grapes are harvested riper, wineries use better clones, consumers drink more wines from warmer climates, such as southern Italy, the New World, etc, […]
In the past year, our latest book “Champagne, The Wine And The Growers” (“Champagne, vinet och odlarna” in the original language) has been acclaimed and won prizes in two prestigious contexts, by the OIV, the International Organization of Vine and Wine in Paris, and by Gourmand International in China. “Champagne, The Wine And The Growers” […]
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