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BKWine Blog

Vineyards at Kaapzicht Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Brilliant harvest 2025 in South Africa

In February when we were on this year’s wine tour in South Africa, the harvest was in full swing. They were just over halfway through and everyone already agreed that 2025 would be a brilliant

White grapes ready to be harvested in Bordeaux

Médoc gets the go-ahead for white wines

The Médoc peninsula in Bordeaux is known for its many prestigious chateaux. And for its red wines. The eight Médoc appellations have always been red-only. (Small quantities of white has been made but had to

A castle and vineyards in Styria (Steiermark) in Austria

A “roller coaster” vintage 2024 for Austria

The Austrian winemakers have now taken stock of the 2024 vintage. Austrian Wine describes it as a “roller-coaster ride”. Frosts, hail storms and violent rain made the growing season challenging. The harvest volume was small

Vineyards in Bannockburn, Central Otago, New Zealand

New Zealand gets the best price for its wines in 2024

One of the advantages of having a monopoly (the only?) is that they publish some interesting statistics, e.g. sales statistics per price segment. On the Swedish monopoly Systembolaget’s website, you can see how much wine

Wines in different packaging in a Systembolaget monopoly shop in Sweden

Systembolaget’s wine sales fall also in 2024

Systembolaget’s wine sales (*) fell by 1% in 2024 to 206 million litres. (*) = wine excluding fortified wine. This continues the trend since the Covid rush in 2020, when wine sales increased by 9.2%.

Syrah green harvest (bunch/crop thinning) in the Rhone Valley

Does “green harvest” improve the wine?

Green harvest (or cluster thinning, crop thinning) is when the grower removes some grape bunches in the middle of summer, before they are ripe (sometimes later), to lessen the harvest volume.  Some years ago, this

Peppers (bellpepper), pimientos on a food market

Why does the wine have aromas of pepper?

The fact that wine is a lot about chemistry has probably not escaped anyone. (After all, everything is chemistry.) However, you don’t need to know anything about chemistry to enjoy a wine. But sometimes you

A bottle and two glasses of Bourgogne Aligoté

White Burgundy has a boom in (Sweden)

Swedes have long been fond of Chablis, and Chablis belongs to Burgundy. Now, Sweden has overtaken Belgium in the statistics and is the fifth-largest importer (by volume) of Burgundy wine in the world. Quite incredible.

Criots-Batard Montrachet Grand Cru vineyards behind a gate in Burgundy

New premier crus in southern Burgundy

Southern Burgundy is in the spotlight. Côte Chalonnaise and Mâcon make affordable wines in villages that are not as hyped as in the Côte d’Or. In Mâcon, two small white wine appellations, Pouilly-Loché and Pouilly-Vinzelles,

Bodega Weinert's incredible cellar with wooden casks, Mendoza, Argentina

Red wines for a good start of 2025

Chile, Argentina, and South Africa all make red wines of top quality in many different styles: elegant, powerful, and easy-going. Here are some recommendations for the firsts months of 2025 with no specific theme, except

A bottle and two glasses of Bourgogne Aligoté

White Burgundy has a boom in (Sweden)

Swedes have long been fond of Chablis, and Chablis belongs to Burgundy. Now, Sweden has overtaken Belgium in the statistics and is the fifth-largest importer

Bodega Weinert's incredible cellar with wooden casks, Mendoza, Argentina

Red wines for a good start of 2025

Chile, Argentina, and South Africa all make red wines of top quality in many different styles: elegant, powerful, and easy-going. Here are some recommendations for

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