We were, to say the very least, very surprised when we opened the envelope and read the letter: We had won the prize for the best wine book in Sweden in 2010! We were the winners of the category “drinks literature” which includes wine, beer and spirits. So we quickly had to reschedule for a trip to the rural village of Grythyttan, where the Swedish Restaurant University is located – where the prize ceremony was to take place.
So it has been an eventful year indeed. Best one book of the year in Sweden. On the list of “world’s best wine tours” from Travel & Leisure, the world’s biggest travel magazine, as we told you about in the last issue of the Brief. Fantastic, we think!
Apart from that, this has been a very busy season for us. We have been to all over France (it feels like), to Italy five times from the heel to the knee (?), to Austria (for the wine bloggers conference), to Spain, to Portugal, to Greece… and of course to Sweden (to pick up the prize).
Someone asked us “what’s your favourite travel destination?” It’s a question that is as difficult to answer as “what’s your favourite wine?” And the answer will probably be the same: It is the next tour / the next wine to taste. It’s always exciting to discover something new, and even if you go to a place where you have been before you’ll discover something new.
As with many other things it is the “big and famous” that are most popular – with wines and wine travel destinations too. Sometimes we actually think it is a bit of a pity that wine tour travellers are not a bit more adventurous. Our tours to, say, Tuscany, Bordeaux or Champagne are often well filled. but some other, lesser known districts are harder to attract travellers to.
At this time of the year we are planning and discussing ideas for next autumn’s program and we have plenty of more or less far flung projects on the table. What would you say about a wine tour to Croatia? Greece? Southern Italy with Campania and Apulia – or perhaps Sicily? What about Jura up by the Alps? Or some of the other wine districts that we occasionally put on our program but are not among the best known: the Douro Valley, Languedoc, Austria etc…
One unusual “destination” that we have already decided on for next year is an “organic” wine tour! It is a wine tour to the southern Rhône Valley where all the producers we visit are working organically in one way or another: “standard” organic, biodynamic and perhaps culture raisonnée. At the moment this tour is in Swedish only but if there is demand for an English version we’d love to do that too.
So, what kind of wine tour would tempt you? Let us know. Write us an email!
According to all food and wine magazines we have now changed our wine drinking to “winter wines”. God forbid if you bring out a crisp and refreshing riesling at the end of November! No, it must be a heavy and powerful red, since that’s what goes well with hearty stews and game. (Actually, just as a protest against convention – last night we had a grenache-based Rhone wine with our Rascasse fish with fresh green beans. Excellent match!) In reality we do eat quite a lot of other things than stews and game in the autumn. We’re not big fans of compartmentalising food and drink in that way. Actually, autumn and winter is the perfect season for fish and seafood. Now is the best time to have it. And, in spite of our Rascasse-grenache suggestion, we rarely take out a heavy red with the shellfish. It is more likely to be that riesling. And it will probably also be a nice contrast to all that port you will be drinking over Christmas.
So why all this talk about riesling? Well, Britt just came back from Germany and she returned from a weekend in Munich without having tasted a single German wine! OK, Munich is not the centre of a wine district, but still. German wines were most conspicuous by their absence on the wine lists in the restaurants! The waiters suggested port or Austrian beerenauslese for dessert. Certainly not a German wine! What’s happening in Germany? Are they not proud of their wines?
Britt & Per
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