In June, we had a few wonderful days on the Portuguese Atlantic coast. But we weren’t there to swim and sunbathe, or even to taste wine. We were in Cascais because the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards having its awards ceremony for the best books in food and drink in 2024. And we won first prize for The Wine for the Future – Framtidens vin — in the “sustainability” category and third prize in the “world’s best wine book” category. The fact that Iberia then lost our luggage on the way home didn’t matter much. We were happy for our great prizes!
The Gourmand Awards, or as it is also called, Gourmand International or Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, is probably the world’s largest competition for food and drink literature. In 2025, the competition celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. It was in this edition (2025) that the awards for 2024 were presented. Thousands of books from around the world competed for awards in various categories. We had one book in the competition, our latest whose Swedish original title is “Framtidens vin”, or The Wine For The Future.
We were of course excited, curious and nervous when we arrived in Cascais. How would it go? Would our book “The Wine for the Future” win any award? We were not disappointed.
Best book on sustainability
In the Gourmand Awards, “The Wine for the Future” was named “Best sustainable drinks book in the world”, written by us, Britt and Per Karlsson (publisher: Carlsson Bokförlag).
“The Wine for the Future” is about sustainability in the world of wine, or to put it another way, the book is about “good wine”, the wine that should both taste good and be produced in a good way, with consideration for the world. The book describes what sustainability really means, in a broad perspective. In other words, about organic wine production, about environmental issues in viticulture, such as spraying, about climate issues, such as the carbon footprint of wine production, and much more. It also addresses broader issues around sustainability, such as economic and social sustainability. Sustainability is a large and complicated area and the book gives the reader the knowledge and tools to be able to make the right decisions for themselves when it comes to wine and sustainability. The full title is “The Wine for the Future — sustainable, organic, natural, environmentally friendly”.
Read more on the contents of the book in this introduction to it: On “The Wine for the Future – Sustainable, organic, natural and environmentally friendly”.
The world’s third best wine book
But that wasn’t enough. The book was also nominated in the category “Best of the best wine book”. We didn’t win there but we came in third place!
The event is also an opportunity to arrange a number of lectures on various themes related to food and drink. So, in connection with the award ceremony, Edouard Cointreau, the responsible organizer at Gourmand, had asked us to make a presentation of our business as a wine tour operator. When we thought about it, it dawned on us that books and wine tours have a lot in common, it’s about emotions and experiences. But our presentation of how wine tours are like books will have to be another article here at BKWine Magazine.
International editions?
Perhaps the attention we have received at the Gourmand Awards will lead to a foreign publisher finding us and becoming interested in publishing more of our books in other languages. “The Wine for the Future” is already in the works in English and a previous one, “Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking; Sustainable Viticulture and Viniculture”, is available in English, but the other books not yet.
Also: OIV Special Mention
The book had already previously won a “special mention” in the sustainability category in the prestigious wine book competition OIV Book Awards. OIV, the International Organisation of Vine and Vine is an organisation of which most of the world’s wine-producing countries are members, a sort of UN of wine.
Thirteen wine books
The Wine for the Future is Britt and Per Karlsson’s twelfth wine book. One of the books has been translated into English, “Vinet och miljön” (“The Wine and the Environment”) with the English title “Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking; Sustainable Viticulture and Viniculture”. “The Wine for the Future” is also about to be translated into English and is expected to be published in early 2026. A total of thirteen.
Almost all of our previous books have also won awards from Gourmand International, Gourmand Sweden, and the Swedish Food Academy (Svenska Måltidsakademien). You can see the list below.
We are of course very happy and proud of these great awards. It is a lot of work and a lot of time to make a book. Our ambition was to do something that goes in depth, that is full of facts, that explains rather than says “this is how it should be”. So it is not at all a book that says “now we have to become organic/sustainable/natural/biodynamic/…”. Instead, we explain what all this means and then you can take a stand for yourself.
Thank you
We would especially like to thank our fantastic publisher, Carlsson Förlag, with Trygve Carlsson as publisher. They believe in what we do and have, I think, a similar attitude – if you are going to do something, you should do it well (but also preferably beautifully). Thank you Trygve! And it will be beautiful because we also have a fantastic designer, Petter Antonisen. Thank you Petter!
But of course, we want to thank all our readers, both of “Framtidens vin” and our other books. Thank you to all of you who read our books!
And thank you to Edouard Cointreau who has been the brain and engine behind the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for thirty years.
Gourmand’s motivation
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2024 motivation for the award:
The Wine for the Future is a timely and insightful exploration into the evolving world of viticulture. Your comprehensive work brilliantly highlights the urgent need for sustainability in winemaking, blending tradition with innovation to address climate challenges, organic practices and eco-conscious production. This book educates and inspires, guiding producers and enthusiasts alike toward a more responsible and flavorful future for wine. Cheers to your important contribution to the wine world and the planet!
All our books and awards
Previous books by us, Britt Karlsson and Per Karlsson, at Carlsson Bokförlag with the awards and distinctions they have received:
- The Wine for the Future, Framtidens vin, 2023
- Gourmand International, the world’s best book on sustainability in the beverage industry
- Gourmand International, third prize in the category the best of the best wine book
- OIV, Special Mention in the category sustainability
- The Wonderful World of Wine, Vinets underbara värld, 2021
- OIV Special Mention in the category Discovering and Presenting Wine
- Languedoc-Roussillon, 2019
- OIV, best book in category ”Discovering Wine”
- Gourmand Sverige, Book of the year, best all categories
- Nominated to Gourmand International
- Champagne, 2017, 2nd edition 2023
- Gourmand Sweden, first prize in the category “French wines”
- Gourmand International, third prize in the category “French wines”
- OIV, special mention “monographs and special studies”
- France, the Country of Wine, Vinlandet Frankrike, 2014, second edition 2025
- OIV, first prize in the category wine and territories
- Gourmand Sweden, best book for education
- Gourmand International, nominated in the category best book for beverage education
- Wine and the environment, Vinet och miljön, 2012, English edition, Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking; Sustainable Viticulture and Viniculture, 2014 published by Floris Books
- Gourmand Sweden, best wine book for professionals, Swedish edition and English edition
- Gourmand International, second place in the category world’s best beverage book for education
- Gourmand Sweden, best book about drink and health, English edition
- Gourmand International, nominated in the category best wine book for professionals
- The Creation of a Wine, the Work in the Vineyard and in the Wine Cellar, Ett vin blir till, 2009, 2nd edition 2016
- Gourmand International, the world’s best wine book for professionals
- Swedish Food Academy, Sweden’s best wine book
- Languedoc, 2007
We have also written four books at Tukan förlag. As an ensemble, these four also won awards.
- Tuscany, the wines, the districts, the producers
- Piedmont, the wines, the districts, the producers
- Bordeaux, the wines, the districts, the producers
- Burgundy, the wines, the districts, the producers
- Swedish Food Academy, best book of the year, travel guides category
- Gourmand International, nominated in the category Wine Tourism
