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JF Quenin new President in St Emilion

>> Friday, May 30, 2008

050527-204-0475Conseil des Vins de Saint Emilion has elected a new President: Jean-François Quenin at Château de Pressac. Quenin has an earlier career in retail and home electronics behind him before acquiring one of St Emilion's most imposing chateaux in the 90s. No doubt it will be a good thing with some outside business experience in his new job. decanter.com

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Vinexpo 2009

>> Thursday, May 29, 2008

Vinexpo is the world's biggest wine show. It takes place every second year. The next edition will be on 21-25 June 2009. www.vinexpo.com

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New counter measures against counterfeit wines

>> Wednesday, May 28, 2008

In parallel with exclusive wines becoming more and more expensive counterfeit wine bottles are becoming a more frequent problem. Much fake wine is no doubt never found out but sometimes you hear stories about a fake bottle of Pétrus in a London restaurant, or a counterfeit old Lafite at a dinner in Hong-Kong etc. Two companies that have recently started offering solutions are HP and Kodak. HP proposes a "memory spot" that can be attached to any surface, e.g. the label. Kodak has chosen a different route with a counterfeit-proof printed label. Read more about the solutions on MSN.com

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"Reasonable culture" – new wine competition for almost-organic wines

>> Tuesday, May 27, 2008

"Culture raisonnée" is a form of vine growing that is not quite organic, but almost. They try and reduce the use of pesticides and other substances as much as possible but they do treat in very difficult conditions, when otherwise the grapes would be spoilt. The first (to our knowledge) competition for culture raisonnée was recently held and the results were announced on the world earth day in April. Four white wines won gold medal: Champalou (Vouvray), Domaine Guinand (VdP d'Oc), Chateau Magneua "Julien" (Graves) and Domaine Corsin VV (St Véran). Three rosé wines were awarded gold: Bruno Ménard (Cabernet d'Anjou), Chateau Camplong (Corbières, Languedoc), and Emmanuel Rybinski (rosé Troteligotte, VdP du Lot). Also three reds won gold: Domaine du Colombier/Vigenrons de Laudun (C de Rhône), Château Franc Couplet (Bordeaux), and Domaine de la Roche Cattin (Jarlotiers (Beaujolais). More info here. More info here.

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350, 600 and 400 years old vines

bp09-540-4066Some time ago we wrote about some very old vines in Bordeaux. Vinavisen.dk, our Danish colleague, has picked up on the story and has found one that is 350 years old in Alto Adige in Italy, at Schloss Katzenzungen in Prissian. That ancient vine was also well know to one of our readers. She even has a bottle with a certificate of origin in her wine cellar and according to her it is believed that the vine is even 600 years old. The grape variety is called Versoaln which is thought to have been named after Versailles outside Paris. The owner of Schloss Katzenzungen is Ernst Pobitzer. He also owns Pian dell'Orino in Montalcino where wine is made from a bit more recent vines. But according to Guinness Book of Records the oldest vine is one found in Maribor in Slovenia which is more than 400 years old! (So planted in the late 16th century.) And they also still make wines from its grapes.

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The five factors that determines a successful vintage

img023.jpgAccording to professor Denis Dubordieu at the wine university of Bordeaux there are five main factors that determines the quality of a vintage: 1) a rapid and early flowering; 2) moderate lack of water during early summer (at "nouason", grape set); 3)end of shoot growth towards veraison (change of colour of the grapes) so that the energy goes to ripening the grapes; 4) dryness and moderate heat during maturation of the grapes; and 5) good weather during harvest (not rain and humidity). Read more about this and how it turned out in 2007 on NewBordeaux.blog.co.uk.

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The influence of the moon on wine racking

>> Monday, May 26, 2008

Is it important that you rack the wine in the "right" moon phase? Is wine and cheese the perfect combination? These and ten other "truths" are discusses in an opinionated article on WineMakerMag.com. Read it and decide for yourself. http://winemakermag.com

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Some press clippings

Our latest BKWine wine tour launches have attracted some attention in various places. We are very glad for the mentions. Here are some:

- Vagablond
- Luxist
- WineLoverCentral.com
- BurgundyToday.com
- Modern Agent / Travel Pulse
- GoEurope.com / James Martin
- TravellingMom.com


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Wine chemists' conference

040717-5-k7-12-0025"In Vino Analytica Scientia" is an international symposium focusing on wine chemistry and sensory analysis. The next edition will take place on 2-4 July 2009 in Anger in the Loire Valley. They will be calling for papers on related themes: chemical and biochemical reactions and analysis, authentification and traceability, sensors and chemometrics, sensory analysis,… More info: www.angers.inra.fr

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Sweden and Ireland are biggest growth countries for wine in EU

>> Wednesday, May 21, 2008

ah23-245-4527Wine lovers in Sweden and in Ireland contribute to emptying the EU wine lake (statistics from EU-15, the 15 countries the OIV gives statistics for). They are both in absolute numbers small consumers of course, but the growth numbers are impressive, in particularly for Sweden with +9.4% - no doubt a result of the successful Swedish alcohol regulations with a monopoly retailer. Ireland is far behind with "only" 3.6% growth.

Here's the ranking:

1. Sweden, 9.4%
2. Ireland, 3.6%
3. UK, 3.4%
4. Greece, 3%
5. Austria, 2%
6. Germany, 1.6%
7. Finland, 1.1%
8. Netherlands, 0%

And the countries where consumption decreased:
9. Denmark, -0.3%
10. Italy, -1.6%
11. Spain, -1.8%
12. Portugal, -1.9%
13. France, -2.5%
14. Belgium with Luxemburg, -3.1%

(Source: OIV)

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World wine production down and the wine lake is perhaps dying up

The world wine production contracted with 6.9% in 2007 to 267 million hl according to estimates from the OIV. This is a substantial drop since the peak year 2004 (300 Mhl) and on the level of 2003 and 2001. This led to a substantial decrease of the production surplus: in 2007 production exceeded consumption with "only" 26 Mhl. According to Federico Castellucci, Director General of the OIV, this means that there is a shortage of low grade wine for industrial use (industrial distillation).

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World wine consumption up, a bit

ah25-246-4696We drink more and more wine in the world. OIV (Organisation International de la Vigne et du Vin) estimates that consumption in 2007 reached 240 million hectolitres. That's approximately the same level as 2006 but follows a series of small but steady increases since 2003 when consumption was 237 M hl.

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Champagne Utopia and other quotes

>> Tuesday, May 20, 2008

a0614-211-1192"We are working in a Utopia at the moment. The increase of the permitted yield and the setting on place of the individual reserve (up to the equivalent of 8,000 kilos of grapes per hectare) are two recent measures that are great for growers. […] We must reflect on how we go forward." – Patrick Le Brun, president, Syndicat General des Vignerons

"The consequences of global warming have been very beneficial to Drappier. Pests and diseases have been eliminated during the last 40 years, and now we only use natural fertilizers and gentle pruning inn our vineyards. […] Higher yields and earlier harvests provide the right balance in our Champagnes and the success of Drappier Brut Nature is just one example of the positive benefits from the warmer climate." – Michel Drappier, CEO, Drappier

"We are not about selling as much champagne as we can. We want to build up the Moët brand in a long-term way – trough investing in people, in marketing, in advertising and in promotion." – Frederic Cumenal, President and CEO, Moët & Chandon

(Quotes from a champagne special feature in The Drinks Business.)

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Argentine wine exports

ah25-247-4740Wine exports from Argentina are increasing steadily. Between 2005 and 2007 it grew from 11.8 million cases to 16.2 M cases. Over the same period the average price per exported litre of wine increased from $ 2.33 to $2.76. The largest export markets:

1. USA
2. UK
3. Brazil
4. Canada
5. Netherlands
6. Denmark
7. Russia
8. Sweden
9. Mexico
10. Germany

(Source: Caucasia/Drinks Business)

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Champagne exports

030926-3-k294-0013France drinks a bit more than half of all the champagne sold (53%). The biggest export markets are:

1. UK, 11%
2. USA, 7%
3. Germany, 3.4%
4. Italy, 3%
5. Japan, 2.7%

Followed by Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands, and Australia. (Source: Drinks Business/CIVC)

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BKWine Pick: Le Taste Monde, Paris 8

>> Monday, May 19, 2008

Le Taste Monde, Paris 8

A new TasteMonde has opened next to Place de la Madeleine. Their first restaurant opened several years ago in Issy-les-Moulineaux but now they've opened a second location more centrally. Unusual for Paris restaurants the focus is on non-French wins (although they do have some champagne too). And quite an extensive selection too. The cooking is very good and quite French in style, in spite of the wine list selection. Two courses for 29 euro and 3 courses for 38 euro (lunch and dinner). Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday. (On Saturday afternoon, between 3PM and 6PM you can go there and taste a selection of wines by the glass for a very humane 1€ to 2€ per glass.)

Click here for address and more recommendations.

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BKWine Pick: Cellier des Dominicains, Collioure, Roussillon

Cellier des Dominicains, Collioure, Roussillon

bf28-417-1783A quality-oriented co-operative (especially in recent times) in the middle of the very picturesque village of Collioure. The winery is in what was previously a Dominican monastery from the 13th century. They have put in place a system that encourages the growers-cooperatuers to improve the maturation and quality of their grapes. As everyone in this region they do a Vin Doux Naturel (fortified wine) under the Banyuls appellation but they also make some "normal" red cuvees, e.g. the Colline de Matisse (2007 for 7€), a decent, easy-to drink red wine with good freshness, or the Les Culottes (2006, 9.50€), a well made fruity wine with aromas of ripe berries.

Click here for address and more recommendations.

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BKWine Pick: Ermitage de Pic Saint Loup, Languedoc

Ermitage de Pic Saint Loup, Languedoc

bf15-395-9532An excellent producer in the beautiful Pic St Loup area a bit north of Montpellier. The Ravaille family owns the property since a few hundred years back. The current generation is the fifth with the tree brothers Jean-Marc, Xavier and Pierre in charge. They have 35 ha with a great variety in soil types giving added complexity to the wines. Two of my favourites are the Cuvée Classique made from grapes grown on red clay and gravel. The wine is concentrated with a bouquet of red berries and garrigue (herbs, thyme, laurel…), and the Cuvée St Agnès, grown on limestone with some rocks, giving a dense, concentrated wine with lots of herbs and minerality and a spicy finish. All their wines are very well structured.

Click here for address and more recommendations.

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Welcome to the BKWine Brief nr 58, May 2008

Welcome to the BKWine Brief nr 58, May 2008

To paraphrase Dinah Washington – What a difference a month makes. 31 little days. A month ago I was complaining about the snow storm that hit us going back from Chablis. Today I'm sitting on the balcony under the parasol in summer heat. The vines are busy developing leaves and extending new shoots. I've heard that when they are at their most vigorous they may grow 30 centimetres each day. But later this week the weather gods have promised rain in the Languedoc just when we're going there. I am not very happy with that since we have planned for a barbeque in the vineyards! But the wine growers are probably happy. They have had very little rain over the last two years. When I was there in February they even introduced emergency restrictions to save water.

The AIPFFV

In France they love abbreviations. The longer the better it sometimes seems. So maybe you'd like to join the AIPFFV? It's a brand new association (I just started it) that reads out Association Internationale Pour le Fruit et la Fraicheur dans le Vin, or the Internationonal Assoication for Fruit and Freshness in the Wine. I am often asked by wine lovers "so how long should I keep this wine?". There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that question. Many wines need aging. But often I am inclined to answer "drink it now, it's wonderful as it is!". It seems there are quite a few wine lovers who are convinced a wine must be "old" for it to be good. There are even some point systems, used to rank wines in wine tastings, that allocate specific points to how many years there are until the wine is ready to drink. So, the less drinkable the wine is today the more points it gets. Logical?

I would even be inclined to say that requiring bottle age is not a purpose (or a quality) in itself for a wine. Some wines certainly do require some aging to develop to their full potential – many great wines do. Any many others benefit from some (bottle) age. (Just like some people.) But wine making technology and skills today make for wines that are often excellent to drink already when young. Most modern wines have plenty of ripe fruit and ripe tannins that make them drinkable sooner than what used to be the case. If we go back in time things were perhaps different. They did not have the same technology, resources and skill as winemakers generally have today and harvesting was often earlier giving harsher, more tannic wines which were much less pleasant to drink as young.

I once met a wine enthusiast who said "I don't think any wines less than 15 years old are worth drinking". He misses a lot of wonderful wine experiences. One example: We recently did a big Priorat tasting with some 50 wines from the region. Generally very powerful, compact alcohol-rich wines. Lots of fruit, lots of alcohol and tannins and (often) plenty of oak. One wine was from 2000 but most of the others were from 2004 to 2006. The 2000 certainly stood out from the crowd. It had much more character of dried fruit, almost a touch of sweetness and a slightly oxidised tone (quite natural for an aged wine). You might think that wines in this style, from Priorat, should benefit from or even require quite a bit of bottle age – at least 8 years. But overall my feeling was that then younger wines, with more fruit and more fresh acidity and even a bit of bite in the tannins were nicest to drink. And often that style of wine goes better with food too. But, of course, all this is a matter of taste. There are wine-necrophils and there are those who would swear by a Beaujolais nouveau (albeit few). Who knows, perhaps I should start the AIPFFV? At least it will give us some reason to discuss the wines.

It is soon autumn

Yes it is, even if it doesn't quite feel so at the moment. Now is the time to think about this autumn's wine tours. Take a look at our program: Bordeaux, the Douro Valley in Portugal and Champagne. You'll find more details below. I hope you'll find something of interest to you. And book now!

BKWine on television

We were recently travelling in the south west of France with a wine tour group. One of the visits were to Chateau Montus in the Madiran district. Montus, and the sister property Domaine Bouscassé, is run by the energetic Alain Brumont who has contributed more than most to put Madiran and all of the Sud-Ouest on the wine map. When we arrived, to our surprise, there was a film team on site from the French television channel France 3. They were making a reportage about the group of foreigners (that was us) who came to visit the winery. So in the evening issue of the local news program (not so local – all of south-western France) there were slurping and wine tasting in foreign language on the French television. Fun. Unfortunately not (yet?) available on YouTube.

Britt

PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief or forward it to them !

Read the entire Brief here!

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Big Brother Champagne

>> Monday, May 12, 2008

a0615-213-1363The small village Champagne in Switzerland has been the subject of posts previously in the Brief when they attracted the attention of the Champagne region and CIVC in France. French Champagne did not like that the Swiss village used the same name, believing that it could confuse consumers, and made a deal with the Swiss government that force the Swiss wine producers to stop using their village name on the bottles. (Instead they tried selling their wine under the names Libre-Champ and C-ampagne, albeit clever but with not much success.) Champagne (the French version) has also stopped a maker of biscuits in the Swiss village to stop using the name and to refer to the biscuits as made from a traditional recipe from Champagne. Recently the locals of the village staged a protest where a forklift symbolically draped in a French flag uprooted the sign with the village name at the edge of the village. Watch the "dramatic" video on YouTube. (And watch more wine videos on BKWine TV)

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World's best sommelier interviewed on WineFairy.com

>> Friday, May 09, 2008

In 2007 Andreas Larsson was crowned world's best sommelier. He was recently interviewed on the American internet radio WineFairy.com. Listen to the interview with Andreas on what his favourite wines are, and on his other great passion, music and his favourite music personalities Bach and John Coltrane on WineFairy.com (mp3 download)

And if you want to see him "live" you can watch our video interview with him on BKWine TV (in Swedish though).

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World's best Chardonnay

http://www.chardonnay-du-monde.com/Pict/illustrations/WBCdM/WBCdM.en.gifThe competition The World's Best Chardonnay was recently held in Burgundy. 60 wines were awarded gold medals and 202 had silver out of 953 contestants. The gold medals were well spread out over the world: South Africa, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Spain, Canada, Greece, Israel, Italy, Moldova, Romania, and Switzerland. The full results here. www.chardonnay-du-monde.com

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Blogging wine economists

The American Association of Wine has launched a new blog on the theme of wine, economics and marketing. Some of the subjects discussed already are: the extension of Champagne, wine in China and valuing Bordeaux vintages. Read more: www.wine-econ.org/

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Cash in on your old bottles

Parisians in need of cash can now go to the pawn shop and leave their wines. Crédit Municipal de Paris, who opened shop for wine deposits recently, received wine valued at €45,000 in the first 48 hours. Someone came with an old bottle of Bollinger champagne (€1000), another person with a 1961 Pétrus (part of a lot valued at €17,000), and much more. The wines will be stored in an 18th century cellar in Paris until the are recovered by their owners or sold. Times.co.uk and www.creditmunicipal.fr

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WiFi and climate control in the vineyard

>> Thursday, May 08, 2008

In the last Brief we talked about GrapeNetworks who has developed a solution based on climate and humidity sensors connected through a WiFi network to improve vineyard management. It allows for better resource and water management and potentially less use of harmful substances in the vineyard. There's now a video available that you can watch to learn more about the solution. www.grapenetworks.com

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Petition for cork-cork

bp11-544-4449A group of environmentally minded people have launched a petition to preserve and promote the natural cork, and in particular the forests that produce the cork bark. A change to screw cap risks damaging the today extensive and well managed cork oak forests. The group says that the oak forests are important for example for the threatened species the Iberian Lynx and the Iberian Imperial Eagle, and that in Portugal the oak forests reduces the CO2 emissions with 5%. The famous nature photographer Yann Artus-Bertrand (e.g. The Earth Seen From the Sky) and Jean-Marie Pelt, president of the European Ecological Institute are two names behind the petition. The site www.petitionpourleliege.org and the petition text in English.

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Australia biggest exporter to Sweden

In dramatic contrast to Denmark, let's take a look at Sweden and the sales statistics. The "old world" is struggling considerably more here, and in particular France. Here's the top ten exporters of wine to Sweden in 2007:

1. Australia, 16.5% (an increase with +31.7%, i.e. in 2006 the market share was 13.3%)
2. South Africa, 15.7% (+10.3%)
3. Italy, 15.4% (+7.6%)
4. Spain, 14.7% (-3.6%)
5. France, 9.7% (-0.3%)
6. Chile, 7.1% (+7.9%)
7. USA, 5.1% (-9.8%)
8. Germany 4.8% (+4.9)
9. Hungary, 3.4% (-7.6%)
10. Argentina, 2.5% (+15%)
(NB: The increase/decrease is expressed differently for Sweden and Denmark so those numbers are not directly comparable.)

If instead you look at the number of products from each country the picture is quite different. Retaining the order above here's how many items are listed from each country:

1. Australia: 484
2. South Africa: 537
3. Italy: 1238
4. Spain: 717
5. France: 2418
6. Chile: 285
7. USA: 487
8. Germany: 418 (of which 7 are red)
9. Hungary: 55
10. Argentina: 149

It should be noted that the numbers do not represent the number of items that are available in reality on this monopoly market. Many references on the list are out of stock or not available for other reasons so the number is generally far above the real number of available wines.

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France in the lead in Denmark – for the moment

France, Italy and Spain are holding on to their positions on the Danish market although they have lost a few percentage points in market share. This is the top list (source: vinavisen.dk and Vin og Spiritus Organisationen i Danmark, www.vsod.dk):

1. France, 19.7% (-1.1% från 2006)
2. Italy, 14% (-0.9%)
3. Chile, 14% (+1.1%)
4. Australia 12.5% (+1.9%)
5. Spain, 11.3% (-1.5%)
6. South Africa, 6.4% (+0.4%)
7. Germany, 5.7% (-0.5%)
8. Argentina, 4.4% (-0.1%)
9. USA, 3.5% (-0.8%)
10. Portugal, 1.4% (+-0%)

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The Swedish wine and spirits monopoly makes 39 million in profit

>> Friday, May 02, 2008

The gross profit at the Swedish monopoly retailer was 39 million euro (366 M SEK) in 2007. It is a drastic decrease from 2006 when the profit was 64 M euro (602 M SEK). The Systembolaget explains the difference with that the trading margins were decreased in 2007 and they made less profits from selling real estate. In spite of the lower result Chief Executive Anitra Steen says "2007 was a successful year for Systembolaget. We fulfilled our tasks assigned to us by the government and answered to customer expectations." Well, 39 M Euro is perhaps not that bad, not least if you consider the constantly repeated mantra at Systembolaget that "we are not a profit motivated company". In fact, the profit target is set by the owner, the government (perhaps without being very motivated by what it will be?) and then it is relatively mechanically achieved by the monopoly. From that perspective it can indeed be an advantage with a monopoly.

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Californian wine snapshot

Wine is, according to a press release from The Wine Institute, the number one finished agricultural product in retail value in the US. Here's some more statistics:
-- California produces 90% of all wine in the US
-- California is, if one regards it as a country, the world's fourth wine producer, after France, Italy and Spain
-- There is 2687 wineries and 4600 grape growers
-- 213,000 hectares (527,000 acres) of vineyards
-- 3.2 million tons of grapes are harvested to a value of $1.82 bn
-- Chardonnay and Cabernet are the leading varieties followed by Merlot and Zinfandel
-- 60% of the grapes are red and 40% are white (green)

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American wine sales increase with the US too

Domestic sales of American wines increased to 1,700 million litres, up 2%. Measured in value, sales within the US was worth $18.9 billion.

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