BKWine Blog: June 2008

Monday, June 30, 2008

The world's weirdest wine labels

Someone in Switzerland called wineman (or winegirl) has collected a wealth of more or less odd wine labels: www.winegirl.ch/Languages/English.html. The collection is organised according to theme, some rather surprising. For example: uniforms, bulls (Bull's Eye Madeira…), elephants, erotic (The Sergeant's Mess anyone?), firemen (Riesling Brand of course), frogs, humour and even Popes. Lots of entertainment.

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Friday, June 27, 2008

Two Languedoc producers on video: Domaine de Nizas and Ch St Jacques d'Albas

Both Domaine de Nizas and Chateau Saint Jacques d'Albas are part of the new wave wine makers in the Languedoc. St Jacques was created seven years ago by a British banker who wanted to change life style and Nizas was launched a few years earlier by an Franco-American entrepreneur who had previously started Clos du Val in California and Taltarni in Australia (he must be picking up a lot of air-miles…). We visited both recently on a tour of the Languedoc

[E] Graham Nutter of Chateau St Jacques d'Albas

and you can watch the video interviews we made with them here:
- visit and interview at Domaine de Nizas in Languedoc, and the
- interview with Graham Nutter of Chateau St Jacques d'Albas.

And you can find more wine videos on BKWine TV.

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The world's worst wine labels

Dr. Vino has created an entertaining (?) competition: Which is the world's worst (ugliest, most tasteless…) wine label? There are many, many poor wine labels but few are truly awful. Dr. Vino has found some of those. What do you say about:
- Cleavage Creek (yes, including photo)
- The cat-bottles from Zeller
- The Prisoner, decorated with a depressing illustration that might appeal to the SM enthusiast
- The Horse's Ass (no explanation needed)
- And why not Champagne Jacques Chirac…

You can see the labels and vote here.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

How do you make a wine barrel?

Making a wine barrel at C Gillet Cooperage

Perhaps not a question you have asked. But it is actually quite a complicated process that still today relies to a great extend on manual craft skills. We recently visited a cooper, Tonnellerie Gillet, in Burgundy as part of a vineyard tour in the region and Gillet showed us exactly how it's done: how you cut the staves, how to assemble the barrique (try and figure it out!), how to toast it (la chauffe – burning a fire inside) etc. Come with us on a wine tour to Burgundy if you're interested to learn more, or watch this video that shows you how a wine barrel is made. And you can find more wine videos on BKWine TV.

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New edition of Fine Wine e-zine

The downloadable e-zine Fine Wine has just come out with a new issue with various articles on e.g. the Rhône Valley, the new contamination-proof cork that for ever removes the corked wine-problem (it is said), the Loire Valley and more. Download it here: www.finewine.nu

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

5000 wine producers in the United States

There are just under 5000 wine producers ("bonded wineries") in the United States. Half of these are in California, all according to a report by MKF Research LLC. These are the most "vinous" states, measured in the number of wineries (2005):

- California: 2275 bonded wineries
- Washington: 454,
- Oregon: 291
- New York: 245
- Texas: 141

One can understand that it is easier for a wine enthusiast to keep track of this compared to e.g. the 10,000 chateaux that you can count just Bordeaux. Virtually all states have at least a few bonded wineries.

The total acreage planted with vines reach 608,000 acres / 246,000 hectares. The details:

- California: 474.000 ac / 192,000 ha
- Washington: 54.000 ac / 22.000 ha
- Michigan: 41.200 ac / 17.000 ha
- New York: 31.000 ac / 12.500 ha
- Philadelphia: 12.000 / 4.900 ha
- Oregon: 11.700 / 4.700 ha

But only half of the grapes are actually used to make wine, which explains the discrepancy between the lists. The rest ends up as e.g. raisins and grape juice. So in total there is some 120,000 ha of wine producing land, which incidentally is about the same size as Bordeaux. The average acreage for a winery is thus around 50 hectares. I winder what that number is for Italy or France…

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Malbec wine from Paris!

The long established vineyard Clos Montmartre in Paris, just behind Sacre Coeur, must now face new competition. It is the Bretonneau hospital in the 18th arrondisment that has launched its first vintage of Clos Bretonneau. Three years ago they planted 125 Malbec vines and at the end of May the first vintage, the 2007 were presented. A very decent, fruity and unpretentious wine, in particular considering the vines are only three years old. The wine is vinified at the hospital in its own wine cellar equipped with stainless steel tanks and all! Veronique Desjardins, the hospital director, sees the new vineyard as an important part of the therapy for the patients (old-age people needing constant hospital treatment): "It revives old memories – who has not harvested grapes once when young? It becomes a discussion subject and the patients can even help with the harvest." To serve wine at the meals at the hospital is self evident in this place. Consulting winemaker is Fabrice Duron from Chateau de Gaudou in Cahors. "Clos Bretonneau is a micro-cuvée", he says, "but it's made just like the wines I make at home and I'm very proud of this vintage. But the vines are young and it will only get better!"

(Here's a short video about the hospital, but not on the wine though.)

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

BKWine Pick: Cave d’Embres et Castelmaure, Corbieres, Languedoc

Cave d'Embres et Castelmaure, Corbières, Languedoc

To reach the village of Emres et Castelmaure (yes, that's how its called) you have to follow narrow, winding roads, beautiful and remote and full of game hunters in season… To arrive in the village and find a cooperative that is modern, not to say trendy, is not quite what you expect. but Cave d'Embres et Castelmaure has succeeded in convincing its members (les cooperateurs) that to survive today you have to focus on quality. The wines are very good, starting with the nice and easy-to-drink La Buvette to the more serious la Grande Cuvée and Cuvée N:o 3. The labels are decidedly modern, perhaps designed with younger drinkers in mind, as are the bag-in-boxes. Now they can even boast a brand new architecture designed winery. Some call it "un Guggenheim des Corbières"…

Click here for address and more recommendations.

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Welcome to the BKWine Brief nr 59, June 2008 - Summer Wines

Summer wines

In northern Europe they have summer already. Swedes are complaining (or not) about 30 degrees. Here in Paris we have so far a dismal beginning of the summer. Just barley over half the temperature in Sweden… In summer, in particular, rosé wines are scoring record sales in many countries now. People are sipping pink wine just like those with lives of leisure in Provence. And perhaps that is because many rosé wines are now actually quite good. I hardly thought I'd ever say that. For long, I have been looking the other way when rosé was offered but not so any longer.

And you know what? I even like Beaujolais! Rosé and Beaujolais used to be the wines I avoided in the beginning of my vinous life. Well, I'm allowed to change my mind, am I not? Every well made wine has the right to a place in the world of wine. So if you get enough of rosé for some time – if summer heat stays for long as we all hope – try a Beaujolais. It can be excellent, provided you serve it cool, never more than 14 degrees centigrade. In fact, Beaujolais is quite a unique wine. Few wines can boast this fine, fresh fruit, absolutely devoid of oak aromas. Made from an almost unique grape, grown in very few other places. A visit to a few Beaujolais producers a couple of weeks ago showed this eminently. Beaujolais deserves a renaissance! Of course, not all Beaujolais wines are excellent. Sometimes you get a bit too much of the artificial tutti-frutti aromas or the sweetish fruit. But on the other hand, which wine region does not have its ups and downs? None. You just have to choose your wine grower carefully.

And of course, your taste develops and changes the more you taste and the more you learn. Some French producers have a theory that New World wines are good because they are for "beginners", making for an easy approach to wine, and once the wine drinkers learn more and get a more sophisticated taste they move on to more complex and elegant wines … from France! That is no doubt not far from the truth for those wine drinkers who are interested in wine. Not because New World wines are simple and French wines are sophisticated, but because you always want to discover new things, new wines and new countries. So they move on from the New World to France, or to Italy, or to something else … or the other way around.

I'm on my way tomorrow to discover a "new" (for me) wine country: Greece. I suspect I won't have a single glass of Retsina during the trip. But you never know. Even Retsina might be enjoyable in the right environment. With some antique ruins in the background.

Wine tours for the autumn

Don't forget to plan your autumn wine tour before you leave on vacation! Perhaps a trip to the wine region of wine regions: to Bordeaux. Or (I was almost going to say the opposite) a region that has transformed itself beyond recognition as a table wine producer during the last decades, to the Douro valley in Portugal. Or perhaps an end-of-season vinous and gastronomic odyssey (you see, already some Greek influence!) to Champagne to discover its wines and its gastronomy. More info here.

Britt

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Tuesday, June 03, 2008

EU wine reform agreed

The hotly debated reform of the wine scheme within the EU agricultural policy has finally been agreed. Albeit a substantially weaker reform than originally proposed by commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel it is still a step in the right direction. There will be a voluntary plan to uproot (grub up) 175,000 ha of vines to reduce the wine surplus, much less than the proposed 400,000 ha. Subsidies for distillation of surplus wine will be phased out and a budget will be allocated to promoting the consumption of European wines (outside of Europe of course…). Chaptalisation (addition of sugar), however, will not be outlawed as opposed to what was originally proposed. Read more: decanter.com, and on vitisphere.com

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