BKWine TV: [F] Ch Fourcas-Hosten, Renaud Momméja interview

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with Renaud Momméja, owner since 2006 of Chateau Fourcas-Hosten, together with his brother Laurent Momméja. (The Momméjas are one of the principal owners of Hermès, the French fashion and luxury goods group.)

Ch Fourcas-Hosten is located in Listrac in Médoc, Bordeaux. The chateau is one of those that have been classified as Cru Bourgeois.

Its a property of 20 ha with merlot on clay-limestone (argilo-calcaire), and 27 hectares on sand and gravel (graves) for cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc.

After 18 months of ownership he Renaud Mommeja shares with us the experiences as a « recent » winemaker.

Three vintages tasted and discussed: 2007 in primeur, a very interesting vintage with a cold summer but excellent harvest season; 2006 has just come out of its aging; 2005 a finished wine and outstanding vintage, balance, fruit, length, an almost perfect vintage.

Language is French [F].

[F] Entretien avec le vigneron Renaud Momméja, le propriétaire du Chateau Fourcas-Hosten à Bordeaux.

http://www.chateaufourcashosten.com/

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Wine Fairs

French Wine Growers’ Fair in London 21-23 November

130 ”authentic” and “traditional” French winegrowers will exhibit on the First French Winegrowers Fair in London on November 21-23. It takes place at the Barbican Exhibition Centre in central London. You pay a small entrance fee (£10) and then you can taste as much as you like of the more than 500 wines that are presented. There will also be tastings, a special section on organic wines and on French wines made by Brits and more. You can also buy wines on-site (trolleys are provided) or have them delivered to your home. Sounds like an entertaining event. Especially the authentic winegrower! www.frenchwinegrowersfair.com

Millesime Bio – organic wine fair, 26-28 January

Millesime bio is the annual wine faire dedicated to organic wines (need we add once again that it should be read “wine produced from organically grown grapes”. There are no such thing, strictly speaking, as “organic wine”). The next edition (the 16th!) takes place on January 26-28, 2009. This time it will be in Montpellier, making it easier to access for long distance visitors. Perhaps they are also expecting larger crowds ‘organic’ being much the rage these days. www.millesime-bio.com

WineMeetings Cannes in February

A little while ago we talked about the WineMeetings Cannes event. It is a meeting place for buyers and negociants. Their new web site is now online: www.winemeetings-cannes.fr

Provence and Rhône wine fair, Blue Wine Expo.

Blue Wine Expo is a professional wine fair that presents 120 independent winegrowers (‘vignerons indépendants’) to buyers, importers and the restaurant trade. A good occasion to make new contacts with winemakers from Provence and the southern Rhône valley. In Marseille on January 26-27. More info www.bleuwinexpo.com

VinExpo Asia-Pacific: May 25-27, 2010

The next Asian edition of the big (huge) wine fair VinExpo has been scheduled for May 25-27, 2010. It will take place at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. More info: www.vinexpo.com

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BKWine TV: [F] Ch Fourcas-Dupré, Patrice Pagès

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with Patice Pagès, owner of Château Fourcas Dupré in Listrac, Médoc, Bordeaux, France.

It is a family owned winery that his father bought in 1970. The French chateau is one of those that have been classified as Cru Bourgeois claret.
47 hectares of vines.

2007: an outstandingly charming vintage. Very elegant.
2006: a completely different vintage. A much more classic vintage. More structured and more tannin.
2005: Now in bottle since a few months. A great vintage, that almost approaches a definition of what wine should be, almost a perfect wine. Justifiably hailed as a great vintage by the markets.

M. Pagès aims to always do a bit better. There is always something that can be improved.

The key for a great wine is to harvest great grapes. And what are great grapes? Well, it is ripe grapes.

Language is French [F].

[F] Entretien avec le vigneron Patrice Pagès, le propriétaire du Chateau Fourcas-Dupré à Bordeaux.

http://www.fourcasdupre.com/

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Campaign for more organic wines in France

The French minister of agriculture, Michel Barnier, has presented a plan to increase the portion of organically grown (wine) grapes in France. The aim is to reach 6% of the total area by 2012. There will be new restriction against using chemicals as well as initiatives to stimulate growers to switch to organic. According to Agence Bio there is today (2007) 2.6% of organic vineyards in France. It is Burgundy (perhaps surprisingly) that has seen the most rapid growth in organic wine farming: plus 28% in 2007, compared to the country average of +16%. Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon are two other regions that have seen big increases. www.frenchwinesbulletin.co.uk

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Does hiring a famous winemaker make the wine more expensive? – Yes.

If a vineyard hires a “famous” winemaker, does it have an impact on the price of their wines? The answer is, not surprisingly, yes, according to a recent study. The effect is immediate and possibly double. Immediately when a famous winemaker is hired (or it is announced) the price goes up, long before the winemaker star has had the possibility to have any influence on the quality of the wine – in economic terms this is called the symbolic effect. Later, when the new winemaker has had an impact on the wine there can also be a “substantive effect” if the quality goes up too. Peter Roberts and Christopher Rider from Emory University and Mukti Khaire of Harvard University have recently written a paper on the subject that will be presented at the Association of Wine Economists congress: “Basking in Reflected Glory: Symbolic and Substantive Implications of Winemaker Mobility”. The results show that the “symbolic” effect, i.e. the immediate effect before any possible change in quality, is an increase in price of 3%. More surprising, perhaps, is that the finding that there is (even later) no change in quality, as measured in WineSpectator ratings. In other words, hiring a famous winemaker makes the wine go up in price but it makes no difference for the quality of the wine… Read more… wine-econ.org

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BKWine TV: [F] Ch Fonréaud, Jean Chanfreau interview

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with Jean Chanfreau, winemaker and co-owner of Chateau Fonréaud, Chateau Lestage in Listrac in Médoc, Bordeaux, and Chateau Caroline (the latter in Moulis), together with his sister Caroline Chanfreau-Philippon. The chateau is one of those that have been classified as Cru Bourgeois.

All are wines that age very well. It is classic claret wines with lots of elegance.

He talks about the history of the château and the character of his wines.
Over the 25 years that he has made the wine. He also explains the different option a winemaker has to change the style of his wines.

He also mentions the interesting fact that when the Médoc chateaux were classified in 1855 there were no cabernet or merlot grapes in the Médoc.

He comments on the three vintages 2005 the perfect vintage with perfect balance, 2006 which was a cooler vintage and that will perhaps need more time but potentially longer living, and 2007 a late vintage but with wonderful autumn giving more fruity wines for early drinking.

Language is French [F].

[F] Entretien avec le vigneron Jean Chanfreau, le propriétaire du Chateau Fonréaud à Bordeaux.

http://www.chateau-fonreaud.com/

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18 month low for wine prices

The Liv-ex 100 Fine Wine is an index (just like stock indexes) tracking wine prices. It has reach an 18 month low in October, falling 12% in that month alone. Some examples: Lafite 2004 -28%, Montrose 2003 -23%, Ausone 2000 -22% and so on. The somewhat broader Liv-ex 500 (including 500 wines) was not hit at all as hard, down only 1.8% in the month. Jack Hibberd, research manager at Liv-ex, says to Decanter: “the [wine] market is not immune”. www.decanter.com

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BKWine TV: [E] Mount Athos Wine - Tsantali

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with George Salpiggidis, viticultural director of Tsantali Winery. He talks about Tsantali's wine made on the holy peninsula of Mount Athos.

Evangelos Tsantali established the Mount Athos vineyard in the early 70s, with mainly international grape varieties.

Today the vineyards cover around 100 hectares. Much has been replanted more recently, also with traditional Greek grape varieties.

The vineyard is cultivated organically.

One problem is the lack of water, there is only 300 mm rain per year. Today they are considering irrigation - watering the vineyards. Another challenge is to bring the organic manure to the vineyards since they are very remote.

The wine was originally made in collaboration with the monks at the closest monastery. But today Tsantali only provide the wine to the monastery and help maintain the buildings, badly in need of restoration.

http://www.tsantali.gr

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End of The Good Times for top Bordeaux wines?

Will the financial crisis lead to harder times for the most exclusive wine chateaux in Bordeaux? Some people think so. Jeffrey Davis says to Wine Business International that he has noted a decline in the demand in top US restaurants. Others also note a weakening demand. But it’s perhaps not only the financial crisis that is in play: the primeur “campaign” for the 2007s were very slow; the dollar is weak etc. But it may take some time before the pain is felt. Many merchants ar getting paid this year for deliveries of the very expensive 2005s, bolstering revenues. Yann Schyler, of negociant Schroder & Schyler and Ch Kirwan is expecting a difficult 2009: “The sales of top-of-the-range wines have stopped since a few months back. Customers have other things on their minds. Airlines, for instance, who used to buy bottles between 8 and 12 euro are now looking for wines at 3 to 8 euro”, he sais to the Sud-Ouest newspaper.

(And perhaps this should not come as a big surprise, after e.g. the drastic price hikes in 2005 when some wines went up in price with 500% or more…) Read more: wine-business-international.com and www.straitstimes.com

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BKWine TV: [E] Domaine Gerovassiliou in Greece

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with Evangelos Gerovassiliou founder and owner of Domaine Gerovassiliou. He founded the winery in 1981.

Domaine Gerovassiliou is a winery located not far from Thessaloniki (Thessalonica) in the hillsides of Epanomi, in northern Greece.

Evangelos Gerovassiliou believes that the future of Greek wine is based on the indigenous native varieties, for example, malagousia, a grape variety he revived and saved from oblivion.

The winery makes both red and white wines, white are both dry and sweet.
Evangelos Gerovassiliou also co-owns another Greek winery called Biblia Chora further to the north. he also has a wine estate in Stellenbosch in South Africa.

http://www.gerovassiliou.gr

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Does filtered wine taste less good?

It is very common that wine is filtered before bottling. There are even oenologists who say that any winemaker who does not filter is irresponsible and careless. In the opposite corner we have the crowd that says that filtering, and the “finer” the worse, removes subtleties and nuances in the wine. Just look at all the wines that proudly boast “unfiltered” on the label (we had a Greek one last night). So, what’s the truth? As usual with wine, there is not necessarily any definite “truth”. It depends. On many things. If you’re interested you can get one point of view in the article ”If Filtration 'Strips' Wine, What's Getting Stripped?” in Wines & Vines . (The author comments that it is difficult to judge if it makes any perceptible difference or not, but that can hardly be the case. Just sample the same wine filtered and unfiltered. Surely someone has done that…)

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BKWine TV: A duck farm in the Perigord in south-western France.

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- A visit to a duck farm in the Perigord in south-western France.

Small ducklings grow up to become big duck...

In our visit to the farm we learn how to prepare various duck specialities, for example foie gras, the famous fat duck liver (often preferred to the goose liver). You start with a whole liver, remove and spots or impurities, including veins/nerves. You put in a conserve tin (can) and then cook it, slightly (60 degrees) if you want it mi-cuit or more if you want it sterilised and long term conserve.

Then you must of course taste some of the gastronomic specialities of this region in a gourmet meal with us: Terrine de foie gras mi-cuit, sear fried duck liver (foie gras poëlé), with onion marmalade, duck liver pate (terrine de canard et foie gras), smoke-dried duck breast (magret de canard seché et fume), rillettes de canard, which is a sort of paté (actually, its meat that has been cooked in a long time in its fat).

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Golfer Annika Sorenstam to launch wine brand

Annika Sorenstam is one of the world’s most celebrated golfers (and happens to be Swedish). Her next project is to make wine in partnership with Wente Vineyards in California. The wine will be launched as Annika syrah and will be available in may 2009. The price will be around $75. "As someone who thoroughly enjoys fine wine, I am thrilled to be partnering with the Wente family on this project," said Sorenstam. "It is exciting for me to be able to share this passion of mine with other wine lovers."

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BKWine TV: A short visit to the Chateau des Vigiers hotel

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- A short visit to Chateau des Vigiers near Bergerac in Perigord, southwest France.

Chateau des Vigiers is a beautiful and luxurious chateau-hotel, less than an hour east of Bordeaux. It has its own golf course, a spa, a gourmet restaurant and a bistro.

It is a good base to explore the region of Bergerac, its wines, the duck specialities, including foie gras, perhaps try some truffles (were in the Perigord!), explore some of the ancient caves (Lascaux is no too far away), or just enjoy the beautiful country side and the comfortable luxury hotel.

The chateau also makes its own wine from the vineyards on the estate: both white, rosé and red, from the Bergerac appellation and even some sweet wine.

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BKWine Pick: Bistro Alex, Vinipolis

Bistro Alex, Vinipolis, Florensac

Wine tourism is en vogue and the wine co-operative in Florensac in the Languedoc has made some big investments to become more welcoming to passing tourists. It is located near the motorway between Montpellier and Perpignan so it is easy to reach. They have opened a big and modern wine shop where the floor is made of glass to give you a view of the wine cellar and oak barrels below. They have also opened an excellent restaurant called Bistro Alex. The chef behind the cooking is Jean-Claude Fabre who previously was in charge of the Chez Léonce Michelin starred restaurant. One of his specialities is fish and seafood and nearby is the Bassin de Thau which is one of France’s biggest sources of fresh oysters. The cuisine is innovative and very good. To accompany the food there are plenty of wines from the co-operative. Try for instance the delicious viognier.

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BKWine TV: [E] Kir-Yianni Estate, interview with Stellios Boutaris in Greece

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with Stellios Boutaris, winemaker and co-owner of the family vineyard Kir-Yianni, founded by Stelios father Yiannis Boutaris, located in Naousa (Naoussa) in northwestern Greece.

One of the main varieties they focus on is xinomavro, sometimes likened to pinot noir but really with more family resemblance to nebbiolo or syrah.

Stellios also talks about his father, Yiannis Boutaris, one of the pioneers of Greek wines.

Stellios has the ambition to establish Kir-Yianni as one of the top producers in the world, focused on the traditional Greek varieties, e.g. xinomavro in the Naousa region and the roditis variety in Amyndeon (white wine vineyards)

"Good wine is made in the winery, great wine is made in the vineyard." - Stellios

http://www.kiryianni.gr/

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BKWine Pick: Domaine des Allegrets, Côtes de Duras

Julien Blanchard is young but already a very accomplished winemaker and we will no doubt hear more about him in the future, if I am not entirely mistaken. His wines are very well made, with both complexity and balance. He owns 60 ha and half of his production is white (overall, they make quite a lot of white wine in Duras). His white Divine Alliance 2007 (an ‘alliance’ between sauvignon blanc and the barrique) was made with skin contact initially and barrel aging on the lees. The result is a full-bodied wine with aromas of grapefruit, flowers, peach, and with a good freshness. The red Voyage d’Oenos 2005 (the year Julien got married; ‘voyage de noce’=honeymoon) is well structured but also very easy to drink. The sweet Moelleux 1999 was made from 100 year old vines with Semillon grapes with noble rot (botrytis). It fermented and then aged in barrique for 24 months and is heavenly delicious with touches of apricot and orange peel and still a very refreshing acidity (20 euro).

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BKWine Pick: Cave Berticot, Côtes de Duras

A small co-operative with some 1000 hectares. They have invested heavily in quality development in recent years and now work closely together with the individual growers. Stephan Clement, the winemaker, comes from Champagne and finds it quite natural that things work very differently here. He has introduced pigeage in 18 of the fermentation tanks. this ‘pushing down the cap’ (pushing down skins and pips that float to the surface into the must during fermentation) gives increased extraction, more than remontage (pumping over). It is much more common in e.g. Burgundy than in this region. The white Duc de Berticot 2003 has been aged for 9 months in oak barrels; it has a good balance, some citrus-sweet aromas on the nose and lots of vitality. The red Défendu (=the forbidden) 2005 is made from old vines, primarily merlot, is fruity, quite full-bodied and very nice (9 euro).

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BKWine Pick: Domaine de Ferrand, Côtes de Duras

Côtes de Duras

Côtes de Duras is today perhaps a not very well know district, located only 45 km from Saint Emilion, but that may well change. There are many similarities with St Emilion, both regarding the grape varieties used and the wine styles. What is very different, though, are the prices. Here you will pay substantially less than in Bordeaux for wines that are in many cases equal in quality. Here are some growers that we can recommend:

Domaine de Ferrand, Côtes de Duras

Denis and Marie-Thérèse Vuillion were getting close to retirement and started to think of what to do with “the rest” of their life. They found the answer in a 13 ha vineyard in Côtes de Duras. As part of the deal they also got 9 ha of plum trees (the region is well known for its “pruneaux d’Agen”, dried plums). “Duras might be a small appellation”, says Denis, “but there are great variations in terroir, which makes it interesting to aim for quality wines. And even if the appellations are not well known when people come here and taste they are very positive”. Tasting their different wines my attention was particularly caught by an aromatic Sauvignon Blanc 2005 with good length in the mouth (3.50 euro), a red unpretentious Domaine de Ferrand 2005, entirely without oak aging, with lots of fruit but with a nice tannic touch at the finish (4 euro), and a sweet Moelleux 2005 made from late-harvested grapes partially affected by botrytis (noble rot). Very good with aromas of honey and a refreshing acidity (8 euro).

Click here for address and more recommendations.

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BKWine Brief nr 64, November 2008, now out

It’s quite some time now since most vineyards finished harvesting. We’ve been around many different districts this season: Tuscany and Veneto in Italy, Alentejo and the Douro Valley in Portugal, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Alsace, Languedoc…

If I try and summarise our impressions I’d say that most people were very nervous, or worried, when the harvest approached. Summer had in many regions been miserable (albeit not too wet). But when harvest approached, the weather gods turned around and produced good and sometimes fabulous weather (two short weeks ago we were in the Douro Valley and we had lunch outside every day during our three day trip. In the shadow. It was too warm in the sunshine…)

Fears of a failed harvest did not come true – the good weather before and during harvesting “saved” what could have been a vintage to forget. Even the Bordelais seemed content, where many had been looking depressed in August. We spoke recently with François Despagne (Ch Grand Corbin Despagne, Saint Emilion) who said the result was much better than anyone would have dared to hope. But in most cases the quantity will be small, due to the bad weather at flowering. That, at least, is the outlook. Then we will have to wait until we can taste the wines to really know.

Many see other dark clouds on the horizon today. The financial crisis will not fail to have an effect on the wine business too. But exactly how is difficult to say. We will no doubt see more bankruptcies and hard times for many winegrowers (even if it already today is very tough for producers of “smaller” wines). The ones who have not been hit by the current wine crisis (that is a fact since a couple of years) are above all the very top Bordeaux estates and the champagne producers. But even they are starting to feel concerned. If you visit some top Bordeaux chateaux (top meaning perhaps 60-100 of the almost 10 000 Bordeaux chateaux that exist) or in Champagne you get a feeling of wealth and tranquillity. Not a struggling French farmer in sight. But read about some of the latest comments from some of the major growers and traders (further down) you will understand that even they start to feel a chill. Just like in Champagne that we wrote about in the last Brief.

Time to think about Christmas presents?!

A bit more cheerful as a subject. We have several book reviews in this Brief that can perhaps inspire you to some hard and heavy gift packages in the Christmas stocking. From a book for the geology addict to one for the wine drinker who is convinced (or wants to be) that no wine needs to cost more than $15.

You can also find a link to a gift item site where everything has to do with wine. A side table made from old vines? Earrings? A t-shirt? It’s all there. The only thing that seems to be missing is women's wine lingerie… Read more further down.

And a wine tour is of course the pre-eminent gift! We can make an “open” gift voucher according to your specifications (nicely printed in colour) or you can choose a specific tour of course. And it’s never wrong to give oneself a gift, is it?...

Talking about tours:

It is high time to book if you are interested in next season’s first tour, the unique truffles, foie gras, duck and wine tour. Register-before date is December 1 so don’t delay. We’ve just published handful of videos that will give you a flavour of what the program contains.

See more below. And a little bit later in the year you have the Portugal tour if you prefer.

Britt

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

Read the full BKWine Brief here!

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BKWine TV: [E] Alpha Wine Estate, Greece

http://www.bkwine.com/wine_tours/wine... --- Interview with Angelos Iatridis, co-owner and co-winemaker at Alpha Wine Estate (Ktima Alpha) together with the partner Makis Mavridis.

Alpha is located in the village Agios Panteleimon, Amyndeon.

Northwestern Greece, viticultural appellation region Florina. The name of the appellation and wine region is Amyndeon.

Alpha was one of the first private vineyards in the Amyndeon area in northern Macedonia in Greece established with a quality wine focus.
The main grape variety is xinomavro, with both classic Vinification and carbonic maceration.

Other grape varieties: syrah, making more international style wines, sauvignon blanc giving typical varietal character. Alpha also makes a sweet white wine based on malagousia and gewurztraminer.

http://www.alpha-estate.gr/

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• Choose a language: If you want to see videos only in a specific language (English [E], French [F], or Swedish [S]) choose the corresponding Playlists or the link to the language sections on the BKWine TV channel page
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• Feedback: You make us happy if you rate our videos or give us other feedback: give star ratings, write comments, or put videos on your favourites list
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Machine makes cheap plonk taste like grand cru

“The Wine Ager” is the concept name for a machine that with ultrasound supposedly makes a cheap wine taste like a much more expensive wine in no time, or at least in 30 minutes. And eliminates hangover! Casey Jones, the inventor of the apparatus that looks like a large ice bucket, says: “This machine can take your run-of-the-mill £3.99 bottle of plonk and turn it into a finest bottle of vintage, tasting like it's hundreds”. The taste is improved by chemical reactions induced by the ultrasound. It also acts on the alcohols making them easier to absorb by the kidneys (sic), virtually eliminating the risk for a hangover. Winemaker Andre Jones at Buzzard Valley Vineyards commented: “Obviously it can't change the grape variety used, but it does mean a relatively poor variety can be made to taste a lot higher market”. In spite of the price tag being around £350 the inventor expects a big market for it, e.g. from all the bankers who are used to paying £1000 for a bottle and now can get the same taste for much less. Especially now, perhaps, with the financial crisis in full bloom. (On the other hand, it might show a certain lack of understanding of the motivations of people who do pay thousands of pounds for wine bottles?) Unfortunately, we have not had the possibility to try the machine. We’ll bring out the €3 cotesdurhone if it comes our way… Read more Dailymail.co.uk

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New edition of French wine atlas

« Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France » by Benoit France (Editions Solar) is a big book with maps over the French vineyards. it was first published in 2002 and has now been reviewed and published in a new edition. We have not yet had the opportunity to take a look so we will come back with a book review if the opportunity arises.

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