Best Wine Book of 2010 – and the winner is BKWine! (more info)

This is what we wrote in our press release about this prestigious award:

“A Wine is Born: the work in the vineyard and in the wine cellar” won the category “best drinks book”, a category that includes books on wine, spirits and beer (and thus also “best wine book of the year”) awarded by the “Måltidsakademien”, whose aim it is to promote knowledge and education on food and drink. The book is written by Britt Karlsson and photography is by Per Karlsson, both active members of FIJEV and the Circle of Wine Writers. The book explains how vines are grown in the vineyard and how wine is made in the cellar. The target audience is both the dedicated wine lover as well as wine trade professionals and students. More information on the book can be found here: http://ettvinblirtill.wordpress.com/english/

“A Wine is Born” is published in Swedish under the title “Ett vin blir till”. It does not yet have an English publisher, but Britt and Per would certainly be very interested in discussing a potential English language edition.
The title of the book is an allusion to a ground breaking photography book, “A Child is Born”, by the Swedish scientific medical photographer Lennart Nilsson first published in 1965 (www.lennartnilsson.com).

Each year ”Måltidsakademien” (http://akademierna.se/) awards prizes to the best Swedish literature in the areas of food, wine and drinks. The drink literature prize (including wine) is one of the most contested categories with a large number of entrants. In total there are around thirty categories, two of which touch wine: the Drinks Literature prize and the Combining Food and Wine category. The former included this year around 20 competing books and the latter two books.

The jury motivated its selection of ”A Wine is Born” with the following: “A detailed, in depth and very illustrative voyage through vineyards and wine cellars, where each explanation of facts and working methods invites the reader to go on his own discovery amongst growers, harvesters and oenologists”.

Britt and Per comment on the award: “We are very happy and proud. The book is the condensed result of all the vineyard and winery visits we do on our wine tours with BKWine and of the innumerable discussions we have had with winemakers. We wanted to do a book based on what’s done in real life and not just on theories; a book that is entertaining for the wine enthusiast but also educational. ‘A Wine is Born’ can even be used as a text book for wine students. In addition to the basics (and not so basics) of wine growing and winemaking we also wanted to explain things that are usually not talked about in other wine books, tools, technologies and methods, and also illustrate everything with a lot of photos, sometimes quite unique illustrations.”

Britt and Per Karlsson write about wine and produces photography on wine in their company BKWine AB. They are also a wine tour operator, organising some 30 wine tours each year, as well as consultants and wine educators.

Facts on the book:
• “A Wine is Born, the work in the vineyard and in the wine cellar”, original title “Ett vin blir till, arbetet i vingården och i vinkällaren”;
• Text: Britt Karlsson with contributions by Per Karlsson;
• Photography: Per Karlsson;
• Published by Carlsson Bokförlag, Stockholm 2009.
• Hardback, 297 pages, lavishly illustrated in colour. ISBN: 978 91 7331 270 7

BKWine: http://www.bkwine.com
Carlsson Bokförlag: http://www.carlssonbokforlag.se/
On the award: http://www.hellefors.se/kommun/booktown/start.asp
Photos on the book: http://ettvinblirtill.wordpress.com/press/pressbilder/