Bernard Magrez makes wine in Japan

Bernard Magrez is one of the most successful wine “industrialists” in recent times. He has amassed a wine empire including some 35 wine estates. He has recently established a joint venture with Yuji Aruga of Katsunuma Winery. The wine that they will make together will be sold on the international market (outside of Japan) through the Magrez distribution organisation. decanter.com

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BKWine Pick: Weingut Manderschied, Pfalz

Weingut Manderschied, Pfalz

Young Martin Manderscheid owns 15 hectares in Pfalz (Palatinate) in Germany. He took over the property from his father three years ago. 60% of the production is white wines, the rest is red and rosé. We’ve had the opportunity to taste three of Martin’s wines and were duly impressed. Grauburgunder 2005 Spätlese Trocken is a very good, aromatic wine, quite full-bodied with a nice fresh acidity. A completely dry wine with only 2.3 gram of residual sugar (4.6 euro from the property). The red Dornfelder Trocken 2004 has lots of red fruits and berries and is quaffable – quite a dark colour with a touch of spiciness (3.9 euro). This seems to be a property with a bright future. Prices are very reasonable. If you drive through Germany this summer Weingut Manderscheid is certainly worth a stop.

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Read about more recommended producers on the site: Favourite Producers

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Wine Tours

Wine Tours

• 26-30 September: Côte d'Or, the heart of Burgundy

Over the course of a long weekend we will take a close look at the heart of Burgundy: la Côte d’Or de Bourgogne, the Golden Slope of Burgundy. Our visits will give you expert insight into the important aspects of Burgundy wines: soil, geology, viticulture, and vinification. More info!

• 17-21 October: Portugal – Alentejo

Portugal have been making great strides in improving wine quality over the last decade and the Alentejo region is one of the most dynamic (albeit one of the least known). There are many ambitious wine makers in the region, both traditional Portuguese "houses" and modern ventures. And this is also where you find the vast Portuguese cork oak forests and the delicious Pata Negra ham. More info!

Finnish Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!

Tours on the schedule (in Finnish):

• 26.-30. syyskuuta: Viinimatka Alsaceen. More info here!
  
  
• 17-21 oktober: Portugal – Alentejo. More info here!

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Special offer: Portugal

Portugal has developed into a very exciting wine country. That’s why we do one more wine tour to Portugal this year. Just in time for that trip a new book on wine and food from Portugal will hit the shelves. It’s The Wine & Food Lover's Guide to Portugal written by Charles Metcalfe (ex-editor and co-founder of Wine International) and his wife Kathryn who have written it. In co-operation with Charles we are happy to be able to offer to the readers of the BKWine Brief to buy the book at a preferential price directly from Metcalfe. Let us know if you are interested and you will get the book delivered as soon as it is off the presses (Sep/Oct). And we hope that you’ll come on the Portugal tour too! (But the book offer is open to anyone who’s interested – you don’t have to come on the tour.)

But don't forget the Burgundy trip that also is scheduled for this autumn. It promises to be very interesting!

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Link Tip

Marquis de Griñon – a technology savvy wine producer: CNN.com

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Book Review: How to build and start your own wine cellar

How to build and start your own wine cellar
By Chris Miley
Redwine Publications, www.redwinepublications.com, www.winecellarsecrets.com

An ebook (pdf) on wine cellars. It actually includes some general wine and wine history sections but most of it about how to build a wine cellar. It’s not quite a DIY manual of how to build it. Rather it is a collection of tips and recommendations on things you should think of and things that are important for a wine cellar. For example, there’s a chapter on cooling units and how to choose a good one. A short but useful ebook if you want some inspiration for building your cellar.

Don’t forget that we have a whole section on the site with reviews and recommendations of good wine and food books. Pages full of inspiration for the wine and food lover: the book shelf.

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Book Review: Rare Malts, Facts, Figures and Taste

Rare Malts, Facts, Figures and Taste
By Ulf Buxrud
Quiller Publishing

Initially, I was a bit hesitant. Is it more of a promotional book? – All whiskeys come from the same company, Diageo and their “Rare Malts Selection”. Then I said to myself, if you can write a book about, say, Château Margaux, why not about an outstanding whiskey producer? So, shedding my hesitation, the book is a fascinating read: a long list of whisky distilleries are described and their whiskies tasted and commented. Some of the distilleries no longer exist so to book is also in sorts an historical account. All written by Ulf Buxrud who is an exceptional whisky enthusiast. The illustrations are perhaps not always up to par, and I’d h appily remove some of the pictures of bottles and bottle boxes and have space for some more illustrations of the places and environments, but I might be nitpicking. To read and to savour for the dedicated whisky lover.

Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Don’t forget that we have a whole section on the site with reviews and recommendations of good wine and food books. Pages full of inspiration for the wine and food lover: the book shelf.

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Book Review: The Wine Atlas of Australia

The Wine Atlas of Australia
By James Halliday
Mitchell Beazley

A must if you are hooked on Australian wine. It’s a back-breaker of a book, over 300 pages in large format, but it covers virtually all there is to know about Australian wine. Each chapter is dedicated to a region, starting with a map and a a general introduction (climate, grape varieties, soil etc). then comes a selection of the most important (all?) producers in the region. This section also includes a lot of useful travel information: address (including web address), tasting possibility, if the winery has a restaurant etc. The book is beautifully illustrated with plenty of pictures. As I said, a heavyweight from the southern hemisphere.

Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Don’t forget that we have a whole section on the site with reviews and recommendations of good wine and food books. Pages full of inspiration for the wine and food lover: the book shelf.

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Book Review: The Art & Science of Wine

The Art & Science of Wine
By James Halliday & Hugh Johnson
Mitchell Beazley – new edition of a classic

Don’t be put off by the title. It is not an overly technical or scientific book. The two authors – giants in the world of wine writing – are a guarantee that it is a good and informative read. After reading the book you will have a very good understanding of wine, wine growing and wine making. You might not be an expert winemaker, but there are schools for that. The book is split in three sections: In the Vineyard, In the Winery, and In the Bottle. Starting with things like terroir and irrigation, over winemaking techniques for different types and styles of wines, to what makes wine age and the very topical subject of wine closures – this book will give you a lot of insight. It’s actually quite a unique book – no other wine book explains the technical details behind winemaking in such an enjoyable form. Certainly very worth reading.

Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Don’t forget that we have a whole section on the site with reviews and recommendations of good wine and food books. Pages full of inspiration for the wine and food lover: the book shelf.

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Altia signs agreement with Constellation

Altia Corporation is one of the Nordic region’s biggest wine and spirits importers in the Nordic region. It is owned by the Finnish government. The state owned company is probably better known under various of its operating subsidiaries: Philipson & Söderberg, Bibendum, Premium Wines, Strøm, etc. Altia has just signed a new cooperation agreement with Constellation Brands, the world’s biggest wine 7 spirits company, to represent them on the Nordic market. The Constellation portfolio includes many well known brands: Hardys, Banrock Station, Ravenswood, Robert Mondavi, Paul Masson, Talus and Nobilo... But can’t help wondering why the Finnish state should run such businesses…

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New AVA: Snake River in Idaho

On April 9 Snake River Valley will officially become an AVA, American Viticultural Area. Snake River Valley is in the state of Idaho(!) and covers a total of some 21,400 square kilometres. The area is described as high altitude, cool desert. But there’s only some 30 wine producers in the whole state though, with a vineyard area of around 1800 acres (730 hectares). That brings the total number of AVAs to 236. pr-inside.com

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Montenegro joins OIV

The new republic of Montenegro (previously part of Yugoslavia) has joined the OIV, Office International de la Vigne et du Vin, the international wine bureau (the cooperation organisation for wine producing countries). Montenegro has a good potential to become a new tourist destination, with a beautiful coast and impressive mountain ranges, which will no doubt drive wine consumption and production. BKWine had the pleasure to visit Montenegro and its vineyards last year – you can see some more pictures from the country and the vineyards here. bkwine.com/wine_pictures/

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Château La Tour Haut Brion ceases production

The wine Château La Tour Haut Brion will no longer be produced. The wine has a history traced back to the Middle Ages when it was called La Tour de Rostaing. Today it is owned by Château Haut-Brion (Domaine Clarence Dillon). The vineyard is 5 hectares. In the future the wine will instead be used for Ch La Mission Haut-Brion’s second wine La Chapelle de La Mission Haut Brion and perhaps later in the La Mission itself. Another illustration of how the Bordeaux classification system is actually more a classification of brand names and not of vineyards… decanter.com

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St Emilion classification annulled

Just as we speculated in the last Brief the new classification of Saint Emilion has been declared invalid by a court in Bordeaux. Like the precedent (the Cru Bourgeois classification whose cancellation we reported last month) the court has judged that the panel who defined the classification was partial: it included representatives for (or advisors to) the estates that were at the same time subject to the decision. Seven chateaux that had been excluded had taken this issue to court. In the French system it is actually quite common that producers judge their own and their neighbours’ wine, e.g. in the agreement tastings for appellations. So even in this case we should perhaps ask – who’s next? Wine Business International, journee-vinicole.com, and decanter.com

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”Les 5 Côtes” – and then there were 4...

Schizophrenia is a common affliction when it comes to reasoning around French wine rules and regulations. Yes, you want to cooperate with your neighbouring regions better to promote the wine, and yes you want to have as small and specific (and obscure) appellations as possible. An unusual initiative was when recently five Bordeaux “côtes” appellations (Côtes de Castillon, de Francs, de Blaye, de Bourg and Premières Côtes de Bordeaux) joined forces in view of uniting the five appellations into one with the name Côtes du Bordeaux – easier for the consumer to recognize perhaps. Harmony is no longer – Bourg has pulled out of the collaboration because they did not like the idea that they would no longer have their Côte de Bourg AC, even if they would be allowed to add the name to the new AC (Bourg-Côtes de Bordeaux). Who’s next? As reported in vitisphere.com

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Feminine wine?

Marketing ploy? For sure. But we find it quite interesting how people try and be creative to stand out a bit from the crowd, so we’re glad to offer these ‘ployers’ some space in the Brief. For the international women’s day Yvon Mau, a big Bordeaux négociant, assembled a jury of women wine personalities (sommeliers, oenologists, writers,…). The task of t his all-female jury was to select wine for a new cuvée that Mau will launch called “Premius au Féminin”. We have not tasted the wine unfortunately, but at least Mau (Jean-François, the current generation) seems to be enjoying himself at the centre of the jury. Who knows, next year BKWine might even get to participate in the selection…?

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Vinho Verde – distance learning

Would you be interested in learning more about the Portuguese Vinho Verde? Then you can take the e-course on this Portuguese wine that has just been launched by the Vinho Verde institute in cooperation with a local university and the Minho region. It’s all internet based and the course finishes with an exam and a diploma. The only odd thing, perhaps, is that you actually have to pay a fee to participate in this otherwise clever marketing promotion. More info: vinhoverde.pt/eLearnVerde

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Latest news on the catwalk: clothes from wine; or wet-tshirt-competition as an art form

An Australian researcher has developed a “textile” from wine. If you leave wine in an open container a film develops on the surface. In a similar way the “Micro’be” textile is produced. It still has a few production and utilisations issues though: it smells bad and it has to be kept wet so as not to crack (that though, some might argue, is perhaps an advantage). “Wine ware” has already had it’s premiere on the Paris catwalk. bioalloy.org and cnn.com

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Wine from Myanmar

More unusual wine destinations: Myanmar, or as it used to be called, Burma, has it’s first vineyard. It’s a German business man who have planted grapes in this isolated country. The area is said to be resembling the landscape in Tuscany and the vineyard is planted with various varieties, including Sauvignon Banc and Moscato. We have not yet tasted the wine… (On the other hand, it might also be a question of if you really want to drink wine from this strange country.) CNN.com

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Wines from the Balkans

First, we have made a big picture update on the site with lots of pictures from vineyards and wineries in the Balkans: Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina: www.bkwine.com/wine_pictures/photo_galleries.htm

You can read more about Balkan wines in Business Week that recently had an article on Balkan wines called Make Mine a Macedonian Wine (with the added benefit that they interviewed and quote BKWine in the article): businessweek.com

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