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You can now read it on BKWine Magazine.


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And do subscribe to our free wine newsletter, the BKWine Brief!


All info on our wine and food tours are now on BKWineTours.com.


BKWine announces collaboration with Alamy

>> Saturday, November 18, 2006

From our press release on our stock photo activity:

A new source for wine, food and travel stock photography is now available with the launch of the collaboration between BKWine and Alamy. The collaboration marks a mile stone in the wine and travel picture business for BKWine. BKWine will make available its extensive library of pictures through the online photo agency Alamy.
More info here:
Press release archive
PR.com

Details and samples from our collection with Alamy:
http://www.bkwine.com/wine_pictures/sample-wine-picture-galleries.htm
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Champagne Duval-Leroy

The very dynamic Carol Duval-Leroy from Belgium found herself at the head of this family company in 1991 when her husband died. She has successfully marketed her champagne ever since, often targeting female consumers. As an example, she has created a cuvée prestige called “Femme” and launched a series of gift items on a champagne theme specially targeting women. But she has also modernised and improved the production. You find Duval-Leroy in Vertus, in the southern Côte des Blancs. They have extensive (for Champagne) land holdings, 170 ha, but this accounts for only a quarter of their production.

Click here for address and more recommendations.

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New Wine Tours

>> Friday, November 17, 2006

Wine Tours

  • February 14-18 Truffles, Olive Oil and Wine in the Rhone Valley
Haven’t you always dreamed of going truffle hunting? Now you have the opportunity! Join us on this trip in February to the southern part of the Rhône Valley, in Provence. We will go truffle hunting, learn how to make olive oil and of course, taste a lot of good wines. More info

  • June 6-10: Bordeaux
040329-1-k2-0018For a wine lover a trip to Bordeaux is a must! Here you find world famous châteaux and world famous wines but also a lot of new exciting initiatives (less famous but maybe more important for the future of Bordeaux!) and young enthusiastic wine makers. More info

  • In the autumn there we are planning some really interesting trips... Perhaps Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Rhone, Italy,... More info coming soon. Or get in touch and tell us what you would like! One thing is already settled:
  • October 17-21 : Portugal – Alentejo More info soon.

Finnish Wine Tours - Viinimatkoja Ranskan viinialueille!

Tours on the schedule (in Finnish):
  • February 14-18: Truffles, Olive Oil and Wine in the Rhone Valley (in English)

  • 9.-13. toukokuuta: Bordeaux More info here!

  • 26.-30. syyskuuta: Viinimatka Alsaceen More info here!

  • 17-21 oktober: Portugal – Alentejo
For info, contact BKWine

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A new BKWine Brief is out

Read it here:
http://www.bkwine.com/bkwine_brief/brief-040-e.htm

Or subscribe here
http://www.bkwine.com/bkwine_brief/bkwine_brief.htm


Here's the introduction:

Quite a few restaurant and producer recommendations in this Brief. The two selected producers I have for you are very interesting: An unusual, and very dynamic champagne producer and one of the new generation of Rhône producers (but already famous enough to hardly have any wine left to sell!)

Guest Writers

I’d like to tell you about one of the pages of the site that I think deserves to be a bit better known: the Guest Writer page. You will find article on very varying subjects written by friends of BKWine: Armagnac, Coteaux Lyonnais, Wine Culture, Why You Get a headache from Red Wine and others. Many are in English and some are in other languages (that’s the challenge of trying to run a multicultural activity…).

Truffles, Wine and Olive Oil

I must also tell you about a really interesting tour that I have scheduled for early next year: the Truffles, Olive Oil and Wine Tour in the Southern Rhône Valley. I can promise you that it is a really unusual experience to go truffles hunting a cold February morning – and then warm up over lunch with a 100% truffles lunch. Read more about it below. But don’t delay booking if you are interested. Last booking date is soon.

And by the way, the rest of next year’s program is on its way. Some of the trips are already fixed. Take a look below.

For the next brief I plan to give you a few suggestions for Christmas gifts, so welcome back in a few weeks’ time.

Britt

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


More here soon!

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Tell us where you are!

>> Friday, November 10, 2006

That’s right. We want to know where you are. Just for fun, to know where our readers are located.

We have created a Frappr map (a free Google service) for the BKWine Brief. You can put a pin on the map to show us where you are, anonymous or not. Please do. Just for fun!
www.frappr.com/bkwineblog

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Some wine sites that you might enjoy visiting:

>> Thursday, November 02, 2006

Some wine sites that you might enjoy visiting:

  • Better wine with chemistry, according to Paul Evans in Business Week
  • Oenology, vinification, wine technology and lots of more useful information. You find it with illustrations and videos on the extensive (but difficult and confusing to navigate) site made by Michel Veron who is a professor of oenology in Champagne: www.viticulture-oenologie-formation.fr

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Australian wine exports down for the first time in 15 years

>> Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Australian wine exports fell with 0.6% in value for the year to 30 September. The total value reached $2.78 billion. It is the first time in 15 years that exports have shrunk. But if you measure in volume the export still grew by 7% to 738 million litres, so the export decrease is due to declining wine prices, i.e. the weak international wine market. Great Britain is Australia’s largest export market. Read more in The Australian

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Sonoma tightens the rules

>> Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Governor Schwarzenegger has just signed into law a new text that defines that wines that say Sonoma on the label really must come from Sonoma. Or at least mostly. The new rule stipulates that a Sonoma wine must contain at least 75% of wine that actually comes from Sonoma County. The law follows in the footsteps of a similar ruling last year for Napa (that even went to the Supreme court before it was settled). Read more in PressDemocrat.com

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French Private Preserve (and Dutch, Spanish Swiss and Austrian…)

>> Monday, October 30, 2006

No, this is not a new fashion contraceptive, or perhaps it is. Anyway, we have at several occasions written about Private Preserve, which is an excellent way of keeping an open bottle fresh for longer. You fill the half finished bottle with inert gas from the Private Preserve canister and it protects the wine. Much better, in our opinion, than the vacuum-type devices (although we must admit to not having tried the vacuum thingies – it just seems obvious that creating a vacuum will make the volatile components – i.e. smell and taste – of the wine disappear quicker). The producer now tells us that it is available in Europe from the following distributors: France: Christophe Wallaert Vins Selections, cwallaert-at-club-internet-dot-fr, ph 06 17 51 35 41; The Netherlands: info-at-verbunt-dot-nl; Spain: josephpuig-at-gastrogourmet-dot-com; Switzerland: info-at-boucherville-dot-ch; Austria: info-at-englitsch-dot-com; UK: julian-at-winebox.co-dot-uk (and USA: siegelandassoc-at-san.rr-dot-com). They also took the opportunity to remind us that many restaurants and wine bars use Private Preserve so that they can serve a larger selection of wines by the glass: a little gush of gas in the bottle after each serving and the wine keeps as long as needed. Apparently Opus One, one of the most expensive Californian wines, even sent a bottle a Private Preserve together with the wine to restaurants to encourage by-the-glass service. Clever marketing! A good idea that helps you serve more wine by the glass we think!

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Sylvaner approved for Grand Cru in Alsace

INAO (l’Institut National des Appellations d’Origine) has approved Sylvaner as a grape variety to be used in Alsace Grand Cru wines. It will initially only be allowed in Zotzenberg wines but one can perhaps expect that it will be more widely approved in the future. The other grape varieties that can be used for Alsace Grand Cru are Muscat, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewurztraminer. Read more on decanter.com

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New St Emilion classification announced

>> Saturday, October 28, 2006

050527-204-0413Every ten years (or so) the classification in Saint Emilion is reviewed. Some chateau may be upgraded and some may be downgraded. The last revision the classification has just been announced with some changes. No changes were made in the top tier “Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé A”. Two new chateaux were promoted to “Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé B”: Ch Troplong-Mondot and Ch Pavie-Macquin. And quite a few changes were made in the third tier “Grand Cru Classé” (you almost have to be an accountant to understand how the St Emilion classification works…). Read more and see the entire classification: WineMag.com or on Decanter.com

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What salary do you earn in the vineyard?

WineBusiness.com has just published the 2006 edition of their regular salary survey for winery employees. Here are some titbits: The average wage increase for winery employees were 5.4%, compared to a US average of 3.5% (no wine crisis there). A winemaker earns on average $93,358 in 2006. The highest salary increases have been gained by people working in sales and marketing positions. Read more in Wine Business Monthly

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Robot to analyse the taste of wine

>> Friday, October 27, 2006

http://www.bkwine.com/images/winerobot.jpgNEC System Technologies has developed a wine robot (a winebot?) that can taste wine (and other food and drink) and analyze its contents. It can also give health recommendations to consumers based on its analysis. However, it is not capable of judging the vintage or the appellation we are told… More info on www.necst.co.jp and USA Today

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Four new French appellations

The French wine supervision organisation INAO has approved four new appellations: Orléans (red, white and rosé made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay), and Orléans-Cléry (red Cabernet Franc) in Loiret. Chaume has been granted its own appellation (after having tried to create “Chaume 1er Cru” a few years ago but had to withdraw it since the name was judge inappropriate and confusing) for sweet white wines made from Chenin Blanc. And finally Pézenas has been granted a “cru” appellation in Coteaux du Languedoc (primarily from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre). Read more on Decanter.com and Sommelier-france.org

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110 hectolitres per hectare is the limit for Vin de Table

The French ministry of agriculture has decided to put the limit for the yield for Vin de Table at 110 hl/ha. Last year the limit was exceptionally increased to 130 hl/ha but it is now brought down to 110 hl/ha. Might be worth mentioning that the yields may be much higher than that in many countries around the world. Read more on Vitisphere.com

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Seven new Masters of Wine

>> Thursday, October 26, 2006

http://www.bkwine.com/images/essi-avellan.jpgSeven persons passed the Master of Wine (MW) exam in the latest batch. Essi Avellan, Finland (first Finnish MW. congratulations!), Sarah Jane Evans (UK), Linda Granik (USA), Geoff Labitzke (USA), Ken Mackay (UK), Rod Smith (UK), Paul Tudor (New Zealand). (We still don’t have any Swedish MWs but two are in the pipe.) More info: www.avenuevine.com, MW Release and www.masters-of-wine.org. Read about the process of becoming an MW on SFGate.com (Photo: Essi Avellan)

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Wine drinkers earn more than non-drinkers

A new study has shown that people who drink wine (or beer or spirit) on average earn 10-14% more than those who do not drink at all. A theory of why that is so is that those who enjoy a glass once in a while are more “social” which can be an advantage in a working environment. The study was made by The Reason Foundation. Read more on CNN (But we can’t help wondering how someone came up with the idea to make such a study…)

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107 AVAs in California

There are now 107 AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) in California. An AVA is a bit like a French appellation, only with less rules and regulations. It specifies the origin of the wine. Here’s the full list of Californian AVAs: http://www.bkwine.com/vininformation/vinskola.htm

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Wine festival in Chablis

040923-140-4094On November 28 and 29 there will be the annual Chablis wine festival in the village Chablis (of course). The village is some 190 kilometres from Paris so it is an excellent weekend excursion. The Saturday is for professionals and on the Sunday there will be tastings and other events open for all. More info www.vins-bourgogne.fr

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The best selection of champagne in restaurants

>> Wednesday, October 25, 2006

http://www.bkwine.com/images/gosset-trophee.jpgThe Trophée Celebris is organised each year by Champagne Gosset. It gives a prize to the restaurant with the best selection of champagne. This year’s trophy winners are: the restaurt Zur Traube (www.relaischateaux.com/zurtraube) in Germany, ’T Oud Konijntje in Belgium (www.oudkonijntje.be), ’T Molenje in Belgium (www.molentje.be), The Bell at Skenfrith in Great Britain (www.skenfrith.com), and Die Fischerzunft in Switzerland (www.fischerzunft.ch). In France (which is separate from “Europe”) the winner was Les Crayères in Reims. More info: www.champagne-gosset.com/fr/actu/trophee.asp

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