Les Grands Crus du Languedoc et Roussillon
By Michel Smith
Editions Renault
Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.fr
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Finland’s biggest wine event is the annual wine fair ViiniExpo. It is open both to professionals and to the general public. This year’s event takes place on March 15-17. FinnExpo.fi
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In April the French people will elect a new president. The two front runners for the race are Nicolas Sarkozy (conservative) and Segolène Royale (socialist). This has led to an unexpected hausse for the sales of a wine produced by the Saint Emilion cooperative (L’Union de Producteurs de Saint Emilion). The brand was created already in 1933 but has become particularly popular with the socialist supporters (one assumes): it is called Royale Saint Emilion and is available in a gift box. May we add that the wine is red.
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Top lists seem to be popular this season. Here’s one from Sotheby’s wine auctions. Top auction prices:
- 6 bt DRC Romanée Conti 1985: $119,500
- Double magnums Ch Lafite 1865: $111,625
- 12 bt DRC Romanée Conti 1989: $111,625
- 2 magnums Ch Cheval-Blanc 1947: $105,750
Sotheby’s also announced record sales for the year : $37,380,538 (+28%) and claims also the prize for best sales rate: 97.5% (only 2.5% of the lots remained unsold).
Organised by Les Vignerons Independents, Blue Wine Expo will present more than 100 wine producers from Provence on January 29-30. BleuWinExpo.com
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Oak is certainly by very far the most popular wood to use for barrels, but it is not the only. EU has recently approved the mention on wine labels that the wine has been fermented or aged in wood other than oak. It is also permitted, though not required, to mention on the label the type of wood. In other words, you may in the future see on the label e.g. “aged in barrel” or even “fermented in chestnut wood” (or corresponding national wording). Journee-vinicole.com
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Unesco has approved the proposal from the University of Burgundy to create a chair for wine and culture. The first professor holding the chair will be Jocelyne Pérard, previously president of the university. WineBusiness.com and u-bourgogne.fr
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Click here for address and more recommendations.
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Domaine Piccinini, Minervois-La Livinière, Languedoc
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Château Belair, Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé
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BKWine Brief #42 is now out. You can find it here. This is how it starts:
Decanting the wine... Sounds perhaps old-fashioned or snobbish? But that is a big mistake. The traditional motivation to decant a wine (i.e. pour the wine from the bottle into a decanter) is to remove the sediment that has formed at the bottom of the bottle in a wine that has been aged for a long time. But to be honest, for most of us, rare is the occasion when that is necessary. Unfortunately. But an almost more important, and useful, reason to decant the wine is to let it “breathe”. (Can you hear it wheezing in the bottle?) Letting the wine breathe, or aerate, is a way to make the aromas and the taste develop one additional notch before drinking it. At home we decanter almost all the red wines we drink, and some of the whites, to give it that extra boost in flavour. Or to look at it from the other side, to allow it to develop its full potential before it is poured into the glass. If you don’t have a carafe at hand you can use any other container, and then pour the wine back into the bottle. Many of the winemakers we visit say in the tasting room “it’s a pity I didn’t open the bottle a couple of hours ago. You’d notice the difference!” They often recommend decanting the wine several hours before serving it. And sometimes even the day before. So you hardly need to worry about decanting the wine too early – the longer the better, almost. Wine is not so fragile and volatile as sometimes believed. Unless you are opening that delicate old Burgundy from the 70s that you have been saving. Then you should do it just before serving. So, polish up your old decanter and use it more often. (Then again, I remember reading an article in some wine magazine some time ago where they did a test with freshly opened bottles, recently decanted, and some that were decanted a long time before the tasting. The result was that in most cases – the opinions were divided. But until I do the blind test myself and are proven wrong, I am convinced that decanting is good. And it looks nice…)
Vote for our blog
The site LocalWineEvents have launched a top list for wine blogs. Everyone can vote for his favourite. The BKWine Brief is at this moment in 53rd place. We need just a few more votes to get onto the first page of the list (top 50). And we “only” need another 1018 votes to get to the top spot. Help us move up the ranking by voting on us! See the info further down in the Brief on how to vote.
Travel with BKWine
Isn’t it time to plan the next wine tour? Take a look at our tour program. This spring we have a tour to Bordeaux and we are currently working on the autumn program. See more info here.
The Recruitment Campaign
In August I launched the recruitment campaign – “get more readers to the BKWine Brief”. At the time I had some 3000 subscribers to the Brief and set the target to 4000 by the end of the year. I can happily say that, thanks to your help and all the people who have been interested, I have well exceeded that target. We now have 4517 subscribers. (Plus another 10,000 for the Swedish language version.) Thanks to all who helped, all who recommended the Brief to your friends, all the wine clubs who, told their members about it,…! That being said, please continue help to get more subscribers.
Recommend the Brief to your friends!
Britt
Each year Business Week makes a survey of the world’s 100 most powerful brands. This year there is one wine and two spirits brands that just squeeze in on the list. Guess which! Here’s the answer:
“French have a shot at vodka” – In the last Brief we mentioned Blanche d’Armagnac, the new “white” spirit from the Armagnac district. CNN found a perhaps more catchy headline than we did. Read their article here: CNN.comThe Wine Atlas of Canada
By Tony Aspler, photographs by Steven Elphick
Random House Canada 
Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Click here for more book reviews on my site.
The Healing Power of Champagne – History, Traditions, Biology and Diet
By Dr Tran Ky & Dr F Drouard
Savoir-Boire Ltd
If you ever needed an excuse to drink a glass of champagne you should read this book. It walks you through all good things champagne can do for you in case you suffer from appetite loss, obesity, migraine, depression, gynaecological troubles (yes), food allergies and much more. It even has a “technical appendix” on various good or bad substances. Champagne history, as the title hints, is featured throughout the book. It is a translation from a French original which certainly has contributed to the style of the writing.
Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | AdLibris | Bokus
Click here for more book reviews on my site.
The Wines of France – The essential guide for the savvy shoppers
By Jacqueline Friedrich
Ten Speed Press 
Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | AdLibris | Bokus
About Wine
By J. Patrick Henderson & Dellie Rex
Thomson Delmar Learning 
Buy the book: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com| AdLibris | Bokus
Click here for more book reviews on my site.
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Vine Growing and Wine Making
The original Swedish title is "Ett vin blir till" meaning A Wine is Born. It is a unique description of the work in the vineyard and in the wine cellar. Published in 2009. More info on the web site for A Wine is Born.
Languedoc
Wines, vineyards and winemakers in Languedoc in the south of France, one of the most dynamic wine regions in France, and in the world. Published in 2007. More info on the site of the Languedoc book.
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