BKWine Brief nr 45, April 2007

Some misconceptions and misunderstandings

- “When it comes to budget wines, France is way behind.”

Perhaps that is true when it comes to the really, really budget level wines – the ones that we wouldn’t even think of recommending in the Brief. Otherwise it’s not really true. There are plenty of wines made by inspired winemakers around France that cost far from a fortune. The difficulty is that they are often small produces, with not much of a marketing budget and that will therefore never reach supermarket shelves. On the other hand – you as reader of the BKWine Brief already have a good route to find them…

- “An open bottle of wine gets spoiled in a few days.”

(Perhaps you should count yourself lucky if there's still something in it.) Well, it depends on what kind of wine it is. Yes, if it is that very old and fragile wine that has been lying in the cellar for ages, then I would certainly recommend not to save it too long opened. On the other hand, if it is a “normal” bottle of wine it will keep very well for quite some time. Put a cork in the open bottle and put it in the fridge. Or if you want to be extra careful, pour it into a smaller bottle. It will survive well into the next weekend (well, can’t take any responsibility for if you finish it before that).

- “The wine we ordered in the restaurant wasn’t very nice so we sent it back.”

Sure. It can happen. But it is very rare. The only reason to send a wine back in a restaurant is that it is faulty. It’s not a question of if you don’t quite like it or if it wasn’t what you expected. The only valid reason to send it back is that it’s defective. And then – if you order an odd or a really old wine you, as a buyer, have to expect that it might be tired or strange, which also means that it’s not a valid reason to send the wine back.

Special offer 1: 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 offered 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!)

Special offer 2: Bettane-Dessauve’s Tast

As I mentioned in the last Brief, in collaboration with Bettane & Dessauve we can also offer a one year subscription to the “Tast” newsletter published by two of France’s leading wine tasters. To readers of the BKWine Brief they offer a discounted subscription price of 55€ (instead of 80€); more than 30% discount. Use the promotional code BKW07. Click here for more info. Or you can follow this link to download the sample issue TAST #11 (2 MB pdf).

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Britt

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