Domaine de Triennes, Provence
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Château Pech Latt, Philippe Mathias, Corbières
Click here for address and more recommendations.
If you are a wine grower you probably have to be a bit of an artist in doing all sorts of things. One of the growers we met in the Rhône valley had just opened a bed-and-breakfast (or chambres d’hôte as it’s called here); another was growing fruit in addition to the wine (and using the fruit cold storage to refrigerate the grapes if weather was hot during harvest). A third put a lot of effort into selling direct to the consumers at the door and sold more than half of his production in the winery shop – with correspondingly higher margins. Everything helps….
Wine points pointless?
Read more here...
Wine tours
We’re working on the program for next season and you will soon find more information on it on the site. You can already get a sneak preview of the first trip of the year in 2008: a luxury tour with truffles, foie gras and wine. More info below.
Custom made trips, events, educational tours,...
I also do custom made tours – designed specifically to your requirements. If, for example, you’d like to take some people from your company on an exciting and unusual trip with (among other things perhaps) wine and gastronomy on the agenda. Or if you want to take a customer or a business partner on a special event. Or if you’re part of a wine tasting club that celebrates an anniversary. Or if you run a wine education program, perhaps you'd be interested in a specifically targeted educational trip. Or… I can organise the whole trip for you, custom designed as you wish, or I can do a specific event that can fit into a bigger organisation, e.g. a day trip to champagne to lighten up a conference in Paris, or a wine and gastronomy dinner… Give me a call or send me an email if you are interested to know more.
Britt
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief or forward it to them !
In spite of the government claiming that internet sales were illegal several internet sites have appeared specifically targeting the Swedish market (usually with exceptionally poor selections, but cheap). The merchants claimed that it was against the EU principles of free movement of goods (which it is, but, you know, Sweden had this monopoly derogation). Several cases where people have bought online and had their goods confiscated at the border have gone to court. Some cases have gone along government lines whereas other court decisions have gone against the government. Undeterred, the customs officers have more and more tightened the control and have recently confiscated all parcels they have found.
One court case has gone to the supreme court. However, instead of taking a decision, the supreme court asked the EU court for advice on how the EU regulations should be interpreted - a normal procedure when country regulations seem contradictory to EU rules, but a procedure that takes time. It is this ruling from the EU court that has now been pronounced.
The conclusion is that the EU court considers that it is an unreasonable restriction for Sweden to limit such imports and that it does not serve the stated purpose of protecting the youth. The EU conclusion is therefore that Swedes should be allowed to buy wines and spirits over the internet. This was actually an unexpected decision since preliminary notes from the EU have indicated the opposite and a ruling late last year that said said that a Dutch resident who had bought duty paid wine in France and had it shipped to Holland would have to pay Dutch duties on it, in spite of it already having been taxed in France.
In the mean time, several of the companies involved in the business have closed down and at leas one has gone bankrupt, as a consequence of the government's previous (erroneous) interpretation of the rules. More comments in the IHT.
On August 10 and 11 there will be a wine and gastronomy fair in Karleby in Finland. The theme is wine and food in combination. Visitors will be able to buy small portions of food (à 2 euro), prepared by the Professional Chef’s Association of the region. 13 wine importers will be there to present their wines to go with it. They will also have cheese presentations and on other gastronomic themes (e.g. by Aki Wahlman), tutored wine tastings, and presentation of other gastronomic specialities (e.g. from Rougie). We here that there are also a few spaces left for a additional wine importers to exhibit. More info: virpi-punkt-sorvisto-at-kolumbus-punkt-fi or vanhatullipakkahuone.com
Read more...The Australian viticultural researcher and consultant Richard Smart has been elected into the New Zealand Wine Hall of Fame. The nomination is based primarily on his work to improve vines and rootstocks after the Phylloxera invasion and for his work on canopy management.
Read more...2006 was a very good harvest for England and Wales too. They produced in total 3,369,000 bottles, which is the third largest harvest since records began. The planted surface grew over the year from 793 hectares to 923 ha and 16 new vineyards were created, bringing the total to 362 wine producers in England and Wales. (A curious comparison with South Africa, who has 581 “wine cellars”. When will England+Wales overtake South Africa?)
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- VdP d’Oc is the biggest exporter of French wine, ahead of e.g. Bordeaux
- is also the biggest exporter of varietal wines (and totally dominant of the French production of “vins de cepage” making 90% of all varietals)
- is in fourth place internationally for varietals, after Australia, Chile and USA
- made 4.5 million hectolitres of wine in 2005
Meanwhile in California… Amber Ridge Vineyard is located in the Russian River district in Sonoma and covers 12 hectares. They grow Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. Nickel & Nickel, a winery in Napa, recently paid $4.1 million for it (3 million euro). It’s the highest price ever paid for a vineyard in this area and computes to around $300,000 per hectare (240,000 euro/ha). winespectator.com
Read more...The Veneto-based Italian wine producer Allegrini has just bought two vineyards in Montalcino in collaboration with their American importer: Poggio San Paolo and Montluc. They will merge the two vineyards under the name Poggio San Paolo. The total surface will be around 21 hectares. They mainly produce Brunello di Montalcino but also some Rosso di Montalcino and two “super Tuscans”. The price tag has not been made public but it is estimated to around 10 million euro. (The price per hectare in Montalcino is around 375,000 euro…) winespectator.com
Read more...You can read more on wine ratings in the article in the Wall Street Journal that you’ll find in the ‘link tips’ in another post. But the question certainly has a point. Yes, it can be interesting and “convenient” with wine ratings sometimes. But in many ways it is unfair and unjust to reduce a wine to a simple score. Because you can’t really rate a wine with a number. Read for example in the WSJ article about the wine that once had a top score in the Wine Spectator and a bit later only had a very moderate score. The same wine. What had happened? Nothing really. And you should certainly not blame the WS and say that they are incompetent wine judges. It’s just that you simply can “rate” (or taste) a wine differently at different occasions. On top of that, different persons have different tastes and appreciate different wines. Some like Burgundy and others like Amarone. Some like elegance others prefer structure. And Parker does not have the same taste as Jancis (Robinson) who does not have the same taste as (Hugh) Johnson who does not have the same taste as BKWine…
Another illustration: in a wine competition in south America the organisers decided one year that all members of the jury should come from England. No doubt a clever move to get some added international attention. But when the medal winning wines were announced they scratched their heads in South America. How could those wines win? Well, no doubt because the taste is different in South America and in England. (And in France, the US, Germany, Hong Kong, etc.)
So perhaps the best thing would be to scrap points ratings? But nevertheless, at BKWine we do use a rating system sometimes, albeit not often on these pages. But I encourage you to read the descriptions and comments rather than the point rating for a wine, and to not only buy top rated wines but also give the lowers ratings a chance – the “rater” may have had a bad day or may have a different taste than you. And best of all – don’t bother with what some “experts” say, taste the wines yourself and judge for yourself and you will discover many wonderful things in the wine world.
The wine competition Syrah du Monde recently honoured 36 wines with the Gold Medal. Wines from all over the world participated in the competition. Here is the list of winning wines: syrah-du-monde.com
Read more...The magazine The Drinks Business makes a yearly review of the world’s most powerful brands, weighing in things like brand recognition as well as sales volumes. Here are this year’s top 10 brands.
- Smirnoff
- Bacardi
- Johnnie Walker
- Martini
- Stolichnaya
- Hennessy
- Absolut
- Jack Daniel’s
- Chivas Regal
And here’s “the wine list”, the list of the top ten wine brands (overall ranking in parenthesis)
- Gallo (17)
- Hardys (21)
- Concha y Toro (24)
- Robert Mondavi (36)
- Yellowtail (43)
- Jacob’s Creek (47)
- Lindemans (50)
- Sutter Home (56)
- Blossom Hill (65)
- Rosemount (80)
One can perhaps note that none of the wine brands originate in Europe, although Jacob’s Creek is owned by the French company Pernod Ricard.
Agricultural commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel will present the project for wine sector reform om July 4. One of the elements in the project is a proposal to invest substantial amounts in a marketing campaign to promote European wines. But only outside of Europe. Fischer Boel says that it may involve “very significant figures … people will be very surprised”. financialexpress-bd.com
Read more... 
Sweet Valley Wines in Walla Walla claims to be the 500th winery in Washington State. The state has 31,000 acres of wine (13,000 hectares). Production has grown steadily from not more than 20 wineries in the 70s. winemag.com
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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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