Grape Networks is a California based company that has developed a solution for wireless monitoring of the microclimate in vineyards. You install a number of sensors in the vineyard that collect environmental parameters. These are then transmitted wireless to an analysis application and can then be accessed from any standard computer. The benefits are an improved water management (e.g. to reduce irrigation), better control over chemical use and less wasted resources. More info: GrapeNetworks.com (One could have thought that they might use Banyan Vines but that is hardly the case…)
One more wine auction house can be found in Holland. They are called Winefield’s Auctioneers and are located in Amsterdam. They have four auctions every year. www.winefield.nl. And they also do wine education (e.g. WSET courses).
1. Great Britain (1 437 M€)
2. USA (1081 M€)
3. Germany (622 M€)
4. Belgium (574 M€)
5. Japan (382 M€)
6. The Netherlands (338 M€)
(Source : Ubifrance)
Shizen, Cuvée Denis Dubourdieu 2006 is the first (we are told) Japanese wine to be sold in Europe. It is made from the Japanese grape variety Koshu and will be available in the United Kingdom, at the one-star restaurant Umu in London. The name? Well, Denis Dubourdieu is a famous Bordeaux based oenologist and consultant who has advised the producers. vinimarket.com
Wine Tours Spring 2008 program
For 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!
Douro is one of the world’s most famous wine rivers. Here, in this dramatically beautiful landscape in northern Portugal, grapes are grown on steep, terraced slopes. The climate is dry and hot and the grapes are picked perfectly ripe. These grapes are made into port wine and increasingly into a full bodied, tasty red table wine. More info!
Champagne... Luxury, celebration and of course excellent wines. But champagne is not just wines. There is also an outstanding gastronomy that we will pay special attention to on this trip. We will visit some world famous champagne houses and some small high-quality family producers. And we will enjoy the Champenoise gastronomy at our dinners (in a one-star restaurant!) and at the lunches, some of which will be with, and as guests of, champagne producers. Is drinking champagne all through a meal a good idea? Decide for yourself!
Château La Grave Figeac, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Domaine Alain Graillot, Crozes-Hermitage
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Greener wines?
But sometimes the ecological aspects almost go over the top. Some winemakers insist on making wine without any sulphur (almost an impossibility). The result is not always successful and often unpredictable.
Spring is getting closer
It will be an interesting wine year this year. Last year (to be very general) northern wine regions had a cold and wet summer but were saved by an excellent autumn. In the south, on the other hand, many regions suffer from too much heat and too little water. Some have hardly had any rain in two years.
Lots of goodies
We were in Montpellier recently, for the big wine trade show Vinisud. On the television they announced emergency measures due to the lack of water. But Vinisud was an excellent event. Several thousand exhibitors and more than 35,000 visitors. When you go to that kind of thing you have to focus on something not to be totally confused. We choose to spend a lot of time on the Roussillon (the southern-most part of France, by the Spanish border close to Barcelona). A wealth of ambitious producers. But often they are quite small and have a difficult time marketing their wines on the export market. A great pity. We will be coming back to some of the things we’ve tasted later.
Portugal, with a special offer
If we continue south, to Portugal, we note that the country has recently had a excellent book written about it’s wine and food. It recently one a prize as one of the best wine book in England in 2007. We have made an agreement with the authors for a special offer to you as a reader of the BKWine Brief to buy at a reduced price. You can find all the details on this offer on the page on our autumn wine tour to Portugal.
Britt
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief or forward it to them !
Read the whole Brief #56 here!
House of Joy
Av Sarah-Kate Lynch
Doubleday, ISBN 9780385608848
Buy the book.
Click here for more book reviews on my site. You will also find links to on-line book shops on that page.
Sounds perhaps self evident to you and me. A scientific study at the California Institute of Technology designed an experiment where the same wine was served to a tasting panel and sometimes they were told it was cheap and sometimes that it was an expensive wine. The same wine was considered much better when the tasters had been told it was expensive. And it was not simply a question of them saying so. Magnetic resonance scans of the brain activity of the subjects showed that they actually perceived the wine as better. (On the other hand, is that so surprising? Did they ever hear about the placebo effect?) timesonline.co.uk
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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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