We have just won the prize for BEST WINE BOOK OF THE YEAR for our book on wine growing and winemaking!! We are so happy and proud! Champagne coming at 19.00! On the book: http://ettvinblirtill.wordpress.com/english/
English edition next??
1 France, Champagne rosé, Pinot Noir, Bollinger Grand Année, 2002
2 New Zeeland, Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc, St Clair, 2009
3 Spain, Rueda. Verdejo, Hermanos Lurton, 2009
4 Luxemburg, Ehnen Kaltenberg, Auxerois, Kohll-Reuland, 2009
5 France, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot, Chardonnay, Jadot, 2002
6 Belgium, Hesbay, Chardonnay, Chateau Genoels-Elderen, 2003
7 Italy, Sicilien, Nero d'Avola, Calatrasi Terre di Ginestra, 2007
8 Lebanon, Vallée de la Bekaa, Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah, Chateau Ksara Reserve, 2007
9 Australia, New South Wales, Petite Sirah, Deen de Bortoli, 2007
10 Chile, Limari, Syrah, Undurraga, 2007
11 France, Corbieres Boutenac, Carignan/Grenache/Mourvedre, Dom. Ollieux Romanis, 2007
12 Argentina, Menoza, Cabernet Sauvignon/Malbec, Bodega La Rural Rutini, 2007
The wines can be ordered from 10.00 AM on October 19 in the Systembolaget shops. Queues outside the shops are expected to be long, but only a few happy buyers will emerge. Most likely, the 24 bottles will be rapidly sent out of the country and the happy buyers can make a quick profit selling them elsewhere.
We find it strange that the Swedish monopoly should indirectly subsidise these kinds of wines by selling them below market prices (foregoing profit). We also cannot fathom in what way one can sell these wines in a “fair” manner, other than organising a lottery (or selling to the highest bidder). Can you?
Earlier this year they contacted us at BKWine since they were interested in telling their story about the wines and the vineyards on video and wanted BKWine to produce the videos. The resulting videos are now available online! You can read more about the domaine on www.turnerpageot.com and you can watch all the videos (there are nine, some in English and some in French) on their YouTube channel www.youtube.com/turnerpageot
Earlier in September a new wine museum opened in Barolo in Piedmont. It is, not surprisingly, called WiMu. It has been designed by the famous architect François confine. More info on www.wimubarolo.it. Surely worth a visit if you are in the region.
She also mentions BKWine! She lists us as one (of two) who organises private wine tastings in Paris. (”Learn how to select the proper wine with your meal and all about the various French wine regions and grape varieties.”)
We also get a mention for our wine tours! We are very proud and say a big thank you for the attention!
(BTW the photo is actually from our dining room window.)
Many growers in this region have also had problems with coulure, causing some grape bunches to have less than normal developed grapes. But quality is promising, says Didier Négron, wine maker at Domaine Roger Sabon in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. ”The harvest is about a week later than 2009, when we started unusually early. 2010 could be as good as 2009. We have small, very concentrated grapes.”
We keep our fingers crossed for Joana and everyone else so that they can finish the harvest and nice and sunny weather. More harvest information in the October Brief.
(Here are some interviews and reportages from Portugal)
Domaine Roger Sabon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
The aim of the family Sabon is to make wines with a good concentration and the work start in the vineyard with low yields. The grapes are harvested fully ripe and the alcohol levels sometimes reach 14,5 and even 15 degrees of alcohol. But the wines are full bodied and with a very good fruit and are therefore always in balance and even elegant. Like the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve 2007 with a nose of ripe and intense fruit, good complexity and balanced and soft tannins. Three weeks of skin contact at high temperature gives the wine a good concentration.
Click here for address and more recommendations.
Domaine Virgile Joly, Saint Saturnin de Lucian (Languedoc)
Click here for address and more recommendations.
The Great Domaines of Burgundy
By Remington Norman and Charles Taylor, photo Jon Wyand (mainly)
Publisher: Kyle Cathie Ltd
Click here for more book reviews on my site. You will also find links to on-line book shops on that page.
This will probably be a record short Brief. Not that it’s a record we’re aiming for. We hope you don’t mind too much. This is a rather busy period. Britt just returned from the Douro Valley in Portugal and Per from southern Italy (how much good food can they stuff you with down there?!). Tomorrow we’re off to Bordeaux and to Tuscany/Umbria respectively. And at this very moment Martin is in Catalonia and Priorat (which will be a challenge tomorrow when there’s a general strike in Spain). That’s the way it’s been since the beginning of September and will continue for another few weeks.
So this month’s Brief will be short. Please don’t hold it against us!
On the other hand, this gives us a good view of how the harvest is shaping up in the various regions. Generally it looks good but perhaps more variable than last year. In some places, the harvest will be smaller than usual. In Châteauneuf for example, where some vineyards were badly affected by coulure (partially failed flowering/fruit setting). A drop in 30% is expected (no, not in prices).
Read more in our preliminary harvest report further down in the Brief.
This time of the year is of course a wonderful time to go travelling in wine country. There are lots of things to see in the vineyards and in the wineries. You see plenty of ripe fruit (unless they’ve already harvested). On the other hand, wine touring is the spring is really wonderful. (Actually, we’d like more people to discover the spring season for wine tours!) The vines have beautiful young shoots in bright green. Temperatures are rising. Winemakers have plenty of time to talk and to taste wines with visitors, time that they often don’t have in harvest time. So here’s to spring season wine touring!
That’s all for this time. Time to pack the bags!
Britt & Per
PS: Did you see in the last issue of the Brief that Travel & Leisure, the world’s biggest travel magazine, listed BKWine as “world’s best wine tours? In this issue of the Brief you can read about Frommer’s, a giant in travel publishing, who also talks about BKWine! Read more further down.
PS 2: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief or forward it to them !
Read the entire new issue of the BKWine Brief here!
More on wine:
Grand Cru would include Minervois La Livinière, Corbières Boutenac, Saint Chinian Roquebrun, Terrasses du Larzac, Grès du Montpellier, Pic Saint Loup, Pézenas, La Clape and still wines from Limoux. The idea is to make it easier for the consumer (we’re not convinced it is obvious to the consumer what the difference is between Grand Vin and Grand Cru). “This will mould the future of the Languedoc region for the next 15 years” says Jerome Villaret of the CIVL, according to DB.
Perhaps. Or it will take the Languedoc down the path to where some “classified” regions are today, where a hierarchy imposes a straitjacket on the producers and stifles creativity and initiative. And it is undoubtedly so that in each of the districts there are some very good producers but also some mediocre ones. Just as there are outstanding producers who are outside of these regioins (or who do not follow the appellation rules to 100%). A classification is also often a way to protect those that “inside” from unpleasant competition from those that are “outside” of the category. It is not clear to us if the plans have been given the go-ahead by the INAO, the French control authority, or not.
We remember (as the diligent reader of the Brief perhaps does too) when Chaume Premier Cru was launched as an appellation, only to be annulled by a court a short time later since it could be misleading for consumers. In other words: we are not convinced. Read more: www.thedrinksbusiness.com
What do you think? Good idea? Or folly?
As always with this kind of research it can be interesting to note who is behind the study. It is financed by Systembolaget, possibly the world’s biggest seller of bag-in-box wines, the Norwegian monopoly Vinmonopolet and one big Swedish importer, Oenoforos, in collaboration with Tetra Pak and Elopak, both leading carton packaging manufacturers, and Vitrop Smurfit Kappa, who makes bag-in-box packaging. One can only wonder why Systembolaget has teamed up with three packaging companies who obviously are partial in the issue. It can hardly be due to a lack of money.
So will the conclusion be to promote bag-in-box (or bag-without-box) more now, thanks to the lower environmental impact? How does that mix with the public health objectives?
You can find the whole report, in English, here. If you read it we would be very interested in your comments.
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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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