The first thing I have to say is that we are very excited. Very excited to soon see our first book in English, on organic and biodynamic and natural wines, on the shelves in book shops. (We have done four in Swedish.) Rumour has it that it should be in shops around September 18! Read more on that in the Brief.
At the same time (actually just now, with a launch event next week) we have a new Swedish book: on France and French wines. Perhaps one day that too will find its way to the English language. We certainly hope so.
Here in Paris at this time it is otherwise our deep breath before the plunge, or as they say in Swedish, the calm before the storm. But we have had quite enough of storms in Paris this August. Thank you very much.
The storm that is approaching is the coming autumn season with wine tours. At this time of the year we usually say “it is soon Christmas”. When we check our agendas it turns out that there are not many week-ends until Christmas when both of us, Britt and Per, will spend the week-end together at home calm and quiet. This will probably break our personal record in wine travel. We have some 20 tours scheduled for the autumn. Some shorter, some longer.
This season we have premiere for Rioja as a new destination. Each year we try to schedule something new. It would be interesting to hear what “new” thing you would like to see in the future. Perhaps we should send out a survey. Or not. You could also just simply send us a mail and tell us what you’d be interested in, if you have some dream destination.
Over the summer we have had the occasion to taste – and even drink – some delicious wines. Read more on that in “Uncorked” in the Brief. We have had some older wines. Wines with more age tend to become more and more “harmonic”, subtle, and smoother in taste. That’s one of the things ageing achieves. The result is often actually that many older wines tend to resemble each other, even if they come from different wine regions. The older a wine is the more difficult it is to identify what it is, in case you taste blind.
But there is one grape that seems not to function quite like that. Where the varietal character and the origin distinctly remains, even when the wine is getting old. Where the grape character just becomes more intense. It is also one of the world’s most under-rated – or almost unknown perhaps – grape varieties.
It is Chenin Blanc. We have had the good fortune to taste some absolutely magnificent dry white chenins from the Loire Valley. Some 15 years ago we bought them for not much money. And not, fantastic.
Drink more Chenin Blanc!
Lots of delicious citrus notes, bees’ wax, structure and elegance, but also good body. Flowers, ripe fruit. Delicious.
You can find them in the mid-Loire Valley. There are also some great examples of Chenin Blancs in South Africa. If you want to discover some of them you can join us on our tour to South Africa in March next year.
I hope you enjoy reading this month’s rather long Brief. Next month it will be shorter. We will be travelling.
Britt & Per
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief !
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