It’s great to have access to all this wine information… But watch out!
Most things we want to know about today, we can google in a few seconds. It’s terrific and it’s hard to imagine life without access to a search engine.
All those things that we look for and that pop up when we do a search – or that arrives in some newsletter in the inbox – someone has written them. But who? Do we read with critical enough eyes when we read about wine? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t think everyone does. People probably believe much of what they read on the Internet. It’s easy to accept as accurate things that are written and published.
But inaccuracies about wine are written and published all the time. Sometimes they are repeated by others indefinitely. It may be the same in all lines of businesses, but you judge the business you know.
The Internet democratises. Everyone can write and be self-appointed experts. Sometimes it feels like articles have been written in haste, with no time for research. There is no fact-checking, the all-important rule for good journalism.
The Internet is a goldmine for researchers if you follow another golden rule: check who is behind the information you find. Who has written it? What does that person stand for? Can you trust that this is impartial information? Which, of course, is even more critical when it comes to controversial topics such as organic wine, natural wine, biodynamic farming, pesticides, etc. But not only. It is probably just as important when it comes to countries and appellations and more. And of course, tips and recommendations on wines. Who’s behind it?
We have also seen a rather depressing development with advertising that pretends to look like journalism. You read an interview or recommendation of a wine and think a journalist or impartial wine taster has written it. You see it as an editorial article. But all too often it is disguised advertising. Cloaked.
The wine world is changing. Rules change, new appellations are created, new technologies and new producers appear. Everything ever written stays on the Internet. Which is good. But if you want reliable figures or current rules, you have to check if the text shows the date when it was published. Some websites have the habit of not displaying publication dates for their articles. (It is difficult to understand why.) Sometimes it doesn’t matter. But it can often be of great importance.
Everyone has the right to write and publish what they want about wine. Thus, it becomes up to the reader to read analytically, meticulously and carefully. And be source-critical.
Now, over to this month’s Brief.
On the subject of this month’s “leader”, one of the areas where there is often confusion is organics, biodynamics etc. For example, that it is difficult to understand all the various eco-certifications. In fact, it is straightforward. We have just started an article series where we explain everything you need to know about these concepts. See more in the Brief.
About wine tours in covid times
It was no surprise that the entire spring season of wine tours was cancelled. We have not made a single tour since we just managed to get home from the New Zealand wine tour in March.
Although things are starting to look much brighter, no one knows what it will look like in a few months. Today, most things move in the right direction in Europe. Disease statistics go down. Airlines start flying. So in many ways, it is positive. But a great deal of uncertainty remains. We are, of course, following developments closely. The crisis is affecting us and our business more than most.
So what do we do?
We think that it will be quite slow to get back to something “normal”. Tourism and travel will start on a small scale in the summer and a little more in the fall. But not much.
Some wine tour operators have simply closed shop. We have not. But it is, of course, not a normal situation. In practice, this means that we do our planning of future trips as usual, but with particular regard to the health situation. We plan for the tours to go ahead according to plan. But you can’t really know how the situation will develop so we have to be more flexible.
Two important things in this context:
1) If you have any questions or concerns about the tours, do not hesitate to contact us.
2) Once you start feeling the urge to travel to a wine district again, we really hope that you choose to travel there with us! We will be there for you.
Britt & Per
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief!
What’s on at BKWine Tours
- Bordeaux, September 30 – October 4, 2020
- South America, Chile and Argentina, January 18 – 31, 2021
- New Zealand, February 18 – March 5, 2021
- South Africa, March 17 – 26, 2021
- Bordeaux, April 21-25, 2021
- Champagne, May 19-23, 2021
For more information please contact us on email or on phone (we’re on French time), or go to our wine travel site on www.bkwinetours.com!
We also make custom designed wine tours – on-demand tours for you and a group of friends, for your company (maybe to scout new winegrowers?), for a special event… We can combine winery visits and wine touring with other activities: gastronomic workshops, visit to an oyster farm, truffles hunting, cheese making, and more. More info on the custom designed and bespoke BKWine wine tours and travel here!
Read our book(s)
We have written several wine books, nine at the last count. One of them has been translated to English; the others are (so far) only available in Swedish. This is the one that is available in English: Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Winemaking, Sustainable Viticulture and Viniculture
All our books are on wine, but on different subjects: wines of the Languedoc, wine growing and wine making, the wines of France, Tuscany, Bordeaux, Piedmont, Burgundy, Champagne. Several have won prestigeous prizes and awards. Read more on our wine books.
[box type=”alert” size=”large” style=”rounded” border=”full”]This is just the introduction to the latest issue of the Brief. Subscribe to the BKWine Brief and you will get the whole edition in your mailbox next month.[/box]
