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Is the “New World” outdated?
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The Old World and The New World. The wine industry has lived with these expressions for quite a few years. And it is convenient.
It was natural to call the countries outside Europe The New World when they appeared in our European wine shops in the 1980s and 1990s. Admittedly, they had been making wine for several hundred years, but far from as long as Europe.
The New World became a geographical designation but also a style. The New World countries (except for New Zealand) are warmer than most of the European wine regions. The wines were more full-bodied, more powerful, more alcoholic, and a little sweeter than those of the Old World.
The expression lives on. When we taste blind and have a full-bodied and powerful wine with few tannins in the glass, we often say, “aha, New World style”.
But is that really still the case? We have just returned from the first wine tour of the year, which always goes to South America’s two biggest wine countries, Chile and Argentina, and it gave us food for thought.
Several of our tour guests were surprised by the wines. Positively surprised because it was not quite what they expected from wines from The New World. Lots of elegance, freshness and “structure” (which is something that goes well with food).
This is not that strange. Perhaps this is the style the winemakers have always wanted to make. But beefy malbecs from Argentina and voluptuous shiraz from Australia were a massive success on the export market, especially when they arrived in bulk at low prices, and you don’t change a winning concept like that right away. Or at least a short-term winning concept.
But now it’s time, and it’s actually been in the works for a while.
Argentina takes advantage of its high mountains and plants vineyards at increasingly higher altitudes to give the grapes to cooler air, harvests a little earlier, and is careful to get the grapes just right in ripeness. Chile has its coastal regions where the chilly Pacific Ocean cools the vineyards. Many people talk about the wines from the Chilean coast and about the cooling influence of the Humboldt current. We even drank a delicious, fresh and elegant white wine made from the pisco grape pedro gimenez (not to be confused with the pedro ximenes of the sherry district), which came from a region near the extremely dry and hot Atacama desert.
But the fact is that here in The Old World, we have always simplified the concept of the New World. The summer days in Chile and Argentina are certainly very hot, but in the evenings, the temperature drops drastically in several wine regions. Here, they have always been able to maintain a fresh acidity and vitality in the wines.
Geographically, The Old World – New World expression is still handy, but stylistically, it is more questionable, not least if you then think of certain muscle wines they make in southern Europe.
So yes, it’s time to scrap the concept of a “New World style” of red wines on steroids and white butterscotch bombs. This you can, of course, best discover for yourself if you come with us to South America, South Africa or New Zealand.
Travel in harvest time
You can already start planning for wine tours next harvest season:
- Champagne, September 27 – October 1
- Champagne and Bordeaux, September 27 – October 5
- Bordeaux, October 1-5
Travel in winter (but summer)
Some of our most exceptional wine tours are during the winter. They are filled with very special experiences. In summer weather in the southern hemisphere!
You have three fantastic long-distance tours to choose from:
- Chile-Argentina in January 2024
- South Africa in February 2024
- New Zealand in March 2024
These are tours with unique and magnificent experiences.
More info on our wine tours here. “World’s Top Wine Tours“. Tours with the people who know wine and who have an unrivalled experience of wine and tours.
Enjoy the Brief!
Britt & Per
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What’s on at BKWine Tours
BKWine is also one of the world’s leading wine tour operators. Here’s what we currently have on our scheduled wine tour program:
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- Champagne, September 27 – October 1
- Bordeaux and Champagne, Sept 27 – Oct 5
- Bordeaux, October 1-5
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- Chile-Argentina, January 2024
- South Africa, February 2024
- New Zealand, March 2024
We also make custom designed wine tours.
We’re different than most other wine tour operators. We are people who know wine inside out, who travel constantly in wine regions, who write award winning books about wine. Who do this out of passion.
Our wine tours are different from others.
A typical year we organise more than 30 wine tours to destinations across the world. In Europe: France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and more. World-wide: South Africa, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand. Thanks to our Scandinavian background we have a separate offer for the Scandinavian market. These are sometimes offered in English and also available as custom made tours. For example, these destinations:
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Read our books
We have written eleven wine books. They have won awards from the Gourmand Awards, The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) and others.
Unfortunately, only 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:
Here’s the full list of our books:
- The Wonderful World of Wine
- Languedoc-Roussillon, the Wines of Southern France
- Champagne, the Wine and the Growers
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News from the World of Wine
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Short briefs on what’s been happening in the world of wine recently and other interesting things.
Louis Pasteur, the founding father of wine science, was born 200 years ago
We missed an important anniversary by a month or two. In 2022, it was 200 years ago that Louis Pasteur was born. Pasteur is a person that every wine lover must honour. His importance to the development of wine cannot be emphasized enough. He grew up in Arbois in the Jura region and lived here for part of his life. He bought a small vineyard outside of town to be able to carry out his experiments at the request of Emperor Napoleon III. These experiments would later explain a lot both in terms of the wine’s fermentation process and diseases that the vines suffer from.
For example, he realized that heating could prevent certain defects in the wine. Pasteurization was born, even if its most important applications would not be for wine. A milestone for wine production was his research and explanations about the microorganisms that cause the wine to ferment. Pasteur also developed a vaccine for rabies. Among many other things. Read more: OIV.
Willow, horsetail and algae can reduce the need for copper for spraying vines
The organic wine producers spray with copper to combat the fungal disease downy mildew, mildiou. (Many conventional—not organic—also spray with copper, but they may also use synthetic pesticides.) But, of course, they want to use as little copper as possible and would be glad to find other alternatives. The Coppereplace Project in France has looked for such substances and actually found some things that could limit the use of copper. Researchers at l’Institut français de la vigne et du vin (IFV), a research institute, have tested different products together with one third of a normal copper dose. Getting by completely without copper is not considered realistic at the moment. Microalgae and plant extracts of horsetail and basket willow show cautiously positive results. (Basket willow belongs to the same family – Salix – as the tree that is the origin of aspirin.) Read more: Vitisphere
Record sales of champagne 2022
Champagne has quickly recovered from the pandemic. 2021 was already a successful year for Champagne and in 2022 sales increased by 1.6% to 326 million bottles. The value of this was 6 billion euros. The French market has decreased slightly (-1.7%). 138.4 million bottles were sold in France. 187.5 bottles were exported, an increase of 4.3%. Exports’ share of total sales has gone from 45% ten years ago to 57% today. It is a new record in value and almost a new record in volume. Life is good for champagne producers.
In addition, 2022 was a superb vintage in Champagne with lots of sun and heat. The harvest was large and the producers have been able to put some aside in reserves to be prepared for less generous vintages. Read more: champagne
Travel: Come on a wine tour to Champagne with BKWine.
Excellent but small harvest in Argentina 2023
Argentina in January offers fantastic summer weather. But there can be violent hail storms so many producers are careful to make sure the hail nets are well secured. But some, like winemaker Hubert Weber at Bodegas Weinert in Lujan de Cuyo, prefers vineyards with no hail nets in order not to lose any sunshine or risk moisture that can lead to diseases. “Sometimes we lose grapes due to hail, but it is not worse than the cost of putting up nets,” he says.
The grapes had just started to change colour when we were in Mendoza at the end of January. The harvest for the red wines would not start for several weeks. But the grapes for Weinert’s pink pinot noir would be picked just two weeks later. The producers we met were optimistic about this year’s quality (2023). But the quantity will be small. Mendoza suffered a severe frost in October. It is estimated that the country’s harvest will be 40% smaller than normal, says Nicolas Goldberg at Finca La Igriega Wines in Valle de Uco.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to Argentina with BKWine.
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Features of the Month
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Articles and features published on BKWine Magazine and on our wine travel blog and (occasionally) photography blog in the last month.
BKWine is seen, but perhaps heard more, in newspapers and on the radio
In recent months, we at BKWine have appeared several times in the press and in the media. It has been about a few different things, but quite a lot about the environment and sustainability. Which is a good fit because it is the subject of our next book (planned publication in autumn 2023). First it was on YLE, the Finnish radio, then Landsbygdens Folk, again in Finland, and now most recently on P1 Nyhetsmorgon, a morning news radio program in Sweden.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine: BKWine is seen, but perhaps heard more, in newspapers and on the radio.
Syrah, pinot noir and sparkling wine from South Africa, styles and top pics | Per on Forbes
The Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards is one of the big wine competitions in South Africa with a few thousand entries. I was part of the jury, the people tasting and judging the wines, in 2022. Over the five days of tastings “my” tasting panel (one of several) tasted almost three hundred wines. We tasted a wide range but focussed on pinot noir, syrah and sparkling wines. It gave me an excellent opportunity to get an overall impression of the wine styles of these categories in South Africa. Here’s what you can expect from them and a pick of some of the best that we tasted.
Including a short reflection on wine competitions.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine, originally published on Forbes: Style and drinking guide to South African syrah, pinot noir and sparkling wine | Per on Forbes.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to South Africa with BKWine.
Don’t believe all you hear: the bubbles are not a sign of quality
It certainly looks festive with bubbles in the glass of a sparkling wine. It is also beautiful. And then it adds some atmosphere. Small, fine bubbles and lots of bubbles are a sign that it is a quality champagne (or other sparkling wine). Lesser-quality sparkling wines have large and fewer bubbles. Is that not it? —No, that’s not true, the bubbles depend more on the glass than on the wine. This was well illustrated by our New Year’s champagne.
Including some info on what is the best glass for champagne and other sparkling wines.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine: Myths about wine: the bubbles in the glass of champagne a sign of quality?
Travel: Come on a wine tour to Champagne with BKWine.
The world’s richest person is now a French wine producer (among many things) | Per on Forbes
Many wine producers struggle to make both ends meet these days. Not so Bernard Arnault, a French businessman, who controls an empire that dominates both champagne and cognac. He is now the world’s richest person with an estimated fortune of $180 billion. He controls world-famous champagne brands like Moët & Chandon, Krug, Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart and Mercier, as well as the cognac brand Hennessy. But his wealth is more based on handbags branded Louis Vuitton than on wine bottles.
And a small question on why so many wine lovers make an effort to keep him there.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine, originally published on Forbes: French wine producer Bernard Arnault bags the top spot as the world’s richest person | Per on Forbes.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to Champagne with BKWine.
A fantastic vintage 2022, according to the winemakers
Last autumn, our wine tours took us to a number of wine regions and wine countries, including France, Italy, Portugal, and Austria. We took the occasion to ask some of the winemakers what they thought about the 2022 wine harvest. Everyone agrees on one thing. 2022 is a year that will produce excellent wines. They are also unanimous in saying that it was a year with special difficulties: very hot and very dry. But in spite of this, many wines show a remarkable freshness. Listen to what the winemakers say on our videos in this article.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine, originally published on Forbes: 2022 was an excellent harvest, winemakers told us in France, Portugal, Italy, Austria | Per on Forbes.
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Wine Tours
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Details on our current and future wine tours. Book a wine tour with the “World’s Top Wine Tour Operator” today (or when you feel like travelling to wine country).
Treat yourself to an unforgettable experience in the beautiful wine-lands together with some of the most knowledgeable wine people around. Book now!
Champagne is full of surprises (and bubbles) | wine tour
2022 was an exceptional year in Champagne (as well as in many other regions in France). It was exceptionally hot all summer and very dry. But in spite of that the vintage promises to be exceptional. A very hot year tends to produce wine that can lack freshness (i.e. have low acidity). But one of the wine producers we visited shortly after harvest said, “when we tasted the wines after it had finished fermentation it had a fantastic surprising freshness.” And then he continued, “here, I’ll show you,” and off he went to draw a sample from one of the big tanks to have us taste the wine “in the making” from the tank. And indeed, it was excellent. That’s the kind of surprises you can have when the people trust you and know who you are. “Hey, let’s take some from the tank.” That’s also why it can be a bit unpredictable what will happen on a visit. It’s a question of the winemaker’s inspiration. That’s not the kind of experience that you’ll get if you go visit the big and famous houses, where everything is orchestrated and controlled to the last millimetre to be impressive and dazzling. That’s also why we prefer to visit smaller producers where you get to meet real people.
Come on a real wine tour to Champagne with us. Book now!
- Champagne, September 27 – October 1, 2023
And also: We have written an internationally award-winning book on Champagne, so you can hardly get a better guide to the region.
What’s a perfect dinner for you? Like a perfect wine tour? | Champagne and Bordeaux
Some would say that the perfect dinner would start with a bubbly glass of champagne, perhaps continuing with it on to the starter. And when the main course comes on the table, there’s a sophisticated and elegant Bordeaux (claret for the British traditionalists) poured in your glass. Well, tastes are different, but if you want to come close to the perfect wine tour, maybe you should try our very special tour that combines Champagne and Bordeaux. You will, of course, be immersed in delicious wines for a number of days, but not only that. We will spoil you with some of the best gastronomy that France puts on the table. Neither of the two regions is famous for any gastronomic specialities, as opposed to e.g. Burgundy with its beuf bourguignon and coq au vin. Instead, they pic and chose from what is best from all over France. But not so for the wine, you will get plenty of extraordinary wine but it will all be champagne and Bordeaux. Nothing else. Will that be okay for you?
Come and discover Champagne and Bordeaux with us. Book now!
- Champagne and Bordeaux, September 27 – October 5, 2023
PS: We have written an internationally award-winning book about Champagne, and also one on Bordeaux. And nine other wine books. Can you think of any other wine tour operator with that in the baggage?
Bordeaux is big, with an amazing diversity | wine tour
Bordeaux is one of France’s largest wine regions with around 110,000 hectares of vineyards. But it is not only large but also very varied. You probably think most often of the Médoc Peninsula, with the famous communes of Margaux, Pauillac, etc. The landscape there is quite flat. Almost just vines as far as the eye can see. The gravel soil is everywhere. Large, elegant chateaux, just as you imagine a wine palace should be, surrounded by its vineyards sometimes reaching 100 ha. But if you go in the other direction, to the “right bank”, rive droite, where we e.g. find Saint Emilion and the quite small Pomerol another world opens up. Vineyards blends in with woodland on lush hills. Small medieval villages, not least St Emilion itself. Here, the properties are small, often family-owned. And even the wines are different. Certainly there is a family feeling, everyone is genuinely “Bordeaux”, but there is still a big difference in style between the austere Medoc wines and the fruitier lusher wines from the Rive Droite.
Come and discover Bordeaux with us. Book now!
- Bordeaux, October 1-5, 2023
PS: We have written a book about Bordeaux, and have been travelling there since 1986. Can you find a better guide and tour operator?
The most alluring and delicious wine and food in Argentina and Chile | wine tour
What do you think of when we say “Argentina“? Tango for sure, and it will certainly be a fantastic tango evening in Buenos Aires. Malbec of course, we’re talking about wine after all. And don’t forget, today’s malbec is lightyears from the bulk wine that was exported in the 80s. Today they make world-class wines. But there are many other grape varieties worth discovering, semillon, syrah, fiano, torrontes, etc. And “Chile“? Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is Valparaíso. The legendary port city that houses the Chilean congress. And the carmenère grape, but it is far from the most planted, cabernet sauvignon is the most planted and c. franc can do great things. País (aka mission, criolla chica), an almost forgotten grape that is now becoming super trendy. Perhaps you think seafood, of course, with the world’s longest coastline. And don’t forget the pisco sour, a must! And for both countries, one cannot help but think of asado, the South American barbecue orgies with all imaginable varieties and accessories.
Come with us and discover the wine countries of Chile and Argentina. Book now!
- Chile-Argentina, January 2024 (the program on the link is for 2023; the tour in 2024 will be similar but with slightly different dates)
A country with great variety and fantastic quality in wine, gastronomy and culture | wine tour to South Africa
South Africa actually has eleven different official languages. And a further 26 that are “recognised”. The most spoken is Zulu. The South African wine world is not quite as complicated. Almost all of the wine growing is in the Western Cape, in an area within a few hours’ drive of Cape Town at most. But it is becoming more and more varied for wine as well. A few decades ago, it was dominated by a few large producers. Today, it is teeming with young, ambitious, well-educated and talented wine producers. Many are so small that it is difficult to find them abroad, except if you turn to a specialised wine merchant. But what fantastic quality they produce already today. There is also a surprisingly big difference between the different wine regions. Cool climate wines are grown down on the south coast, e.g. in Walker Bay. “Southern” wines (“northern” here in the southern hemisphere) with grapes such as grenache, cinsault and syrah in more northerly Swartland. And much more.
Discover South Africa, the fantastic wine country, with us. Book now!
- South Africa, February 2024 (the program on the link is for 2023; the trip in 2024 will be similar but slightly different dates)
The wine tour to New Zealand is a long and thrilling journey through time and space
New Zealand is, of course, considered a “New World” country in wine. And compared to other countries in the New World, wine arrived here not long ago, at the beginning of the 19th century (1819), much later than in South America (16th century) and South Africa (17th century). But to make things worse, no wine worth mentioning was made until the 1980s when sauvignon blanc vineyards took off in Marlborough and those wines took the world by storm. Today, a wine tour to New Zealand is somewhat of a trip back in time, it sometimes feels like coming to England several decades ago (the restaurants close very early, for example). Today, they have a completely different wine world to show off. On our 1,600-kilometer journey, there will be a wide variety of extraordinary experiences. Lots of wine of course, and not just sauvignon blanc; pinot noir, syrah, cabernet franc, chardonnay, and much more. But also sulphurous hot water geysers, Maori culture, seals, lobster orgy, glacier mountains, gold digger landscape, bungee jumping (for the daring, this is where it all started) and much more. Exceptional.
Join us for a great wine, nature and culture experience on the New Zealand wine tour. Book now!
- New Zealand, March 2024 (the program on the link is for 2023; the trip in 2024 will be similar but slightly different dates)
