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Wine brands – a curse or a blessing?
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Surveys show that young people who drink wine are no longer loyal to a particular brand. This is good; maybe they will be curious to try something new instead. And there is plenty of new in the world of wine. However, wine consumption is decreasing in many countries, and experts today advise wine producers to strengthen their brands to compete. But what exactly is a brand in the wine industry?
A brand is sometimes perceived as something negative by wine enthusiasts. They think of volume wines made by large wine companies and sold worldwide, such as Barefoot, Yellowtail, Mouton-Cadet, Foot of Africa, etc. But a brand can just as well be about quality wines. Champagne is a strong brand, perhaps the strongest of them all in the wine industry. A strong brand is something that many people recognise and associate with something positive. Brand building requires marketing, advertising campaigns, social media influencers, so a big budget is needed.
It is about having a name on the label that the consumer recognises. It could be the name of a well-known and appreciated producer, such as Torres, or a famous appellation or region, such as Pomerol, Rioja, Chianti, or Napa. In some cases, it can even be a whole country, like Georgia, which, thanks to its orange wines, is perceived as exciting and different (even though only a tiny part of the country’s wines is orange).
Small producers without an advertising budget benefit from advertising campaigns for the entire appellation. Côtes-du-Rhône, for example, makes big advertising investments in different countries with positive results. The small growers in Champagne often point out that they are grateful that the big champagne houses do an excellent job of spreading the word around the world.
A trademark can also be a grape variety linked to a region. A good example is Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Being as reliant on a single grape variety as Marlborough can have drawbacks. Still, it has brought an increase in acreage and success in the export market that would hardly have been possible otherwise. Almost 80% of Marlborough is sauvignon blanc.
Recently, I met the pioneer Rudi Bauer in Central Otago in New Zealand on our wine tour there. He owns Quartz Reef, one of the top wineries in the area. As we discussed, I mentioned that we had encountered many creative wines with, for New Zealand, unusual grape varieties. He quickly pointed out that “we must not forget that it is thanks to sauvignon blanc that we are here”. The early success of New Zealand sauvignon blanc has undoubtedly contributed to the fame of all wines from the country and helped bringing the quality up to the level where it is today.
The large producers are needed so that the small ones can thrive. And small, unusual initiatives can thrive because other things are being done in large volumes. But the big ones also often need the small ones, to provide variety and increase the quality.
To become known for something special, e.g. a single grape, came up for discussion several times during our New Zealand tour in March. In Hawkes Bay, the winemaker, another New Zealand wine pioneer, Jenny Dobson, compared her region to Marlborough. Hawkes Bay was a wine region 100 years earlier than Marlborough. In 2000, both regions had just under 5,000 hectares. It is still 4,800 hectares in Hawkes Bay, but it has increased to 30,000 hectares in Marlborough. What is the difference? Hawkes Bay does not have a particular grape variety that is the big star. Excellent wines are made from chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, merlot, pinot gris, syrah, cabernet sauvignon and other grapes. More wine enthusiasts know about Central Otago, with a world reputation for its pinot noir but with only half the vineyard surface of Hawkes Bay.
Another example: would the often rather discreet rosé wines from Provence have been so immensely popular worldwide without the two super celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, plus the hardly French-sounding Whispering Angel? Hardly.
Undoubtedly, it seems easier for a country or region to achieve fame if you specialise in a grape variety. Just think of Argentina with its malbec, Austria with its grüner veltliner, Uruguay with its tannat… Or if you have someone who can invest millions, such as Champagne and Provence rosé.
Actually, if you think about it, all wines are brands, even e.g. Romanée Conti and Château Pétrus. And also Frank Cornelissen and “natural wine”.
Wine Travel Awards
As a wine travel “competition” the WTA tends to be different than others. Many other organisations who promote wine tourism tend to favour big and attention-drawing projects that often requires big budgets. Read more on that in the news item below.
You can vote for us at BKWine if you like what we do in wine travel!
Vote for Britt as “TOP WINE GUIDE” here.
Vote for BKWine Tours as “TRAVEL OPERATOR OF THE YEAR” here.
Vote today!
The Opposite Side
We have just recently returned home from New Zealand. It is quite a special feeling to travel to the exact opposite side of the globe. But it is a long journey that is worth the trouble. Just like the other two long trips of the winter: to South Africa and to Chile-Argentina. They will come again for the winter of 2025. Read more about them below.
Wine tours
If you want to join us on this years great adventures to Bordeaux and Champagne, book your places now. You can hardly find a wine tour organiser with more inside knowledge. First time we were in Bordeaux was in 1986. We’ve written twelve wine books, including wine internationally award winning on Champagne. We travel in wine regions…… all the time.
For some very special experiences – once in a life-time wine tours – you can join us next winter on the extended Southern Hemisphere Tours: Chile-Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand.
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.
Travel in wine regions with someone you trust.
Wine editors to the national encyclopedia, Forbes.com contributors, award-winning wine book authors, wine tour advisors to the UN and national wine organisations, wine judges … and, above all, passionate wine travellers.
Enjoy the Brief!
Britt & Per
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Tell your friends about the Brief or send it to them.
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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:
- Champagne, 25-29 September 2024
- Bordeaux and Champagne, 25 Sept – 3 Oct 2024
- Bordeaux, 29 Sep – 3 Oct 2024
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- Chile-Argentina, 13-26 January 2025
- South Africa, 14-24 February 2025
- New Zealand, 11-26 March 2025
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.
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Vote NOW in the Wine Travel Awards – APRIL 1 IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE! Vote BKWine!
It is very, very little time left to vote in the Wine Travel Awards (WTA) public voting. Vote NOW! As a wine travel “competition” the WTA tends to be different than others. Many other organisations who promote wine tourism tend to favour big and attention-drawing projects that often requires big budgets. This excludes many worthy projects and initiatives that are just as important, but not so spectacular in size. The WTA tends to present a much broader variety of project.
The Wine Travel Awards has a number of different categories: Education in Wine Tourism, Wine Guide, Enogastronomic Events, Visiting Card of a Country, Wine Ambassador, Influencer… You have a lot of different initiatives, people and projects that you can vote for. Make your voice heard and put down your vote for what you think are worthy wine tourism project or person. Scroll down on this WTA Voting page to find all categories and nominees.
You can vote for us at BKWine if you like what we do in wine travel!
Vote for Britt as “TOP WINE GUIDE” here.
Vote for BKWine Tours as “TRAVEL OPERATOR OF THE YEAR” here.
Vote today!
Birgit Braunstein from Burgenland, Austria
A delicious red wine from Weingut Birgit Braunstein in Burgenland in Austria will be launched in Sweden at the beginning of April, and we take the opportunity to recommend this producer to all our readers. We visited Birgit last September on our wine tour to Austria. She has an exciting range of wines, all of them biodynamic and certified Demeter. The winery is in Purbach am Neusiedler See, on the lake’s western side. In the same village is the excellent Restaurant Braunstein, run by Birgit’s brother Paul. The summers can get quite hot here, but the proximity to the Neusiedler See means the heat is moderated. Birgit’s favourite grape is blaufränkisch, one of Burgenland’s main red grape varieties, but pinot blanc and pinot noir also thrive. Two recommendations from Birgit Braunstein:
Blaufränkisch Heide 2021, Birgit Braunstein, lovely juicy fruit, fresh acidity, spicy (~16 euro)
Pinot Noir Sonnenberg 2020, an elegant wine with red berry flavours and a long and intense finish (~15 euro)
Which grape varieties to grow in a drier climate?
A new study by INRAE, a French research institute, in collaboration with the universities of Bordeaux and Québec, shows the tolerance of different grapes to drought. Coping with dry weather is a grape characteristic that is becoming increasingly important. The vines in the experiment were grown in greenhouses under similar environmental conditions to evaluate their resistance to water stress. Ugni blanc and chardonnay were among the least resistant to drought. Pinot noir, merlot and cabernet sauvignon, on the other hand, coped well with water stress. (What will Burgundy conclude from that?)
It is not certain that it is the regions with the driest climate that are in trouble, says the study. Instead, the important thing is that the growers are not too dependent on one grape variety, as is the case in e.g. Poitou–Charentes (making cognac but also wines), with its ugni blanc or Marlborough with its sauvignon blanc. The study recommends that winegrowers plant several different grape varieties. When there is a drought, they will react differently and thereby limit losses. Another important and worrying conclusion of the study: Several of the hybrids developed to have good tolerance to fungal diseases (sometimes called “piwi”) often do not cope with water stress very well. Read more: winebusiness
Felton Road Wines: Prestige wines from New Zealand in lightweight bottles
Lightweight bottles are starting to appear even among prestige wines. This is good. Consumers will realise that it is not just cheap wines that come in light bottles. On our recent New Zealand tour, we visited the Felton Road Winery in Central Otago. Felton Road works organically and is now also introducing so-called regenerative viticulture, a sort of subdivision of organic agriculture that, among other things, emphasises the importance of cover crops and ensuring that the soil is never bare. In other words, ploughing must be done as sparingly as possible. Other environmental aspects are also considered. The bottles for all the estate’s wines weigh only 417 grams. In other words, they meet the Swedish monopoly’s limit for lightweight bottles, which is 420 grams. “The aim for Felton Road is to get down to 390 grams,” Felton Road owner and New Zealand legend Nigel Greening told us. “But that’s probably the limit.”
Travel: Come on a wine tour to New Zealand with BKWine.
See: See pictures and videos from New Zealand 2024 in the wine tour’s Facebook group.
The German Blue Nun becomes French
Blue Nun is a German bestseller and legend (perhaps not for the best reasons), a riesling sold in a blue bottle with low alcohol content and high residual sweetness. 29 grams of sugar per litre and 8.5% alcohol. 1.1 billion bottles have been sold since it was launched in 1921. Franz Wilhelm Langguth Erben makes the wine, and if everything goes as planned, Grands Chais de France (GCF) will take over the company. This is one of France’s largest wine companies, and among other brands, it has the well-known JP Chenet (who turns 60 this year) in its portfolio. In addition to several bestsellers in the lower price ranges, Grands Chais de France owns Château Bastor Lamontagne in Sauternes and Château de Fesles in the Loire Valley. The owner of GCF, Joseph Helfrich, is one of very few people who has built up a great fortune in the wine industry (read the article on BKWine Magazine).
Sales figures for Blue Nun have dropped in recent years, and we are curious to see if the French intend to keep the bottle and style of the wine or possibly update the brand to a slightly more modern style. Maybe a drier version with the same low alcohol content would better suit the modern palate?
The wine industry is an important source of income for the EU economy
Today’s wine industry in Europe often feels opposed by politicians, temperance movements and environmental activists. According to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), it can at least be happy that it contributes substantially to the EU’s finances. The study showed that the wine industry is essential to the EU’s economy and accounts for 1.4 per cent of total employment and 0.8 per cent of the EU’s gross domestic product. In 2022, the wine sector added €130 billion to the European economy. Europe dominates world wine production, and the export of its wines also brings substantial income. In 2022, wine exports brought in 17.9 billion euros.
The wine industry supports the countryside and prevents depopulation, creates jobs where there would otherwise be none and attracts tourists. In addition, vineyards have positive environmental effects by improving biodiversity, preventing soil erosion, managing water efficiently and providing fire protection. The EU has more than 3.2 million hectares of vineyards. And, in addition, wine tastes delicious. Read more: euroweeklynews
Stelvin, the screw cap, turns 60 years old
The screw cap (“screw cork” or “screw top”) is a success story. All wine countries use it for some of their wines and it largely dominates in Australia and New Zealand. It was in the 1960s that the French company Le Bouchage Mécanique in Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy began experimenting with screw caps for wine bottles. After years of experimentation and testing with wine industry professionals, the very first “Stelvin” aluminium closure was developed in 1964. The brand Stelvin was officially registered in 1976.
At the time, the Swiss considered the Stelvin closure to be ideal for the chasselas grape, which seemed to be particularly prone to cork defects. Later, Stelvin became the best solution to the shortage of corks in Australia in the 1990s. In 2001, New Zealand established the “Screwcap Initiative” to popularize the use of screw caps on wine bottles instead of natural cork. Stelvin is today manufactured by the large Australian packaging company Amcor. According to the company, one wine bottle out of three in the world is sealed with a screw cap. Read more: amcor
(Comment: The screw cap, like the natural cork, has advantages and disadvantages. Which one is suitable to use depends on many different factors. It is not so simple that one or the other is obviously “best”.)
Exceptional quality in South Africa 2024
The Southern Hemisphere is in full swing with the 2024 harvest—or they have already finished. We visited South Africa in mid-February, and some producers had already almost finished. Andrew Wightman at Wightman & Sons in Swartland said he started harvesting unusually early this year; his first picking was January 10. Nic van Aarde, winemaker at Oldenburg in Stellenbosch, said the same thing. This was the earliest harvest he had ever experienced. He started in the third week of January, which is three weeks earlier than normal.
Everything indicates that the 2024 South African wine harvest is exceptional. However, the growing season was not without problems. Winter started early and was wet. In Stellenbosch, it was one of the rainiest winters ever. The rain was welcome and filled the dams, but at the end of September, excessive rain in Elgin and other places caused flooding and destroyed roads as a result. In some places, the spring was cool, which affected the flowering and produced a smaller volume of wine than had been hoped for. But despite this, we saw many happy faces in South Africa. So we can look forward to an outstanding vintage 2024 in South Africa.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to South Africa with BKWine. 2025 tour soon to be launched.
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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.
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Pinot noir makes outstanding wines – also – in New Zealand
“Pinot noir is not just Burgundy and Champagne. The grape is the ninth most cultivated variety in the world. It is planted on 115,000 hectares, of which roughly 30,000 hectares are in France. In other words, a lot is left for the rest of the world. In the relatively cool climate of New Zealand, it feels right at home. All wine regions in New Zealand have pinot noir vineyards; in some, it is a signature grape. Come with us on a journey through New Zealand’s wine regions and learn how great pinot can be here.”
Read more in Britt’s article on BKWine Magazine, originally published on Forbes: Around New Zealand with Pinot Noir | Britt on Forbes.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to New Zealand with BKWine.
See: See pictures and videos from New Zealand 2024 in the wine tour’s Facebook group.
Wine in Ukraine, exporting in spite of the war | Per on Forbes
If there was a war raging in your country, it’s hard to imagine that you would be thinking of making wine. But that’s what 160 winemakers in Ukraine do. They still make wine. February 24 marked two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The war zone extends along all of the eastern border and the south along the shores of the Black Sea. That’s also the region where most of Ukraine’s vineyards are located. So, perhaps now is an excellent time to give a thought to those courageous winemakers and take a look at what they do. Here’s a short introduction to Ukrainian wine.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine, originally published on Forbes: Wine in Ukraine, exporting in spite of the war, exhibiting at ProWein | Per on Forbes.
Black Barn Vineyards, a pioneer for quality wines in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand | Per on Forbes
Black Barn is one of the smaller wineries in Hawke’s Bay on New Zealand’s North Island. It celebrated its twentieth-anniversary last year and has developed a strong and interesting portfolio of wines. Dave McKee is the winemaker at the estate, which is co-owned by Kim Thorp and Andy Coltart. They have won awards both for their wines and for the wine tourism experiences they offer at the winery.
Read more in Per’s article on BKWine Magazine, originally published on Forbes: Trailblazing in Hawkes Bay, a conversation with the winemaker at Black Barn Vineyards | Per on Forbes.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to New Zealand with BKWine.
South African crime fiction writers
When we started traveling to South Africa on the wine tours we organize , we also started reading South African detective stories (our pastime when we’re not working with wine). It turns out that South Africa has many very talented writers in this genre. Here are some suggestions, greatly expanded since our last overview of South African crime fiction writers.. Many of them also give you a lot of insight into South African society, landscape and country.
South Africa should really be better known as a country with many talented authors of suspense novels.
Here on our crime fiction blog, you will find all our reviews of South African detective stories. (They are in Swedish, but you can easily translate them with e.g. Google Translate.)
They are a good preparation for coming to South Africa on wine tour (even if the only crime on the wine tour may be a bit of excess of wine).
Read more in Per’s article on the BKWine Tours Travel Blog: South African crime fiction writers, a big update.
Travel: Come on a wine tour to South Africa with BKWine. 2025 tour soon to be launched.
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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!
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You never tire of Champagne | wine tour
I was once asked if it is really possible to taste champagne for three days as we are doing on this exciting tour in Champagne. The answer is that of course it is. There is as much variety here as in Bordeaux. As always, the producer puts his personal stamp on the wine. Champagne is big region, the soil and climate vary, as do the grape varieties, the aging time in the cellar and much more. There are many details in the production of a champagne where the winemaker can make a difference. On the tour we will taste many champagnes, some of them during our gourmet lunches, there will also be walks in vineyards and visits to magnificent cellars where the champagne bottles rest for many years.
Join us on a fantastic wine tour to Champagne.
- Champagne, 25-29 September 2024
And also: We have written an internationally award-winning book on Champagne, so you can hardly get a better guide to the region.
Champagne and Bordeaux, cousins of prestige and luxury | wine tour
Combining Champagne and Bordeaux is a good idea. The regions are of course very different but they have some things in common. In Bordeaux they like to serve champagne as an aperitif and the red wine of preference in Champagne is a bordeaux. And both regions make some of France’s most prestigious wines. We will visit the big and famous but also smaller family estates. We like to give you a good understanding of these two magnificent wine regions that have inspired so many winemakers outside of France.
- Champagne and Bordeaux, 25 September – 3 October 2024
PS: We have written an internationally award-winning book about Champagne, and also one on Bordeaux. And ten other wine books. Can you think of any other wine tour operator with that in the baggage?
Bordeaux: Discover all aspects of Bordeaux | wine tour
Bordeaux is the name of both a beautiful city on the Garonne River in southwestern France and one of the world’s most well-known wine regions. There are prestigious chateaux here, but not only that. Bordeaux is large, over 100,000 hectares, and many of the producers are hard-working wine farmers, just like in other wine regions. On the tour we show you how Bordeaux works and what is so special about this region. Our bus will take us to Médoc, Pessac-Léognan, Saint Emilion and Entre-deux-Mers. These are intense days with magnificent gourmet lunches and tastings with great wines. We will visit elegantly designed wine cellars but also less lavish and simple facilities. Both types can make fabulous wines.
Join us on a fantastic wine tour to Bordeaux.
- Bordeaux, 29 September – 3 October, 2024
PS: We have written an award-winning book on Bordeaux, and have been travelling there since 1986. Can you find a better guide and tour operator?
Chile and Argentina, an adventurous wine experience | South America wine tour
It is quite an adventure to go to the wine regions of Argentina and Chile. Everything is so different from Europe, the scale of the estates, the dry and mighty landscape. Long lunches with grilled meat and empanadas. Pisco sour by the pool. Our tour includes the big cities of Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile and the smaller cities of Mendoza in Argentina and Valparaiso, Viña del Mar, and Santa Cruz in Chile. During our visits to the producers and while tasting their wines, we get to know the wine culture in these two countries, the history, the grape varieties and, not least, what is happening right now. Because there is a lot going on in both countries. New wine areas are being planted, often in cooler places. In Mendoza they plant at higher and higher altitudes and in Chile they go further and further south.
We start the journey in Argentina and from Buenos Aires we fly to Mendoza where for a few days we get to know malbec, torrontes and other grape varieties. Then our bus takes us over the Andes Mountains to Chile, a breathtakingly spectacular journey that takes a day. We cross the border to Chile at an altitude of 3,000 meters. In Chile we visit the regions on the Pacific coast and well-known Colchagua and Maipo in the inland.
Join us for a great wine, nature, and culture experience on the wine tour in Argentina and Chile.
Discover the wine countries of Chile and Argentina.
- Chile-Argentina, 13-26 January 2025
More inspiration: You can get an even better feeling for what you will experience on this tour if you visit the latest tour’s own Facebook group. Lots of pictures and videos from the tour (join the group and you’ll get an update when we post new contents): The wine tour to Chile and Argentina 2023.
South Africa, great diversity, and exciting wine projects | wine tour
South Africa offers much for a wine lover: interesting wines, stunning scenery, good food and ambitious and passionate winemakers. Most South African wines are made in the southernmost part of the country, in the Western Cape. We start the tour in Cape Town and from there we then go towards the south coast and regions such as Elgin and Walker Bay. We also visit picturesque Franschhoek, classic Stellenbosch and Swartland and Tulbagh, two old wine regions that have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. We show you the great diversity of wine styles, grape varieties and exciting projects that exist in South Africa’s wine industry today. The focus is on the wine, but the delicious food, with local specialties, will also get attention and of course we have time to take the cable car to Table Mountain in Cape Town. The harvest will probably be underway which means a lot of activity in the vineyards and in the cellars.
Discover South Africa, the fantastic wine country, with us on this fabulous wine tour.
Book now!
More inspiration: You can get an even better feeling for what you will experience on this tour if you visit the latest tour’s own Facebook group. Lots of pictures and videos from the tour (join the group and you’ll get an update when we post new contents): The wine tour to South Africa 2024.
New Zealand, the wine country on the other side of the globe | wine tour
There is something very special about traveling to the other side of the globe. There is no need to change the clock, there is a twelve hour time difference from Europe. The journey to get there is long, but the longing and excitement before arriving make it short. And once you’re there – “now I’m on the other side of the earth!” Unbelievable. If you draw a line through the center of the earth from Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, you end up in southern Spain. Can’t get further away. It is even closer to travel from the South Pole from here in Europe. Once there, a world of experiences of nature, wine and gastronomy opens up that is different and much more magnificent than one could imagine. New Zealand has a dramatic landscape and a very young wine industry. You can almost count the 1980s as the beginning of quality wine. But today they have come a long way. World-class wines, certainly from sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, but also much more. New Zealand is full of experiences and surprises.
Come with us to New Zealand for a wine adventure!
A great wine, nature and culture experience on the New Zealand wine tour.
Book now!
More inspiration: You can get an even better feeling for what you will experience on this tour if you visit the latest tour’s own Facebook group. Lots of pictures and videos from the tour (join the group and you’ll get an update when we post new contents): The wine tour to New Zealand 2024.
