Per Karlsson

Linked in profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/per-karlsson-535476/

Per Karlsson is a Swedish national but living in France (Paris) since over thirty years.

Per Karlsson is co-founder and co-manager (together with his spouse Britt Karlsson) of BKWine AB, a company active in wine tourism and wine writing. BKWine Tours has been a leader in the specialised wine travel business for more than twenty years.

The company arranges wine tours for individuals, companies and associations. The destinations include several European wine countries, for example, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal and others, and also to other parts of the world, such as South Africa, Chile-Argentina, and New Zealand. Per and Britt organise and manage about thirty wine tours each year and personally visit around 200 wineries annually. Their experience in this sector has led to consulting or speaking assignments in wine tourism for e.g. United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Wine2Wine-Vinitaly, Città del Vino, Wine of Moldova-ONVV and others.

In collaboration with Britt Karlsson, Per Karlsson is among Sweden’s most published wine book authors. They have written twelve books on wine, winemaking, wine tourism and wine regions. Their books have been awarded several prizes in Swedish and international book competitions: The Gastronomic Academy of Sweden, the International Organization of Vine and Wine-OIV, Gourmand Sweden and Gourmand International. One of their books has also been published in English.

In addition to their numerous books, Britt and Per are prolific writers on wine on BKWine Magazine, a widely read bilingual (English-Swedish) web magazine on wine. They are also regular contributors on wine to the American business publication Forbes.com and occasionally also to other publications.

Britt and Per are also editors at the Swedish National Encyclopaedia (Nationalencyklopedin-NE) for everything regarding wine.

Per is also regularly called on to judge in wine competitions.

Professional Experience

CURRENT ACTIVITY:

BKWine AB (Sweden)

Co-founder, co-owner, president, 2004 to present, Paris

BKWine is a tour operator exclusively focussed on wine tourism and is one of the world leaders in specialised wine tourism.

BKWine also publishes an online wine magazine, the BKWine Magazine, with some 30,000 monthly readers and a wine newsletter, the BKWine Brief.

Forbes.com (USA)

Contributor, 2015 to present

Contributor on wine, wine travel and the wine business.

Nationalencyklopedin, Swedish National Encyclopaedia

Co-editor of subject matter relating to wine, 2020 to present

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PREVIOUS ACTIVITY:

Genuity / Integra

Vice President, International Marketing and Products, 2000-2003

An international networking and web hosting company with business world-wide.

Lucent Technologies, 1998 – 2000, Business Development Manager

Centigram Communications, 1996-1998, Business Development Manager

Sita Telecommunications, 1993 – 1996, Business Strategy Manger

Capgemini, 1985 – 1993, International Marketing Director

Ericsson, 1983 – 1985, Management Trainee

Education

INSEAD, Fontainebleau, 1989 – 1990, Master of Business Administration (MBA)

KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 1978 – 1983, Master of Science (MSc), theoretical physics and mathematics

Publications

BKWine Magazine, 1996 – present, editor, journalist, photographer

Books, co-author of 12 wine books, all award-winning (“best book for professionals” and others) in Gourmand International or OIV-International Organisation of Vine and Wine Book Awards, or Swedish Gastronomic Academy Book Awards, including e.g. “Biodynamic, Organic and Natural Wine Making”. Full book list: https://www.bkwine.com/our-books/

Speaking and Consulting

Speaking and consulting engagements on wine tourism, wine, wine journalist and wine business, with, for example:

• National Office of Vine and Wine, Moldova
• United nations World Tourism Organisation, UNWTO, speaker at wine tourism conference in Moldova
• Città del vino, Italy
• Wine Media Conference, USA
• Wine2Wine-Vinitaly, Italy
• Millesime Bio, France
• Digital Wine Communications Conference, Switzerland
• Wine Bloggers Conference, Spain
• Région de Sète, France
• Ad’Occ, Regional Economic Development Agency Occitanie, France
• and others

Judging assignments

Judging/jury assignments in wine and wine-related competitions.

Wine Tourism:

• Wine Travel Awards (Drinks+)

Wine Competitions

• Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Wine Competition
  • Palermo
  • China,
  • Switzerland
  • Italy
  • South Africa
  • Croatia
• Portugal National Wine Competition
• Asian Wine & Spirits Silk Road Competition, China
• Grenaches du Monde, World’s Best Grenache, France
• Apulia Best Wine, Italy
• Rendez-vous du Chenin, France
• Concours Amphore, Concours International des Vins Biologique et en Conversion, France
• VinCE, Hungary
• The Food & Rosé Selection by CMB, Italy
• Challenge Entre-deux-Mers, France
• Citadelle du Vin, Bordeaux
• and others

Benevolent activity

Lunch at the Circle, founder and manager, technology and entrepreneurship networking group, 2003 to present

INSEAD Admissions Committee, member, 2009 to present

Other

Scandinavian Wine Fair in Paris, twice organiser of a wine fair in Paris dedicated to Scandinavians around the world making wine

Circle of Wine Writers (CWW) and Fédération International des Journalistes en Vin (FIJEV), member of professional organisations