Author: Britt Karlsson

Maker of World’s Top Wine Tours. On WBI’s Power List of wine journalists. Wine Profile of the Year 2011. We’ve been named World’s Top Wine Tours by Travel + Leisure Magazine. We’ve written a wine book that won the award World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals and another that’s been awarded Best Wine Book in Sweden for Professionals. We had (probably) the first web site on wine in Scandinavia in 1996. We publish one of the most read independent wine newsletters on wine. And lots of other things we’re proud of too.
Franz Kunstler 1994 Riesling Beerenauslese

The reinvention of German wines | Britt on Forbes

Over the last couple of decades German wines have changed dramatically. Here are some of the NEW keywords: The semi-dry / semi-sweet whites are on the retreat. (Thankfully!) Bone-dry whites with plenty of elegance and

Cork soaking for TCA testing

Natural cork is doing very well these days

An article about how natural cork has made a comeback in recent years made me look for some interesting cork statistics from Apcor, the association of Portugal’s cork industry. 34% of the world’s cork forests

Oak barrel aging and fermentation cellar. J Portugal Ramos

Oak ageing yes, but discrete flavours please

Oak ageing is an important ingredient in the production of a quality wine, this all wine lovers are well aware of. Important yes, but more and more winemakers are trying to make the oak as

Terraced vineyard. Priorato, Catalonia, Spain

Vineyard surface in the 18 EU wine countries

Of the 28 member states of the EU, 18 counts officially as wine countries. Wine is made also in Denmark, Sweden and Poland but you have to have more than 500 hectares planted to be

Working in a steep vineyard

Champagne rejects astronaut in advertising campaign

Atout France is a government organization that is responsible for promoting various French tourist destinations. Recently, it launched an ad campaign aimed at French tourists. The slogan for the campaign is “France, tout un monde

A beehive in the garden

Bee Friendly certification

A wine can be certified organic, biodynamic, sustainable and now there is also a certification taking into account the well-being of the bees. It is called, of course, Bee Friendly. The label is a private

Bottles in a wine shop marked organic wine (ekologiskt)

Some organic favourites worth trying

Here’s a handful of organic wines that we have encountered recently that we certainly recommend trying: Anima, Avondale, Chenin Blanc, 2013, South Africa, ~15 €. Nice honey tone, a little pineapple and citrus, elegant and

Bordeaux exports stable in 2016

Bordeaux exported 2 million hectolitres of wine (270 million bottles) in 2016. The region accounts for 17% of French wine exports in volume and 36% of the value. China and the US compensate for declining

Cleaning with water spray a big tractor equipped for spraying

Lower copper limit for organic wine producers. Maybe.

Being an organic winegrower means that you are obliged to spray with copper to prevent certain fungal diseases rather than using synthetic pesticides. Copper is effective primarily against mildiou. As with all other pesticides the

A glass of Italian bubbly wine being poured

Spanish Freixenet makes Italian Prosecco

The Cava house Freixenet has for some time been looking east towards the Italian Prosecco competitors. And now we see the result. Freixenet is launching its on Prosecco DOC and Prosecco DOCG. The two wines

A snifter glass with a digestif

Cognac is doing well on the export markets

The French wine and spirits exports hit an all-time high in 2016. In total France exported wine and spirits at a value of 11.9 billion euros. This was an increase of 1.2% from the year

Marselan, recently planted vines

A future with herbicides replaced by thermal foam?

More and more herbicides are prohibited. What will happen to glyphosate and flumioxazin, two key ingredients in a variety of herbicides, is currently unclear. Many winemakers are preparing for a future without chemical weed removal.

Flowers in the vineyards in Limoux

Limoux, a different part of the Languedoc

When you think of Languedoc you probably think warm, sunny days and rich full-bodied wines made from grapes like grenache and carignan. But the reality is more varied than that. In the 1970s the growers

Vineyards protected with a net against hail, Zuccardi, Mendoza, Argentina

Protection against hail in Burgundy and Argentina

In Mendoza in Argentina they have nets to protect the vines against hail. In Burgundy they prefer to launch silver nitrate rockets in to the clouds. The effect is that the hail grains become smaller

Movia Sivi Ambra Pinot Grigio 2011, Brda, Slovenia

Pinot Grigio, still trendy

Pinot Grigio in Italy does not have many similarities with Pinot Gris in Alsace. It is not only the name that is different, but also the style and, not least, the popularity. Pinot Grigio has

A beehive in the garden

Bee Friendly certification

A wine can be certified organic, biodynamic, sustainable and now there is also a certification taking into account the well-being of the bees. It is

Bottles in a wine shop marked organic wine (ekologiskt)

Some organic favourites worth trying

Here’s a handful of organic wines that we have encountered recently that we certainly recommend trying: Anima, Avondale, Chenin Blanc, 2013, South Africa, ~15 €.

Bordeaux exports stable in 2016

Bordeaux exported 2 million hectolitres of wine (270 million bottles) in 2016. The region accounts for 17% of French wine exports in volume and 36%

Movia Sivi Ambra Pinot Grigio 2011, Brda, Slovenia

Pinot Grigio, still trendy

Pinot Grigio in Italy does not have many similarities with Pinot Gris in Alsace. It is not only the name that is different, but also

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