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.
A Diam 3 cork

Natural cork without cork taint

We heard about the Diam closure for the first time about five years ago. We attended a tasting with some Champagne producers who all had tried a natural cork called Mytik, which is Diams counterpart

COS – biodynamics and amphora in Sicily

“The vineyard is our bank savings so we must protect it,” says Giusto Occhipinti at COS winery in Sicily. He founded COS with two friends in the early 1980’s. “I had to go to school

Men shop for wine – with some difficulty

In France, women buy the food and men the wine. Of course, with some generalization, but in La Vigne, we read of a survey conducted by the company SymphonyIRI showing that 55% of wine buyers

Landscape around Tenuta Regaleali, Sicily

Tenuta Regaleali – in the middle of Sicily

Tenuta Regaleali, or Tasca d’Almerita makes some interesting Sicilian wines It is a dramatic, mountainous landscape. In the distance the sheep are grazing quietly and olive and almond trees mix beautifully with the vines. We

Chateau Margaux, Medoc, Bordeaux, seen through the gate

Château Margaux in an experimental mood

More on Bordeaux. They have been doing some interesting experiments at Château Margaux reveals The Wine Sleuth, an interesting wine blog. At a tasting in London Paul Pontallier, director and wine maker at the chateau,

Finca Flichman – a Portuguese in Mendoza

Finca Flichman is one of the wine producers in Mendoza with active European involvement. Sogrape has continued to invest in the bodega since the acquisition in 1997 and focused on improving the quality of the

Vineyards with sandy soil and old vines in Castilla y Leon in Spain, prieto picudo variety

Europe’s big wine countries are getting smaller

Since 2008, France, Italy and Spain have pulled up vineyards and this has resulted in a European vineyard decrease of 4%, according to La Vigne. A total of 160 550 hectares of wine-growing land have

A cafe terasse in the Bordeaux region a sunny day

James Bond’s original favourite drink

We read in Drink Business that alcoholic beverages are a frequent ingredient in the James Bond movies. No big news. However, maybe you would think that dry martini is the most frequent drink, seeing how

What’s in a (wine’s) name…

Complicated wine names may be good for sales I have always thought that a complicated name on the wine label made the bottle harder to sell. But maybe it’s just the opposite. On www.lavigne-mag.fr we

All time high for Bordeaux export

Le Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux , CIVB, has recently published the 2011 export figures for Bordeaux. And the figures are impressive and actually the highest ever. 2.16 million hectolitres of Bordeaux were exported

Understanding Beaujolais

The grape gamay needs to be promoted. That is the opinion of Inter Beaujolais, which, according to www.thedrinksbusiness.com, now encourages the producers to mention the name of the grape on the back label. Gamay is

Cultural vineyards in Burgundy

Just before Christmas we wrote about the applications of Burgundy and Champagne to be the French candidate for the 2012 UNESCO world cultural heritage. The happy winner was announced a few weeks ago and it

Organic wines from Lavinia

Lavinia is one of our favourite wine stores in Paris. Whatever you are looking for, it seems that you find it at Lavinia. If you want, for example, to have a tasting with organic wines,

Southern flavours from 21 producers

A selection of quality wine producers from the Vinisud wine fair Just a few weeks after Millésime Bio (which we wrote about in the last issue of the brief), it was time for Vinisud, also

The village of Saint Joseph in Morgon in Beaujolais, Burgundy

Restaurant Albion, Paris | BKWine Pick

When you live in the southwest part of Paris, as we do, you feel like you are a bit far from the center of things. At least when it comes to new wine bars and

Taking a tank sample

Soon we will have organic wines

On February 8 the EU agreed the rules for organic vinification paving the way for “organic wine” The member countries in the European Union have finally (on February 8 ) voted for an agreement concerning

Vintage champagne despite the heat

2003 launched as vintage year in Champagne by several houses The summer of 2003 in France was very hot and subsequently the grapes in most regions were picked with unusually low acidity. For most people,

South African quality wines from Rickety Bridge

Those of you who drink South African wines regularly have probably noticed that the quality of the wines have increased dramatically in recent years. This is often due to hard work in the vineyards by

Taste of ladybird

We all like ladybirds, don’t we? But maybe not the taste of them! Drinks Business reports from the “Cool climate conference” that recently took place in Tasmania that ladybugs often are seen as a positive

Vacuum distillation machine to increase must concentration

Low alcohol wines are good or bad?

Less is not always more when it comes to alcohol in wine Apparently there is a huge interest in the world for wines with low alcohol contents. On www.decanter.com we read about a report by

A Diam 3 cork

Natural cork without cork taint

We heard about the Diam closure for the first time about five years ago. We attended a tasting with some Champagne producers who all had

What’s in a (wine’s) name…

Complicated wine names may be good for sales I have always thought that a complicated name on the wine label made the bottle harder to

All time high for Bordeaux export

Le Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux , CIVB, has recently published the 2011 export figures for Bordeaux. And the figures are impressive and actually

Understanding Beaujolais

The grape gamay needs to be promoted. That is the opinion of Inter Beaujolais, which, according to www.thedrinksbusiness.com, now encourages the producers to mention the

Cultural vineyards in Burgundy

Just before Christmas we wrote about the applications of Burgundy and Champagne to be the French candidate for the 2012 UNESCO world cultural heritage. The

Organic wines from Lavinia

Lavinia is one of our favourite wine stores in Paris. Whatever you are looking for, it seems that you find it at Lavinia. If you

Southern flavours from 21 producers

A selection of quality wine producers from the Vinisud wine fair Just a few weeks after Millésime Bio (which we wrote about in the last

Taking a tank sample

Soon we will have organic wines

On February 8 the EU agreed the rules for organic vinification paving the way for “organic wine” The member countries in the European Union have

Vintage champagne despite the heat

2003 launched as vintage year in Champagne by several houses The summer of 2003 in France was very hot and subsequently the grapes in most

Taste of ladybird

We all like ladybirds, don’t we? But maybe not the taste of them! Drinks Business reports from the “Cool climate conference” that recently took place

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