Author: Per Karlsson

Swedish. Per is co-founder together with his wife Britt of BKWine. Rumour has it that his interest in wine started already when he was 11. Just like Britt he visits some 200 wineries each year on wine tours and for journalistic research. He writes about wine primarily online on BKWine Magazine and in the BKWine Brief. Per is also a professional photographer, specialising in wine and travel photography. See BKWine Photography for more on this. Since a few years back he has also branched out into video production on the same subject. He has contributed all images, and some text, to BKWine’s wine books.

Small harvest in Italy

Italy expects to make the smallest harvest for 50 years, partially due to bad weather in the south. In the south there has been frequent rain which has cause diseases in the vineyards reducing the

Welcome to the BKWine Brief nr 51, October 2007

Most early forecasts for this year’s harvest has been moderate to pessimistic. A summer that has been in many places not very warm (to say the least) and humid has not meant ideal weather for

QmP becomes Prädikatswein

The German quality designation Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, often shortened to QmP, changes name to Prädikatswein from August this year.

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer becomes Mosel

Short and efficient? The German wine district Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (named after the three rivers that flow through the district) changes name to Mosel. The new name should be used starting 2007.

Donauland changes name to Wagram in Austria

The Austrian Donauland has had to sub-districts: Wagram (2450 ha) and Klosterneuburg (350 ha). The whole region will now change name from Donauland to Wagram. Klosterneuburg will still remain as a sub-region – a grosslage.

One bottle of Grange sold for $51,000

At a recent auction in Australia a single bottle of Grange 1951 (previously called “Grange hermitage”) sold for the record price $51,000. It was two Grange collections that were up for sale at the same

Beaujolais Villages trials mechanical harvesting

The traditional harvest is by hand in Beaujolais but since 2004 it has been allowed to harvest by machine in AOC Beaujolais. This year a new experiment is launched to also use mechanical harvest for

New French Vin de Pays rejected by the EU

France recently created three new Vins de Pays: “de l’Atlantique”, “de Gaule” and “de France”. These have now been rejected by the agricultural commission at the EU. The reason is that, according to European rules,

The genome of the vine mapped

French and Italian researchers have mapped the full genome of the vine. It is the fourth plant after Arabidopsis, rice and poplar that has had its genetic fingerprint identified. The results were recently published in

New DOCG in Italy: Oltrepò Pavese

Oltrepò Pavese have been given DOCG-status (the highest rank for Italian wines) for its sparkling wines made from Pinot Noir grapes. wine-business-international.com

Crozes-Hermitage snapshot

With its 1430 ha it is the biggest appellation in the northern Rhône valley – Annual production is 60,000 hl, 93% of which is red – The appellation accounts for 50% of all wines from

Provence snapshot

Provence in a few lines: – Provence is the biggest producer of rosé wine. 42% of all French AOC rosé wine come from Provence – Annual production is 140 million bottles: 84% rosé, 13% red,

Record harvest in Argentina

The 2007 grape harvest reached record levels – up 6.5% compared to last year. A substantial part of the grape production is used for grape juice rather than wine though. wine-business-international.com

Early harvest

Many wine regions will start the harvest exceptionally early this year, due to the warm weather early in spring. Champagne started harvesting on August 20. In Italy many regions are three weeks ahead of schedule

Giant winemaker Gallo changes importer in Sweden

One of the world’s largest wine producers, Gallo in California, has changed importer for the Swedish market. The will now be represented by Spendrups Vin instead of their previous importer, the government owned (but up

Wine sells – even sex?

But it is not only in South Africa where you sell wine with sex. In New York they try it too. Or perhaps it is the other way around: selling sex with wine? At Babeland,

Sex sells – even wine?

Perhaps not something that would catch on with most marketeers (and certainly not the advertising regulators) in Europe. But a South African wine producer has launched a campaign featuring lightly clad (actually, not at all)

German consumers buy wines according to taste

A survey of German consumer behaviour has shown that German consumers primarily buy wines according to taste and character (51.3%). Geographic origin was most important for 12% of the consumers, price for 9% and grape

Saint Emilion and satellites joins forces

The producer organisations (who represent the interests of the wine makers) for Saint Emilion, Saint Emilion Grand Cru and the two “satellites” Lussac St Emilion and Puisseguin St Emilion have merged the organisations, presumably in

The world’s best Pinot Noir

The tenth vintage of the world championship of Pinot Noir saw 1050 contestants – wines from many countries: France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, the United States, New Zealand,… Four wines were awarded Great Gold

Moth new threat to Napa vineyards

A small moth called Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer is the latest threat to Napa vineyards. One such moth was recently found in a trap in Napa Valley. The evil beast eats the leaves and the grapes

Torres establishes foothold in Rioja

Torres is almost synonymous with Catalonia. But now they have bought a small property in Rioja, not big, just some 5 hectares. Torres has since several years expanded to other countries: California and Chile. And

BKWine Brief nr 50, September 2007

It is soon time. Well, yes, it’s soon time for the harvest too. And in many places it has already started. An exceptionally early harvest that will probably yield not very large volumes and uncertain

Wanted: Stolen wines

– We’ve had a report of stolen wines that the owner would very much like to get back: “”2 Double Magnums Latour 1982, 9 Magnums Latour 1982, 12 bottles 1982 Latour, 12 bottles Margaux 1986,

Small harvest in Italy

Italy expects to make the smallest harvest for 50 years, partially due to bad weather in the south. In the south there has been frequent

QmP becomes Prädikatswein

The German quality designation Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, often shortened to QmP, changes name to Prädikatswein from August this year.

Mosel-Saar-Ruwer becomes Mosel

Short and efficient? The German wine district Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (named after the three rivers that flow through the district) changes name to Mosel. The new name

One bottle of Grange sold for $51,000

At a recent auction in Australia a single bottle of Grange 1951 (previously called “Grange hermitage”) sold for the record price $51,000. It was two

New French Vin de Pays rejected by the EU

France recently created three new Vins de Pays: “de l’Atlantique”, “de Gaule” and “de France”. These have now been rejected by the agricultural commission at

The genome of the vine mapped

French and Italian researchers have mapped the full genome of the vine. It is the fourth plant after Arabidopsis, rice and poplar that has had

New DOCG in Italy: Oltrepò Pavese

Oltrepò Pavese have been given DOCG-status (the highest rank for Italian wines) for its sparkling wines made from Pinot Noir grapes. wine-business-international.com

Crozes-Hermitage snapshot

With its 1430 ha it is the biggest appellation in the northern Rhône valley – Annual production is 60,000 hl, 93% of which is red

Provence snapshot

Provence in a few lines: – Provence is the biggest producer of rosé wine. 42% of all French AOC rosé wine come from Provence –

Record harvest in Argentina

The 2007 grape harvest reached record levels – up 6.5% compared to last year. A substantial part of the grape production is used for grape

Early harvest

Many wine regions will start the harvest exceptionally early this year, due to the warm weather early in spring. Champagne started harvesting on August 20.

Wine sells – even sex?

But it is not only in South Africa where you sell wine with sex. In New York they try it too. Or perhaps it is

Sex sells – even wine?

Perhaps not something that would catch on with most marketeers (and certainly not the advertising regulators) in Europe. But a South African wine producer has

Saint Emilion and satellites joins forces

The producer organisations (who represent the interests of the wine makers) for Saint Emilion, Saint Emilion Grand Cru and the two “satellites” Lussac St Emilion

The world’s best Pinot Noir

The tenth vintage of the world championship of Pinot Noir saw 1050 contestants – wines from many countries: France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Argentina, Chile, the

Moth new threat to Napa vineyards

A small moth called Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer is the latest threat to Napa vineyards. One such moth was recently found in a trap in Napa

Torres establishes foothold in Rioja

Torres is almost synonymous with Catalonia. But now they have bought a small property in Rioja, not big, just some 5 hectares. Torres has since

BKWine Brief nr 50, September 2007

It is soon time. Well, yes, it’s soon time for the harvest too. And in many places it has already started. An exceptionally early harvest

Wanted: Stolen wines

– We’ve had a report of stolen wines that the owner would very much like to get back: “”2 Double Magnums Latour 1982, 9 Magnums

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