Category: News

BKWine Blog

Les Echos de Bordeaux

If you want to practice your French, and read about wine, you can subscribe to the newsletter Les Echos de Bordeaux. Les Echos is published by Agence Fleuri, which is a marketing agency focussing on

Chocolate and vanilla calvados

At Vinexpo Château du Breuil will launch two new products: First a calvados “Chocolate Blend”, which, if we understand it correctly, is not a chocolate flavoured calvados but one that has been specifically blended to

The World’s wine markets by 2030

The American Association of Wine Economists has chosen “The World’s wine markets by 2030” as the theme for next year’s AAWE conference. They are calling for papers on the subject. Potential speakers should contact Kym

French export markets

The latest export numbers we found was from 2006: a total of 14 million litres were exported (excluding sparkling wines). 58% were red or rosé and 42% white. The main export destinations: UK: 20% of

More wine prizes : women journalists’ trophy

Coup de Coeur des Femmes Journalistes is the name of another competition where we recently were part of the judging panel. The competition is run by the wine cooperatives in four of the départements in

Valencia: rice and wine – but no paella

At the end of April I was in Valencia to taste wines, lots of wines. I was there for the big wine competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles which this year, in spite of its name,

The state of the international wine market

Sopexa, the French marketing agency for wine and other agricultural products, has conducted a big survey called the Wine Trade Monitor. The study is based on 1400 respondents in 16 countries. The survey will be

Full moon? Cancel the wine tasting!

If the moon is not in the right moon phase the wine may taste much worse, that is at least what Tesco and Marks & Spencer, two of Britain’s biggest wine retailers think. They only

Australian albarino turns out to be savagnin

Some wine producers in Australia have turned out some very decent wines from albariño grapes (some 150 ha planted). Albarino is a grape variety well known from e.g. northern Portugal. At least, so they thought.

The waiter coming with glasses of rosé

What’s a rosé wine?

As part of the EU wine reform that has been agreed by the countries’ agricultural representatives it is planned that it will become legal to make rosé wine by blending red and white wine. Today,

Robert Parker’s impartiality in question

More rough times for Robert Parker. Not only is he in trouble with the wine blogging community but he also seems to have difficulties with his own ethical rules. He has laid down very strict

“Robert Parker should be ashamed of himself”

That is at least what many wine bloggers think. Parker does exist on the internet, as eRobertParker.com, but he’s certainly not a dedicated Web 2.0 adept. More importantly, he has written several denigrating comments about

Restaurant VAT down

France will lower the VAT on restaurants to 5.5%. Currently restaurant bills are subject to “normal” VAT at 19.6%. The change will happen in January 2010, or possibly already in July this year. The intention

The skins and pips after fermentation and pressing

Make your own Bordeaux – live your dream?

CrushPad started a few years ago in California. It’s a (relatively) inexpensive way to make your own wine. They collaborate with wine producers and as a member / customer you get the possibility to (almost)

The Parker Effect (1)

If anyone doubted the importance of Parker Points (ratings from the wine guru Robert Parker) the story of this year’s primeurs should dispel any doubt. Liv-ex has made a graph illustrating the price evolution of

France sponsors 1000 free wine and cheese parties

France has launched a campaign in 19 countries (USA, Canada, Spain etc) where anyone who wants can sign up to be a candidate to be sponsored for a free wine and cheese party. 1000 participants

Bordeaux primeurs prices falling

Quite as expected (and demanded by many) the prices of the Bordeaux Primeurs (2008 vintage) have fallen. As we reported in the last Brief, Angélus set the tone with a release price down 40% from

Australia is like Bordeaux, but the other way around

Australia has gained a reputation of being primarily a source of cheap bulk wines and Bordeaux is mostly know for producing wines that no one can afford any longer (thanks to their rocket-like price increases

BKWine on American radio

The Wine Fairy, or Wine and Dine Radio, www.winefairy.com is an internet radio station (podcast) that only talks about wine. You can also listen to it on iTunes. In a recent emission BKWine was “today’s

Livingstone-Learmont wins prize for Rhône bible

It’s a brick of a book, but then it contains just about everything you might want to know on northern Rhône wines – written by John Livingstone-Learmont. That’s his latest book but he has previously

Better sex drive for women who drink red wine

Researchers at the Santa Maria Annunziata Hospital in Florence have conducted a study that shows that women who drink red wine lead a more active sex life. The study included 789 women aged between 18

Les Echos de Bordeaux

If you want to practice your French, and read about wine, you can subscribe to the newsletter Les Echos de Bordeaux. Les Echos is published

Chocolate and vanilla calvados

At Vinexpo Château du Breuil will launch two new products: First a calvados “Chocolate Blend”, which, if we understand it correctly, is not a chocolate

The World’s wine markets by 2030

The American Association of Wine Economists has chosen “The World’s wine markets by 2030” as the theme for next year’s AAWE conference. They are calling

French export markets

The latest export numbers we found was from 2006: a total of 14 million litres were exported (excluding sparkling wines). 58% were red or rosé

The waiter coming with glasses of rosé

What’s a rosé wine?

As part of the EU wine reform that has been agreed by the countries’ agricultural representatives it is planned that it will become legal to

Restaurant VAT down

France will lower the VAT on restaurants to 5.5%. Currently restaurant bills are subject to “normal” VAT at 19.6%. The change will happen in January

The Parker Effect (1)

If anyone doubted the importance of Parker Points (ratings from the wine guru Robert Parker) the story of this year’s primeurs should dispel any doubt.

Bordeaux primeurs prices falling

Quite as expected (and demanded by many) the prices of the Bordeaux Primeurs (2008 vintage) have fallen. As we reported in the last Brief, Angélus

BKWine on American radio

The Wine Fairy, or Wine and Dine Radio, www.winefairy.com is an internet radio station (podcast) that only talks about wine. You can also listen to

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