Ninety nine and a half – November was quite simply not a good month to make issue one hundred. You will have to wait until December!
We have just arrived home after 5 days in Apulia in southern Italy. We took part in an event called Apulia Wine Identity, initiated by 21 producers in the area who want to make their wines more known to the world. They particularly wanted to highlight the three local grapes primitivo, nero di troia and negroamaro. We will tell you more about the wines and the producers in coming Briefs but we can already now reveal that we tasted a lot of wines that were both interesting and delicious. And sometimes simply delicious. And sometimes simply interesting…
Puglia is well worth visiting, not only for the wine but also for its magnificent towns. We spent a few nights in the amazing baroque city of Lecce which is truly a unique city with well preserved and beautifully renovated palaces, houses and churches from the 17th century. We also visited Trani a little bit further north, splendidly situated by the sea. In the harbour the fishermen deliver their daily catch of the local speciality canocchie. I think the English name is mantis prawn (and in French it is cigales de mer). In any case, they are delicious.
Back in Paris the sky is not Mediterranean blue but of a more greyish colour. But the Christmas decorations are all in place and now it is soon time to open a bottle of port wine and to sit by the fire (if you are lucky enough to have one) and crack some walnuts.
Earlier in November Britt was in Sweden to visit one of the big food and wine shows in Stockholm. Unsuspecting she was invited for lunch by Munskänkarna (the world’s biggest wine tasting association), which was just a ruse to get her close to the stage – she was called up on the stage and given the honorific title Wine Personality of the Year 2012 for her long time promotion of good wine and wine culture. i can tell you she was surprised! Read more about that later in the Brief. We cannot help being quite proud and we hope you permit us to show off a little bit: Wine Profile of the Year 2011, Best Wine Book of the Year 2010 (in Sweden), World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals 2011, World’s Top Wine Tours by Travel+Leisure…! 
But before we leave you to this month’s Brief, don’t forget to look at our wine tours for next year. We offer tours to classical regions like Bordeaux, Champagne and Tuscany. If you are a group of people, small or large, we will be happy to organise a tour for you, to a wine region anywhere in Europe, or even in the rest of the world!
That would also make an excellent Christmas gift for the wine lover. (You can always give it to yourself….) We can arrange for a beautifully printed gift card if you want to give a gift. Just let us know and we will send it to you
And if we may wish for a Christmas gift from you, or actually two:
1 – Tell your friends about the BKWine Brief! Make sure they sign up for our free subscription!
2 – Try social media! “Like” us on Facebook or “Plus 1” us on Google. Click on the Facebook and +1 buttons on our pages. Try it for example on BKWineTours.com: click on FB Like and on G+1! The buttons are on every page. Try it! It will be a of great service to us.
And now, on to the Brief!
Britt & Per
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief!
What’s on at BKWine Tours
“World’s Best Wine Tours” – Travel + Leisure Magazine, on TravelAndLeisure.com
Preliminary 2012 wine tour program
- Bordeaux 9-13 May
- Bordeaux 19-23 September
- Toscana 10-14October
- Champagne 14-18 November
Details soon to be published.
For more information please contact us on email or on phone (we’re on French time), or go to our wine travel site on www.bkwinetours.com!
What do people think about a wine tour with BKWine?
That is of course a question that we think is very important. We want it to be a wonderful and memorable experience for everyone. Here are some of the comments we’ve had from customers this season:
- “Many thanks for a fantastic trip. You are so keen to make everything the best for your guests and you are so knowledgeable about wine. A pleasure to travel with you.”, W-A
- ”Thank you for a wonderful trip to Umbria and southern Tuscany. Wonderful in many ways – our initial ideas for the trip on food and wine in Umbria and Tuscany – and discovering sagrantino and sangiovese – were more than fulfilled”, I & P in Umbria and Tuscany
More wine tour customer testimonials here.
Custom wine tours
We also make custom designed wine tours – on-demand tours for you and a group of friends, for your company (maybe to scout new winegrowers?), for a special event… We can combine winery visits and wine touring with other activities: gastronomic workshops, visit to an oyster farm, truffles hunting, cheese making, and more. We’ve done tours for wine clubs, for sommelier educations, for corporate events, for wine importers, for wine course study groups… just to mention a few.
More info on the custom designed and bespoke BKWine wine tours and travel here!
Wine tours in Finnish
We also do wine tours in Finnish. And in German, Norwegian, Spanish…
Do you want the latest news and updates on our wine travel activity? Subscibe here! (Second alternative BKWineTours.com)
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This is just the introduction to the new issue of the BKWine Brief, our newsletter on wine, gastronomy and travel.
Are you getting your own copy of the BKWine Brief? If not, subscribe now to get your own free copy!
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