This is a very hectic period, both for wine producers and for us at BKWine.
The harvest will be late in many wine districts this year. In some places they have started but many are still waiting. It has been a year with big variations. Up north (relatively speaking) it has been exceptionally cool. (But you know that already perhaps…) In some places they have had virtually every imaginable problem. In Sancerre, for example, they have had mildew AND oidium, frost AND hail, a cold spring and beginning of summer with too much rain that led to slow growth and rot, AND a hot and very dry August with too little water. And now back to cold and rain… Further south it has been the opposite, warm, well, hot and dry. In Italy the summer has been exceptionally hot and dry which also can lead to slow ripening and late harvest.
But it is really too early to guess how it will all turn out in the end for the poor little grapes. We will have to come back with a report on that later.
It is now only a little more than three weeks into September but for us at BKWine the travel season is going full steam ahead. Over these three weeks we have already done six wine tours. So perhaps you can have some understanding that we have a hard time managing to publish the BKWine Brief and that it is shortish this time of the year. We have been to Bordeaux, Tuscany, Bordeaux (again, and again), Chablis, Burgundy, Veneto/Valpolicella/amarone, and perhaps some more wine region that slipped my mind.
If you are curious how it has been and what we have done you can take a look at our travel blog. There you can find both pictures and videos and some stories from Bordeaux and from Tuscany. More will come soon. It is a good way to get a feeling for the wine districts (and for our wine tours).
On the important subject of travel: Have you given it a thought to join us on our wine tour to Chile and Argentina? Come with us to explore the wine regions in these two exciting wine countries? And the food. And the sites. Pampas. Tango. Horses. But a lot of wine and food. And a breath-taking trip over the Andes. We have a few places left on this tour and deadline for registering is approaching! Sign up now!
And then we have two other things that we just have to mention:
On August 30 we launched our new book. It is called Wine and the Environment and is about organic wines, biodynamics, natural wines and other related things. The book had not arrived from the printer on August 29 so we were getting rather nervous for the launch event. But finally it did arrive late in the afternoon on the 29th. You can see some glimpses from the launch event if you read on further down. (There is only one “but”. The book is in Swedish. We would love to find an English language publisher…!)
To get some appreciation for what one does is of course important, so when Meininger’s Wine Business International and Tom Scheel included Britt on a list of influential wine writers / journalists in Scandinavia we were both happy and surprised. It must mean that at least occasionally someone reads what we write. WBI did a very interesting overview of wine media in several different countries that you can read more about below.
And then Per won an award too! But one of the more curious kind: In Vino Amicitas Grand Prix Lalau pour L’Amitié entre les Vins. Indeed curious. But it makes one no less happy! Read more on that too below.
And then you can read about our best pick of amarones, Egyptian wine (indeed!), the new classification in Saint Emilion (well constructed or a joke?), the Swedish monopoly discovers home delivery, Beajolais (that we should all drink more often!) and much more. In the BKWine Brief below.
And please don’t forget: Like us on Facebook! Like BKWine Magazine and Like BKWine Tours!
Britt & Per
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief!
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[box type=”note”]This is just the introduction to the latest issue of the Brief. Subscribe to the BKWine Brief and you will get the whole edition in your mailbox next month.[/box]
