FROM BKWINE MAGAZINE is short editorial teasers and links to full-length articles published by Britt and Per Karlsson in BKWine Magazine and sometimes external news outlets. It is all about expert commentary, and in-depth reading on the wine regions, vineyards, and winemakers featured on our tours. You will gain valuable background knowledge and insight before your next wine tour so that it will become even more exciting and rewarding.
Mendoza in Argentina has made a huge success of growing malbec and selling it to the world. It started at the end of the 1980s. Malbec from Argentina became a brand. For a while, everyone
The Côte des Bar, the southernmost part of Champagne, is a gold mine for those looking for exciting grower champagnes. The district is a bit isolated from the rest of Champagne. The city of Troyes
In June, we had a few wonderful days on the Portuguese Atlantic coast. But we weren’t there to swim and sunbathe, or even to taste wine. We were in Cascais because the Gourmand World Cookbook
In Champagne, you often classify producers as either “houses”, or “independent growers”. The houses are big and often rather anonymous companies owning little or no vineyards, buying grapes from small growers. The “independent producers” are
Champagne goes with everything, it is sometimes said. But does it match well with a cuisine based solely on vegetables and plants? To explore this wine and food pairing, BKWine Magazine contributor Jeanne Peixian Qiao,
Champagne Beaumont des Crayères is a cooperative winery in Épernay focusing on high-quality Champagne production, particularly from the Pinot Meunier grape. Founded in 1955 by a group of winegrowers, the cooperative emphasizes traditional winemaking techniques
“One of the best carmenère I have tasted is from Viña Maquis in the Colchagua Valley of Chile, a wine region known for its red wines, about 200 kilometres south of Santiago. Their Maquis Viola
Malbec is the signature grape of Argentina and of Mendoza in particular. But it is a grape that has only really emerged as an international top-quality grape in the last few decades. One of the
Adrianna Vineyards is a separate line of wines produced by Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina. The Andes stretch up to the highest peak, Aconcagua, at almost 7,000 meters. The vineyard is located a good way
Black Barn is one of the smaller wineries in Hawke’s Bay on New Zealand’s North Island. It celebrated its twentieth-anniversary last year and has developed a strong and interesting portfolio of wines. Dave McKee is
“Pinot noir is not just Burgundy and Champagne. The grape is the ninth most cultivated variety in the world. It is planted on 115,000 hectares, of which roughly 30,000 hectares are in France. In other
Stark-Condé Wines is only a stone’s throw from the town centre of Stellenbosch, but when you arrive there, you feel like you’re in another world. Remote, quiet, calm. In the Jonkershoek Valley. Well, it’s not
The Steytler family has owned Kaapzicht Wine Estate for four generations. Today, it is run by Dani Steytler Jr and his wife Carin. They make a wide range of wines from 21 different grape varieties.
Sometimes the best vineyards are hidden away on the smallest roads. That’s certainly the case for Oldenburg Vineyards. I can’t claim to be competent to pronounce it THE best, but it is certainly up there
When we started traveling to South Africa on the wine tours we organize , we also started reading South African detective stories (our pastime when we’re not working with wine). It turns out that South
Springfontein Wines is, in some ways, very similar to many other small wineries in South Africa, and in other ways, it is very different. What it shares with many other small entrepreneurial wineries in the
Iona Wines is located in Elgin, a little over an hour’s drive east of Cape Town near the south coast. The winery is located in a fairly new wine district called Elgin. In the past,
Can you help Ukraine and democracy by drinking champagne? “Maybe — with the project Victoire de la dignité. It’s been a week of ups and downs for world politics and the progress of democracy. Unusual
Impressions from a wine show with producers from Australia and New Zealand. Overall, the quality level was very high among the wines at the show, with both Australian and New Zealand wine producers. It is
Champagne growers on a visit to Stockholm with the Franska Vinlistan serve Nobel Prize wine. It has almost become a tradition. At the end of the autumn, a small gathering of wine producers from Champagne
Travelling on a wine tour in France is a perfect opportunity to enjoy fantastic meals paired with excellent wines. French gastronomy is one of the world’s best (it is, of course, a matter of opinion
You’ve probably heard it before. “How do you make a small fortune in wine? You start with a big fortune.” Looking at the list of France’s riches people, this seems to be only partially true.
Saint Emilion is small-scale and very different from the Médoc on the other side of the Dordogne and Garonne rivers. Saint Emilion has an pretty, rolling and green landscape. The chateaux are smaller and not
The Big Houses dominate the champagne market. As an example, in Sweden, roughly three million bottles of champagne are sold each year. Well under ten per cent of these are from growers who manage the
There is, of course, no “world’s best sauvignon blanc wine”. What is best depends on your personal preferences (yes, wine scoring is subjective). But picking the winners out of a selection of 1200 sauvignons from
