After Paris, Brussels, London and Berlin, Stockholm is the latest city to throw open its doors and reveal itself as a wine friendly destination. Why the Swedish capital? Because not only is its popularity with foodies surging daily and reaching stratospheric heights, it is also a city where open-minded sommeliers and chefs are helping to tastefully foster a love of wine. And with bottlings like Crozes-Hermitage, wine is setting the city’s pulse racing. This webmag for the Crozes-Hermitage appellation website is its electrocardiogram!
Petter
The Swedish rapper, aka Petter Askergren, is a real wine geek. So much so that he has created his own wine label and sometimes takes time out to play at being a sommelier.
Wine to Petter is like the madeleine to Proust – when you get him going on the subject, his childhood memories come flooding back. He can see himself shopping with his mother in Systembolaget monopoly stores in the Södermalm district and then let his mind conjure up images from the names of the bottles of wine on the way back in the family’s Volvo – Tuscany, France, Australia, Hungary… When wine gets hold of you, it doesn’t let go. Age twenty, he fancies studying to become a sommelier, but music gains the upper hand and after his first album in 1998, others would follow. Concerts and writing new songs increasingly monopolise Petter’s time. But wine would ultimately get its revenge.
One day he was asked to lend his signature to a wine: “It took me fifteen years to really feel ready. I didn’t want to use my name just because it was relatively famous. I wanted to do something different. So I decided to learn everything I could about wine”. The rapper enrolled at Vinkällan college to follow a sommelier course. “It was as if I had opened Pandora’s Box, but in a positive way. I became obsessed. I devoured every book I could lay my hands on and went to every tasting”.
The resultant wine label – P.Lex – not only features on several different wines but also at two wine-friendly venues where Petter has now become a partner (the Käk in Stockholm and the Granen in the ski resort of Åre). He co-wrote a book on wine (Vin – så funkar det) with Alf Tumble, and has a quirky hobby – he occasionally gets a job as a sommelier with the Griffens, a steakhouse in the Norrmalm district!
Tove Oskarsson Henckel
Andreas Kjörling
After training as a sommelier, Andreas has since then drifted towards writing and photography. But he still has the same fondness for fine wines, and for passing his knowledge on to others.
A taste for people-friendly wines
“By choosing to write about wine, I wanted to help popularise it and make it accessible to the widest possible audience because in my opinion, it cannot be reserved for an elite. If it were, they alone would dictate the conventions surrounding it. If I had one motto it would definitely be: Wine, a drink for the people, made by the people”.
A passion for Crozes-Hermitage wines
“My very first trip to a wine region was to the Rhone Valley! That’s how I discovered Crozes-Hermitage wines whose sincerity and appealing character immediately moved me. I also remember liking their notes of spices and ripe fruits, as well as their captivating finish”.
Interview by Marie Arpnäs
Wine bars in vogue
Like other cities, Stockholm is now teeming with vibrant, fun wine bars that attract young urban customers who are increasingly sensitive to the values wine conveys.
Stockholm is…Wine lists leaving even the most demanding wine enthusiasts awe-struck, sommeliers who come away with top awards in international competitions, an attention to detail that would catch out French or Italians convinced they have it all sewn up and tasting schools that have been taken by storm.
As in the rest of Sweden, wine may be relatively new to Stockholm but it has a status that is given to the important things in life. Obviously, wine goes hand in hand with restaurants – and Stockholm has many – but also with wine bars.
Unknown fifteen years ago, they are now legion and dotted throughout every district of the city. The people who run them are often young with excellent training. As for their wine lists, they are more than a match for many venues back in France.
The décor and atmosphere may change, but the feeling that runs through them all is that wine is a joyful affair. The style is relaxed and the spirit hinges on sharing, whilst on either side of the bar, profiles are ultimately similar: both patrons and hosts are a young, mixed bunch but they all have a lust for life. Wine acts a bridge between them and also their vision of existence.
Red bet
Could Stockholm be a safe haven for meat-lovers? Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of the finest steakhouses in the city – we can vouch for the wine lists!
Of course, as Alf Tumble wrote in the magazine Stockholm by Crozes-Hermitage, the extremely pared-down style of preparing plant-based foods plays a pivotal part in how the status of Nordic cuisine has changed. Once unknown, now one of the most influential in the world, it now holds a place in the heart of foodies, all of whom can pinpoint Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo on a map, or even Holte, Järpen and Henne.
But what we like about dishes by Scandinavian chefs – the purity of flavour, the fusion with nature and all things wild – is also what we find gratifying about the biggest meat-lovers among them, particularly in Stockholm where many of the city’s kitchens often have a butchers’ block with a great piece of meat on it. And as distinguished cuts of meat and delicious, juicy reds like Crozes-Hermitage make great table fellows, these are moments that certainly deserve to be savoured.
“Crozes-Hermitage are extraordinary wines to serve with dishes in a sauce and game.”
Experiences
Stockholm is a hotbed of creativity. These next two venues, which push the boundaries, lend credence to this – each in their own way.
Café Rotsunda
The name of this guest house – where you only go if you get invited – is the same as Michel Jamais’ blog. That’s not surprising because this is where the famous taster calls home. The master of the house, who trained as a chef, can be found in the kitchen, unless a prominent chef just happens to be passing through. But the focal point is always wine which dictates proceedings in the kitchen.
Punk Royale
The concept: one experimental set menu and twenty place settings designed by wacky duo Joakim Almqvist and Kalle Nilsson. No more than twenty patrons, ingredients from the best suppliers and unusual, or should that be bizarre, finds are the distinguishing features here – so don’t be surprised if you’re served directly in the palm of your hand!
