Scandinavian wines hope to win over consumers

Drinking a glass of local wine probably isn’t what comes to mind when visiting Scandinavia, but this colder northern region is emerging as a new wine frontier.

There are currently hundreds of commercial vineyards spread across Denmark, Sweden and even Norway, As the first generation of professional winemakers we transformed what was once a specialized hobby into a small but thriving industry.

Far north of Bordeaux in France or Napa Valley in California, more than 10,000 vines grow on a hillside on Zeeland, Denmark’s largest island.

“People have discovered that it is actually possible to grow wine in Denmark, so newcomers come year after year,” says Nina Fink, showing the BBC around her three-hectare (seven-acre) winery, Vejrhøj Vingård.

Nina and her husband Niels started their business 13 years ago, after retiring from their corporate jobs in Copenhagen. They grow predominantly green grapes, producing floral white wines, as well as sparkling and rosé wines.

“We have longer summer days and more sunlight than in France or Italy, so the conditions are different,” he explains.

For most Scandinavian vineyards, the solaris grape is the grape of choice: an aromatic hybrid variety that adapts well to colder climates, ripens easily and is more resistant to disease, allowing vineyards to avoid pesticide spraying .

The grape was first bred in Germany in 1975, but was not adopted in Scandinavia until 2004, after which winemaking took off.

Niels Fink says that people are positively surprised when they try Vejrhøj Vingård wines. “There’s a little twinkle in his eye, then comes this half-smile,” he laughs. “People like it.”

The Finks sell their bottles direct from the winery, but they also supply some of Copenhagen’s best restaurants, including the three-Michelin-star Geranium.

Initially they made only 4,000 bottles a year, but now they sell 20,000. “We’re limited by what we can offer,” says Fink.

Commercial vineyards in Denmark and Sweden have only been permitted under European Union rules since 2000. Wine production recovered around 2010, with a shift from amateur producers to more ambitious production.

Curiosity and the fact that “it is possible” has attracted wine entrepreneurs, explains Jean Becker of the Danish Wine Association.

“I was one of those who started in 2000. We were six producers,” says Becker, in his vineyard 25 kilometers north of Copenhagen.

There are currently 150 commercial wineries in Denmark with a total of 125 hectares of vineyards, plus more than 1,000 hobby growers.

Meanwhile, Sweden has 47 commercial operators covering 193 hectares, according to the Swedish Wine Association, with the largest having 125,000 vines.

“I started with 500 vines,” says Jean Becker. “Nowadays, new winegrowers start with 15,000-25,000. They start on a larger scale. Is there a market for it? The answer is yes.”

But it is an industry still in its infancy, compared to the 800,000 hectares cultivated in France and almost one million hectares in Spain.

In South Zealand, Jesper Rye Jensen, who runs Vesterhave Vingaard, produces red wines from varieties such as pinot noir and merlot, normally associated with France.

“It’s a big challenge because it’s new for us,” he says. “We have to learn it. It’s not like in southern Europe, where they had generation after generation.”

The data shows that both Denmark and Sweden have seen average temperatures increase almost two degrees centigrade over the last 40-50 years, which has resulted in milder winters and a longest fruit season. But there is still a risk of frost damage.

Jesper Rye Jensen says that as a northern wine producer, climate change is working in his favor. “We winegrowers in Denmark are happy that the weather is a little better.”

But Niels Fink sees climate warming as a double-edged sword. “Climate change is accompanied by all kinds of ills, such as more extreme weather events, prolonged droughts and torrential rains. This is as threatening here as elsewhere.”

However, Professor Torben Bo Toldam-Andersen, a fruit sciences researcher at the University of Copenhagen, says that rather than a longer growing season, it was the emergence of new, hardier grapes that largely fueled the rise. of Scandinavian wineries. “Climate change certainly makes it easier, but the main driver is new cultivars.”

He runs a program called “FastGrapes”, which tests grapevine varieties to find the most robust and suitable ones for northern Europe.

They are selected based on how quickly their grapes ripen and their resistance to pests, diseases and other environmental stresses. New seedlings can then be grown on a larger scale.

“There are so many things that go into a perfect wine,” says the researcher. “Part of that search happens in the lab… you can see the genes that make it strong.”

The first chosen vines are now growing in 15 test sites in Scandinavia, Lithuania, northern Germany and Belgium.

But even with the best possible grape varieties and a warmer climate, Scandinavian wineries face numerous challenges, such as high labor costs and strict rules on using chemical treatments to combat any diseases in the vineyards.

Romain Chichery says it can also be difficult for wineries to find workers. Born and raised in France, he moved to Sweden shortly after completing his studies in oenology and viticulture.

The winemaker, now 27, works at Thora Vineyard on the Bjäre peninsula in the southwest of the country. “We need to train workers or bring them from outside (the country),” he says.

But “starting from scratch” in Sweden, he adds, he enjoys the freedom to experiment. “It’s not just copy and paste, as has been done for decades, or centuries, in the old world of viticulture.”

Thora’s owner, American expat Heather Öberg, says all the effort and expense is worth it. “We can compete with other European wines,” he says.

However, homegrown Scandinavian wine currently represents only a fraction of the consumer market and bottles are expensive. Danish wine in Denmark costs from 200 kroner ($27; £22) a bottle upwards, more than double the price of cheaper imports from France and Spain. Only a negligible amount is exported.

“We will never compete with France, Italy and Spain because they have very low prices,” says Becker.

At his central Copenhagen wine shop, Vino Fino, owner Nicolai Christiansen sells mainly French wine. However, he says he recently sold a case of Danish wine to a bar owner in France.

“If you can sell it to a Frenchman, you can probably sell it to everyone,” he jokes.

However, he is still not convinced about Danish wine. “Danish wine is still too expensive,” he says. “It’s coming, but I still think there’s still a way to go before the quality is there.”