Growing wine grapes in Sweden?

What’s next? Finland??? :upside_down_face:

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I hosted a wine dinner in Edinburgh Scotland years ago. One of the attendees, a doctor regaled me with stories of his home made red wine, which I found surprising to say the least, until he added the small detail that the grape vines were housed in a greenhouse. :slight_smile:

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They grow wine grapes in Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands (had my first wine just a week or so ago made from a Riesling cross called Johaniter), Poland (lots of Solaris though I have had one Polish Chardonnay), Norway and goodness knows where else. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone in Finland got in on the act and planted grapes? Perhaps one of our illustrious Finnish board members might take the plunge?

I remember having a wine from Wales long ago that could only have been called a work in progress.

A producer named “Njord” in Denmark is making red wines on Pinot Noir Précoce that have reached cult status. Big Danish wine reviewers have brought them to blind tastings in Burgundy, and other French and international reviewers were baffled that their guesses on Burgundy was not correct and it was in fact a red wine from Denmark…

A friend of mine makes Riesling in Norway based on Keller vines.

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I was in Copenhagen for a few days in June and disappointed that I didn’t get time to hunt out at least one of the Danish producers, but I was with family and the opportunity didn’t arise.

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I must admit that a lot of Danish wine is definitely not worth the money, but there’s a handful that has really cracked the code… Unfortunately that also makes the wines nearly unobtainable. They’re sold to Michelin restaurants and allocation lists.
I know for example the Njord Pinot Noir Précoce is about $60-70 on allocation, but the second market is seeing prices of $150-220… Not sure of the prices at the restuarants.

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Here’s a great write-up from Winehog about the Danish producer “Njord” and their Pinot Noir Précoce.

THE Finnish board member will undoubtedly chime in soon but there is indeed a couple in Finland that just started an operation where they are tending vines in a greenhouse near the southernmost point of the country with the idea of somehow making it a proper business. I don’t know of any others - of course based on our status as a non-grape growing country any wine produced here could not be legally called wine.

Lolz

Anyways, one of my friends whi lives more in the countryside has planted some 200-300 hybrid vines on his relatively large backyard.

And I actually have some five vines of Beta and Zilga growing on my mum’s yard, just to see how they fare in our warm and sunny climate. They’ve been growing there for probably 8 or 9 years and last year I had my first harvest - about 20 barely ripe grapes! :sweat_smile:

Anyways, here’s a TN on one serious Finnish wine made from Finnish grapes:

  • 2012 Château Elomaa Rondo Aiswine - Finland, Varsinais-Suomi (8.9.2015)
    Definitely the rarest wine I've ever tasted and chances are this is also the rarest wine ever made - at least in Finland: this is an icewine made from Rondo grapes that were picked on Oct 8th 2012, when the temperature dropped for the first time below -8 ºC. Two 37,5 cl bottles ever made. The first and only Finnish icewine, produced by A. Elomaa, the teacher of the wine studies in Turku. Not surprisingly, the wine is not commercially available.

    Dark, translucent cherry color. Perfumed bouquet of florals, cherry jam, crushed ripe forest berries, some boysenberries and a slightest hint of chocolate shavings. Rich, sweet and generous in the mouth with flavors of cherry jam, overripe strawberry, some boysenberry and a hint of butterscotch. Initially feels soft and sticky, but little by little the acids emerge, giving the wine some structure and freshness. A slightest hint of tannic grip. Quite soft, sweet and sticky, even a bit cloying finish with no discernible acidity. Flavors of cherry marmalade, overripe strawberry, black-and-bilberry jam and some prunes in the aftertaste.

    The wine was served us blind, and nobody realised this was a (professionally) homemade, non-commercial Finnish wine - because it not unlike those red dessert wines made in Germany and Austria. Not even the semi-hybrid grape variety was obvious in any way. Very interesting, tasty and well-made example that gives good promises on the possibility of making commercial wines in Finland in the future. Hard to say anything about the cellaring potential of the wine, but it doesn't really matter, because this bottle was the last one of those two ever made! (89 points)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Also, to my understanding, @JohanS is growing some vines of his own and might have more detailed knowledge on how true vitifera grapes fare in our rather challenging climate.

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It’s really, really, really hard to get true vinifera (or even decent hybrids like solaris) grapes fully ripen in Finland. The climate is actually brutally different compared to southern Sweden or Denmark because springs are usually very cold until late may and night frost-season is starting more or less already in September so very little time for grapes to grow & ripen. I have heard some theories / studies that long days of mid summer would kinda balance the lack of growing season but apparently that’s not enough. I have tried to grown a bit of Frühburgunder / Pinot Noir Précoce but never really got sugar levels high enough and acidity low enough. And this is nano scale I’m speaking of so I was able to try a bit of everything that one could not deal with commercial level. Also most of older ones are already slowly dying because of hard conditions and rest are heavily struggling. I have also planted a bit of Johanniter, Müller-Thurgau, Kerner, Pinot Blanc and Riesling but I really don’t have any expectations for those either :D. Basically you need to be very wealthy or completely madman for investing wine estate in Finland :D.

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From a Finnish interloper - a life long New Yorker now residing in the Nordics

Finland could seek EU recognition as a wine-producing country by 2028 | News | Yle Uutiset

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Lots of small little wineries in Sweden. Up until now, mostly using hardier hybrid grapes. Some have gotten pretty good reviews and sell well, but production is low and they’re of course rather expensive still.

I’ve always dreamt of having a Riesling-only winery in my old home country. I think I know where to plant it, too.

I toured a winery in Sweden several years ago. They were growing a varietal I was unfamiliar with, Solaris, making both still and sparkling wine. Small production, but an impressive facility. The sparkling wine was decent if not especially memorable, but I expect quality to improve over time as they learn and the vines age.

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Friend of mine got a flight of Swedish wines in, will be tasting through them in a couple weeks, will report back. Unsure of lineup but I know Solaris is on the list.

So you didn’t call it correctly at the tasting?
:slight_smile:

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No, unfortunately I did not. Even us celestial beings have our bad days. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Great 30 Rock gag.

The famed, boggy soils of Scotland produce distinctive wines with short, almost brutal finishes, and an acrid, musty nose that is often compared to the attic of a serial killer. Such popular varietals as grenache, garnay, tokay and St. Andrew’s flax struggle to survive in the admixture of rock, decaying tree branches and ossified Viking bones that make up the terroir of Scotland’s principal growing region, Lraichmuggle. The vicious, salty winds that whip across the North Sea and The Minch contribute to the grapes’ characteristic low sugar-content and meager flavors.

“Most restaurants refuse to serve them.”

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Man. Not only did you let us down, but most importantly, you let yourself down.