Sweden is not among those countries counted among the wine nobility, and has always been more famous for its production of apples and cider. The Swedes are, however, a people who consume wine in good quantities, in fact more than 35% of the population use it at least twice a week. The problem, if anything, is the supply, which is currently scarce and of low quality. Imported wines go through a monopolistic system called Systembolaget (counterpart of the Norwegian Vinmonopolet and the Finnish Alko), for which filtered wine from abroad is chosen by means of tenders that mostly favour the low purchase price over the quality of the product, which is then resold at very high prices anyway. On the other hand, the very few Swedish companies alone are not able to meet local needs.
Thank you to global warming However, the assumptions of approach to viticulture are changing, and so some interesting new realities have emerged in the last 20 years, mostly in the south of the country, just above Malmo. This is the case, for example, with Skepparps Vingardwhich we have in our catalogue and which was founded in 2011.
The most cultivated grapes are the piwiwhich can resist disease without requiring the use of chemicals in the vineyard, and thus guarantee a good yield at harvest time.
The total number of hectares under vine in Sweden is 150, practically like a small Italian DOCwith an export value of approximately SEK 21 million, less than EUR 2 million.