The secrets from the Chef & Sommelier

The 2013 Bocuse d`Or is now over and the result is as follow. 1 France 2 Danmark 3 japan 4 Great Brittan 5 Norway 6 Sweden Three Nordic countrys in the top six show again where the focus in the foodworld are.   This has been intense period of training before the competition and I know for sure that some of the contestants felt relief that this is finally over. I wish that more of the unknown countries get a chance to shine here like, Guatemala , Brazil , Morocco and others that people do not talk about, that would boost the competition. The European semi-finals will be held in Stockholm in 2014 and we all in the industry are looking forward to this event.   Over & out from France

First day of Sud du France forum international d`affaires and the Millesime Bio Fair is ended with some more than 1500 wines from the Languedoc-Roussillon region and let me tell you straight away that I did not try them all, but a few hundreds I did for sure, will get my notes together some day and let you know. Invited for these days of tastings are 210 people from around the world invited to learn more of the region and the wines from here, we will have three more full days of tastings even more wines. This region is known for simple but good wines in lower/mid range with many everyday drinking wines ( if you are French) but I was very surprised to find some exciting products that can hit the market big time. I have scheduled meeting with 20 producers on Wednesday to know more about them and to try some more wines in their range, I look forward to this with great pleasure. My favourite from the region is as always the fortified sweet wines from Banyuls and Rivesaltes ...

This is a small presentation about localy produced products competition. http://youtu.be/LvKTlKhhES0

I would like to thank you all 27 000 page visitors for following me on this blog, You all make me so proud and please keep on shearing with friends and family. 2013 will be a great year for us all :-)   Your humble servant//D

Visiting Barcelona is always a very special treat and lot of fun especially with food crazy friends. The last night we went in for the last supper at Dos Palillos the small 1* star tapas bar and tried the 18 curse menu with sake all thru the meal, great combo with the Asian flavours that the kitchen was presenting. Sashimi on chicken was the talk of the evening I must admit, very unusual and no no for every chef to serve raw chicken but what the hell we went all in for this dish of amazing texture and flavour with some added toasted sesame seeds and rock salt. The food was in general very good with some small dips for my taste but worthwhile sitting on the kitchen counter at watch the game go on. Very nice job chefs. Here are some of the food that we hade and thanks to Andreas for taking the bill.

When I look for wines for the Gastro Wine Selection portfolio It is always a pleasure but also some hard work with aching teeth at night but will never complain, It is so much fun and excitement. Some days ago we where trying to find out some interesting new producers from Peru , Uruguay , Portugal and Italy , all great and finely done wines with bold and beautiful characters. The wines from Peru was new to me and I remember tasting some years ago on a wine fair but not more, these new wines from the Tannat grape was exiting showing big nose and lot of expression, nice. I have had problems to understand and to appreciate Portuguese wines, I find them unbalanced, tart and always so very young, same this time, not my cup of wine but I will continue trying to find its soul. Uruguay have gone from great to fantastic in some years but the good ones is very expensive but can match many of the great wines from around the globe, watch out for complex and amazing wines from this sma...

Hotel Viking in Helsingborg have some of the cosiest and most beautiful setting of all the hotels in Helsingborg where I reside, the new refurbished rooms offer great pleasure and the staff is just amazing. This is the reason why I keep on doing my wine tastings and lectures here with the helpful hand from the staff, thanks guys for making my life so much easier. Check out their website here http://www.hotellviking.se

Here are a great story about me and the serbian wine of Dolina  http://www.vinopedia.rs/?p=3161  

The first for in the new 2013 is all about food. Now it is the time of year when all the important culinary competitions start with the Swedish chef of the year with my friend and team captain   for the Skåne Kulinar Martin Hansen in the finals and I wish him the best of luck cause I will not be there this year due to my trip to France and a mission in the wine world. The other competition is the finals of the Bocuse d`Or with the amazing Swedish chef Adam Dahlberg representing his country with help of among many others his technical coach Peter Jelksäter who is also responsible for the Swedish national Junior   culinary team. I will have a glass of wine and cross my fingers for you guys in Lyon end of January. Here are some amazing pictures of the food that Adam was presenting on the European finals last summer where hi did 2:nd after Norway and Denmark as third. You can easily say that the culinary scene have moved to the north for the last years when you...