The secrets from the Chef & Sommelier

German wines and especially the wines from Pfalz was the theme for the wine tour this year and o`boy what a surprise this was, fantastic wines, great passionate young winemakers and magical vineyards. The whole trip was actually organized by our great friend Heike Larsson who lives basicly in the vineyards and has all the knowledge of the area and also the best possible connections in the wine industry here, Heike we love you and are so thankfully for your effort of keeping us busy all the time. The first one I would like to present for you is the young and very funny winemaker Jurgen Krebs who makes dramatic and lovely wines with the focus on Spätburgunder (pinot noir) he is selected as one of the bright future winemakers of the VDP and it will be a true pleasure to follow him in to the future. The wines from Musikantenbuckel was just amazing. Mr Krebs love his wines and have such an eclectic passion for this but the tradition is always there (thanks to his dad) but...

I have not been blogging lately due to my well needed summer vacation with my family, Bianca start wondering where the heck her father was for the past months J I wanted to make up to her in the best way possible, HEY ! Lets go to Spain ! We hade a wonderful time in dads new house with our own pool and open-door kitchen for me to cook in, just love It and later on great excursions in the afternoon/evening. Cartagena is a fantastic place that you all must visit, so full of history, nice cultural buildings and the most amazing harbour with great restaurants and small walkabouts. Los Alcazares in the most beautiful little town with great beaches and the warmest water in the med Mar Menor, just fantastic and worth visiting. La Manga is a very trendy place with lots of beautiful villas and great sandy beaches go there and embrace the Spanish sun. September is here and it is the full throttle forward to great adventures with friends and family, I will keep you posted. ...

Taste of Sweden is a great concept that shows of many of the great food produced in this beautiful country all of it perfectly package by the TV4 mobile road show around Sweden . The chefs for this amazing show off is the four guys from the national culinary junior team all manage by the team captain Pi Le with assistance from Robert Sandberg, Johan Laiti and Erik Seger all of them a great future in Swedish gastronomy. I tasted some of the food presented there and I love every bit of it, all of it was very creative with bold and gutsy flavours well presented in half portions so we could try many of the dishes. Everything that was served is farmed and raised in Sweden and so was all the beverages presented here with beer, spirit and even the wines was made in Sweden (we do produce wine here) And we have to finish off with some Swedish fika and all the cookies that you can eat J ( fika is a coffee or tea with cookies or cakes for hours) Thanks guys for a great job sh...

There are some debates here in Sweden regarding the definition of a sommelier, What is that and what does the title mean? How can we define the role? Is it someone who works in a restaurant handling the wine list? Work as an importer of wines & spirits? Graduate from a recognized program or someone who has taken some courses in wine? I think that this discussion matters due to that the name as Sommelier must be kept trustworthy for all the customers and off trade people who rely on the expertise of the sommelier. But how is it with all the wine critics and their so called expertise? This is in general what people listen to and follows the advice in the magazines and daily columns in the papers; can we trust them as consumers? The clear and honest answer to this is absolutely No! Due to that many of them do not know what the heck they are talking or writing about.(this is another case) There are many schools in Sweden with certified sommelier programs where anyb...

Nu har jag följt ett antal så kallade vin journalister i olika media med förbluffande resultat som jag inte alls var beredd eller trodde att jag skulle finna på detta sätt. Många av dom har absolut ingen som helst språklig utbildning ( jag har absolut inte det, men jobbar inte heller med det) och många gånger används tydligen inte ens rättstavningen i datorn när man skriver vilket är förvånande och högs beklagligt. Vad som är ännu värre är faktiskt hur dåligt insatta vissa av dom är när det gäller det som dom skriver om själva och än värre förmedlar till Svenska folket, högst besynnerligt då många människor ser dessa vin journalister som proffs i sitt ämne. Exempel ” Torrontes är den mest odlade druvan i Chile ”   sen när då? Eller denna ” Valpolicella görs alltid på torkade druvor ” hur tänkte man nu? Att förse folk med felaktig info är inte ok tycker jag men det verkar som att bara för att man har arbetat i en systembutik eller går en sommelier kurs så kan man skriv...

Finally I manage to get some wines in to the systembolaget ordering assortment, five great wines that show the quality of the wine portfolio that I work with on the Swedish HORECA market. The wines that I choose for this first release are two Cavas from Dominio de La Vega with very high ratings and beautiful taste and structure. Cathy Marshall Pinot Noir is some of the best made in South Africa with fantastic full body and great acidity. Cellar Avgvstvs in Penedes are the best producer in this area here showing of the two best wines in the Trajanus reserva blend and the amazing balanced chardonnay. Please contact me by e-mail or call me on +46 701-466505 for further information about this wines.

It is a common misconception that all Cava comes from Catalonia . Whilst the majority does, it can be made anywhere in Spain as long as it conforms to the strict production methods laid down. Dominio de la Vega is based in the hills inland from Valencia and has built up an impressive reputation for its Cavas in a relatively short period of time, archived some of the highest ratings ever given to Cava by Robert Parker and winning numerous awards in Spain . The Cavas here are all rich and toasty with extensive lees ageing in bottle and are something special. The Brut Reserva Especial are made from hand harvested Macabeo and Chardonnay grapes, pressed then fermented at 16C with selected yeasts and then aged 3 months in new French oak prior to second fermentation in bottle. Aged on the lees for minimum 20 months. Finished with a dosage of only 5 g/l.   Deep colored and rich on the nose with toasty nutty aromas. Quite full bodied yet fine and elegant, with ripe yell...