Picture the scene. After a sunny afternoon of walking the vineyards, you settle in to taste their fruits. Swilling your glass of white to see the honeyed colour, you tilt it gently and slurp your first sip of Denmark’s finest.
Or Sweden’s. Or even Finland’s. It’s not so far-fetched – in fact, winemaking is already a fresh and surprising part of the travel scene in the Nordic nations.
The fact that winemakers have begun to spring up across these chilly northern nations, yielding a decent number of bottles each year, is sadly – though not surprisingly – due to climate change.
If temperatures continue rising at their current rate, it’s predicted that Denmark’s climate will be more like northern France’s in 50 years’ time.
If temperatures continue rising at their current rate, it’s predicted that Denmark’s climate will be more like Northern France’s in 50 years’ time
While wines are being made in Sweden, Finland and even Iceland, Denmark has the most advanced wine scene, with nearly 100 winemakers in operation – Sweden has more like 30, and Finland just a handful.
This is still small fry compared to the traditional European markets of France, Spain and Italy – France alone has some 27,000 wineries.
Yet savvy oenophiles are beginning to invest in vineyards in the region. As the Nordic countries heat up, so will their more southerly neighbours – higher temperatures are already bringing forward the grape harvest and turbo-charging the ripening process in some places.
Right now, it’s more of a novelty than a booming moneymaker of a market. You’ll pay somewhere between $30-40 for a bottle of wine produced in Denmark or Sweden, easily six times what you’d pay on the ground in more traditional European wine regions.
Organic Danish winery By Stokkebye aims to have a minimal footprint
(By Stokkebye)
Nordic wines are mostly whites, with many made from one type of grape – solaris, a varietal that withstands cooler climates well. It makes for tasty dessert wines as well as crisp apple-and-honey whites. However, winemakers are experimenting with blends and other varieties as their regions get warmer.
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