An impressive tasting inspires a deeper look at this fast-growing wine region. Above, first impression of Skåne, a late-afternoon swim in the still-warm North Sea near Båstad.
It wasn’t exactly billed as the Swedish equivalent of the Judgment of Paris but there’s no question that the organisers of the Swedish Wine Tasting in August 2024, in which 12 pre-selected Swedish wines were pitted blind against 12 European wines, hoped to overturn some preconceptions.
The competition took place in one of the most dramatic competition venues I have ever seen: a huge, empty, strategically lit space that belongs to the country’s most iconic family-owned car manufacturer, Koenigsegg Automotive in Ängelholm in the Skåne region in southern Sweden.
Without going into the mechanics of the judging, which was rather complicated and resulted in a broad range of scores among the many judges – mainly...
