Have you heard of Danish wine? Neither had I until my recent visit to wineries in Zealand and Jutland. Though winemaking is a fledgling industry in Denmark, some vineyards have picked up international wine medals.

More than 20 years ago, Sven Moesgaard, a chemistry teacher who had made his money from vitamin supplements, began the long road to securing permission from the European Union to grow vines for wine. Now SkaersØggaard, his state-of-the-art winery near the coastal city of Aarhus, produces a range of award-winning wines. While tasting the range with him, I suggested he was engaged in extreme winemaking. “Not so much,” he said. “People forget that such a northerly latitude comes with longer evening light in summer where the grapes undergo prolonged photosynthesis.” He may be right. Alex Hunt, a Master of Wine, told me, “light may be the hidden variable in wine making.”

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