“The future success of cool-climate winemakers will depend on how well they handle these riper years”
by Barry Smith / March 14, 2017 / Leave a commentPublished in April 2017 issue of Prospect Magazine
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.”