Swedish entrepreneurs pioneering Baltic wine

If you want to be a wine grower in Sweden, don't give up your day job.

Given the hostile Arctic climate in the Scandinavian country, wine making is not the first profession that comes to mind. But a handful of determined wine lovers have taken up the near-impossible challenge.

Far from experiencing the success of Bordeaux or Californian wine makers, most of Sweden's winegrowers have to hold down second jobs in order to make ends meat, while others are heavily indebted and yet others have sold all their assets to finance an uncertain future.

Set up on Oeland, a Baltic island off Sweden's southeastern coast that registers the most hours of sunlight per year, Helen Eriksson and her husband Stefan Skoeld belong to the first group, with Stefan working part-time in a carpentry shop.

In 2001, they created the Association of Swedish Winegrowers, which today includes some 20 vineyards growing more than 20,000 vines.

"We had to build a forum where producers could share experiences, a credible and strong intermediary able to deal with the authorities," says Helen.

In Sweden, the state holds a monopoly on wine and spirits sales.

Producers and importers, who are only allowed to sell to professionals and restaurants, have called for the market to be opened to private companies and for a cut in the country's high alcohol taxes - but to no avail.

Helen Eriksson made the bold decision to become a winemaker in 1999 after completing her sommelier training, setting up business in the village of Vaestra Soerby, a stone's throw from Oeland's capital Borgholm.

"I had done several internships in France - in the Bordeaux and Mont Ventoux regions. And then I said to myself, 'Now it's my turn'."

Their 700 vines are spread out over one hectare (2.47 acres) of chalky soil, protected from the howling wind by a circle of pine and birch trees.

Helen and Stefan chose robust grapes for their vineyard - 75 percent of them red and 25 percent white - bought in Denmark and Germany.

Their late budding season should serve as protection against the spring frosts, as the mercury drops to minus 12 degrees Celsius in February. Under the frost "the vine is sleeping," said Helen.

If everything goes as it should, the very first Swedish wine will be bottled in the second half of 2004.

Only 50 liters will be produced (500 other liters will be made from grapes bought from other producers), and sold at the hefty price of 1,000 kronor (108 euros) - the cost of a grand cru in Sweden.

Aimed at the Swedish market, the wine will be sold through the usual channels: at the liquor monopoly's outlets and at local restaurants.

Justifying the wine's steep price, Helen says the Vaestry Soerby vintage will be 100 percent ecological, harvested, crushed, aged and bottled on site - a first in Sweden.

In the meantime, in order to earn extra money to pay for the construction of their wine cellar, Helen and Stefan import wine from France, which features the "appellation d'origine contrôlée" quality marking on its label.

The couple are just as fastidious with their imports as they are with their own vines. Each of the 25,000 imported bottles is individually handled, with the French labels removed one at a time by hand and replaced with Swedish labels. And so, Chateau Crillon becomes "Borgholms Slott."