At last, wine from
Scandinavia! Don't worry - today's one is not made of grapes! I know
there are plenty of wines made from grapes in Denmark and Sweden. The
very few ones I've tried over the years were not as convincing as
I've wished them to be. So it might be better to have a wine made
from a more indigenous fruit, I guess. How about cherries? Let me
tell you, for this one I surely can drop the diplomatic "transcription"
of just two sentences ago. The Frederiksdal Kirsebaer Vin 2013 doesn't
require tactful treatment. It was just simply outstanding! Okay,
enough of my excitement induced anticipation. First, some quick info
before it is getting really juicy.
Not so many years ago
Harald Krabbe – the proprietor of Frederiksdal manor, the cook Jan
Friis-Mikkelsen and the journalist Morten Brink Iwersen came up with
the idea to start a production of premium wines made from cherries.
Frederiksdal on the western coast of Lolland Island in the Baltic Sea
seemed to be a magnificent spot to „give it a try“. Most of their
wines are produced from Stevensbear cherries. Stevensbear is an old
indigenous cherry varietal which can be found all over Scandinavia.
It was (and still is) widely used for the production of fruit juices
for generations - well and now it is used for wine. Nice one!
Frederiksdal's oldest ochard is called Nielstrupmark (planted in
1993, wine production since 2006). The fruit of this plantation used
to be sold in bulk to the juice industry. In 2009 the three partners
started to plant Stevensbaer cherries in another orchard called
Skelstrupmark. There, for the solely premeditated purpose of wine
production in following quite a lot of principles which are very well
known from “actual” viticulture.
The cherries for today's
Frederiksdal Kirsebaer Vin 2013 were mostly cultivated on the older
Nielstrupmark plantation. These cherries provide the wine with
fruitful and fresh characteristics. Only a small share of cherries was cultivated on the
younger Skelstrupmark plantation. The cherries from this plantation
are supposed to provide more intensity and a proper backbone. After the harvest – which is
quite similar to modern olive harvest in many areas in southern
Europe – the cherries underwent a spontaneous fermentation for 2 to
4 days and subsequent aging in stainless steel tanks for
approximately one year. I suppose, I shouldn't stretch the
tech-attention to the utmost! So, let's have some cherry wine …
