Finland

The parliamentary Republic of Finland (Suomi in Finnish) in Northern Europe with its capital Helsinki covers 338,472 km² and borders Sweden, Norway, Russia and the Baltic Sea. The 1,580 km² archipelago of Åland on the south-western tip has extensive autonomous status. Finland is known as the "land of 1,000 lakes". Around 56,000 of the almost 190,000 lakes (larger than 5 ares) are at least one hectare in size.

Viticulture

There is a small amount of viticulture in the south of the country and on the Åland Islands. The frost-hardy new varieties Rondo, Solaris and Zilga, which are suitable for the Finnish climate, are cultivated on around 50 hectares. Traditionally, however, wine-like drinks are made primarily from apples and berries. The national drink of Finland is "Salmiakki Koskenkorva" (Salmiakki), a salty-sweet liqueur made from vodka and salmiak (liquorice).

Utilisation of nuclear power plant heat

Several nuclear power plants are in operation on the island of Olkiluoto near the south-west coast at 61 degrees latitude. As part of a government research programme, a project is underway to make sensible use of the waste heat from nuclear power plants. The heated area is used to grow watermelons, cereals, maize and lettuce as well as vines.

Château Olkiluoto - 2015 vintage

In 2001, 150 vines of the red wine variety Zilga were planted on 1,000 m² near the site. This extremely frost-hardy variety originates from Latvia. The warm water from the cooling system of individual reactors flows through plastic pipes under a nearby field like a football stadium pitch heating system, keeping the ground frost-free all year round. Initially it was expected that up to 3,000 kilograms of grapes would be produced each year, but in fact the first yield of the 2003 vintage was considerably lower at just under 100 kilograms.

In 2005, 80 bottles were produced and in 2006 there was a record harvest of around 800 kilograms of grapes. Finally, a larger quantity of wine was produced in 2015. According to power plant employees, the "Château Olkiluoto" is said to have a smooth flavour. However, it is not known what happened to the bottles. An enquiry to the power plant operator was met with the terse reply "all drunk".

Map: © Goruma
Flag: by Sebastian Koppehel, Public domain, Link
Coat of arms: Public domain, Link
Zilga: Ursula Brühl, Doris Schneider, Julius Kühn Institute (JKI)
Nuclear power plants: by Unknown author - Teollisuuden Voima Oy, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link