Norway

The Kingdom of Norway (Norwegian Norge = Bokmål) or Noreg = Nynorsk) in Northern Europe in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula with the capital Oslo covers 385,2071 km². The national territory includes the archipelago of Spitsbergen and the island of Jan Mayen. It borders Sweden to the east and Finland and Russia to the northeast.

Wine culture

The climatic conditions are not suitable for wine growing. There are also severe, prohibitive restrictions on alcohol consumption. Wine and spirits can only be bought in the special state sales points "Vinmonopolet". Only beer is available in supermarkets, and no alcohol at all may be sold at petrol stations. Restaurants and cafés require a liquor license to serve alcohol. The minimum age for buying beer and wine is 18 years, for spirits 20 years. Very popular are berry wines made from crowberrys (norw. Krekling), which are also flavoured with herbs. The national drink (Vikingdrink) is "Mjød", a mead made from honey and herbs.

Viticulture

Svein Hansen founded the vineyard "Hallingstad Gård" near the town of Horten (Vestfold) about 100 km south of Oslo near the coast to the Skagerrak in 1992 and planted 2,000 vines of a Canadian clone of Pinot Noir. This probably first Norwegian vineyard was located at the 60th parallel. Between 1995 and 1999, about 75 cases of wine "L'Esprit d'Edvard Munch" were produced annually. It was named after the Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Each year, a different picture of him adorned the label. Munch was an excessive drinker who also dealt with the subject of wine in his works, for example with the paintings "Self-Portrait with Wine Bottle" and "Red Wild Wine".

The second visit was made by the winegrowers Joar Saettem and Wenche Hvattum, who founded the winery "Eventyrvin" and "Lerkekåsa" respectively in 2007 in the small town of Gvarv 150 kilometres southwest of Oslo. The name means "fairytale wines" and is meant to allude to the fact that wines from Norway do indeed sound like a fairytale. The vineyard covers only 1.5 hectares, on which, among other things, the white wine variety Solaris is grown. The owners call it the "world's northernmost vineyard". In addition, the traditional berry wines are also produced. There are several wineries, "Vinmonopolet" launched the first Norwegian sparkling wine in 2016. Solaris (8 ha), Rondo (4 ha) and other varieties (1 ha) are grown. In 2016, 13 hectares were designated (Kym Anderson). Norway, by the way, is one of the candidates that could benefit from the climatic effects of climate change in viticulture.

Map: © Goruma
Source 1st paragraph: WIKIPEDIA Norway