All (?) Swedish wine importers – The List

The Swedish wine trade is split in two parts: the importers and the retailer. Retail is a monopoly and it is the Systembolaget AB company who is the monopolist, operating some 400 shops around the country. Systembolaget is owned by the Swedish state. It exists because of claimed public health concerns.

The import side is not a monopoly. We have seen the number 800 mentioned as the number of licenses for importers. It may be true or not. But only a handful are of any significance. Less than twenty importers account for the vast majority of all sales. There is a somewhat larger number that are focussed on a niche. There is also a very large number of hobby importers among the smaller companies.

There is one other way to segment the wine importers: 1) Importers selling to the monopoly, and 2) importers selling to the restaurant trade. Most are of course a mix of both but there is a significant number of importers who focus on restaurants only. Restaurants can buy directly from importers. They do not need to go through the monopoly. It is not unusual for ambitious restaurants to try and differentiate by having a wine selection that is not available in the monopoly shops.

We have put together a (no doubt incomplete) list of active wine importers: An extensive list of importers of wine to Sweden