In the November Brief, we wrote about an article on Scandinavian wines in the New York Times. We recounted, among other things, a quote by Sveneric Svensson, chairman of the Swedish Wine Association, uniting many of the Swedish wine producers. Sveneric sent us an email immediately after he read the newsletter to refute this quote. This is what he writes:
“In the BKWine Brief 195, I saw the article on that the New York Times wrote about Scandinavian wines. I had not seen [the NYT text] before and was appalled by the quotation that is attributed to me there. I realize that the article has already been published and the damage has been done to that magazine’s readers, but I would like to write to you and contradict the quote [attributed to Sveneric] ‘Swedish wine producers are just happy that they can produce something drinkable’.”
“Instead, I always emphasize that Swedish commercial winegrowers today make wines that are of international quality. I had not the opportunity to proofread the article in the NYT and I really regret that I have not been able to correct this misconception. Probably the reasoning was that we went from hobby growers a number of years ago who were happy as long as they etc …… to where we stand today, focusing on quality, with many international awards.”
Indeed an important distinction. We look forward to many new and exciting wines from Sweden.
