Good wine harvest despite bad weather: "Thrives in this climate"

Murat Sofrakis at Vingården outside Malmö has grown Swedish wine for over 20 years. Right now, leaves are being picked that obscure the grapes for the sun to reach the fruit. This year's harvest looks completely normal.

- So far this year, the weather has been pretty good. When the flowering went through we had warm weather and then when the weather change came it was finished flowering. The hope is that it will be a little warmer in August and dry weather in September, says Murat Sofrakis.

After more than 20 years as a Swedish winemaker, Murat Sofrakis has come to the conclusion that blue grapes are more difficult to succeed in our latitudes. Instead, he and many Swedish wine growers are investing in the green hardy grape Solaris.

- Solaris thrives in this climate, likes the soil and we do not need to spray it. We have a good harvest with good quality every year. Even though it is a really cold year as we had in 2017, the harvest was reduced by 30 percent, but that is how the grapes ripen in any case, says Murat Sofrakis.