Over the years, the chefs behind the New Nordic Cuisine have been bringing all the flavours that the Nordic nature has to offer onto the plate. But these dishes have usually been enjoyed with drinks made elsewhere. Now, it seems, we are at the beginning of a boom in local drinks. To see how a rare rowan wine is made, Falstaff went to Lithuania.
Small beverage producers in Lithuania have become a very diverse bunch of very different people who seem to be united by a common desire: to do something completely different. Irma and Giedrius Kaukas are specialists in information technology. They bought 10 hectares of land. The main reason was to change their lifestyle. Once they'd bought the land, they started thinking about what to do with it, and decided to grow something that wouldn't need permanent tending.
1500 rowan trees have been planted. There are 15 different varieties. The berries range in colour from light orange to black. When the first harvest came in, they started to think about what they were going to do with it. They tried to make some wine and it turned out to be quite good. Now, in addition to the rowan trees, there are also viburnums or snowdrops and elder trees. They have plans for wine production from them too.
Getting the experience or knowledge of others about making rowanberry wines is practically impossible, as very few people have tried it. And they've mainly tried it using wild rowan berries, which have a very different taste from the cultivated varieties. The rowan berries from Kaukai's garden are all garden varieties. As well as being different in colour, they also have very different flavours, just like different varieties of grapes. In fact, the flavours are so different and distinctive that blending of rowan berry wines has never been attempted. What lies ahead are some exciting experiments with elderberries, where wine can be made from the flowers as well as the berries. And making wine from the berries of the snowballs.
They have participated in Lithuanian berry wine competitions with various wines, winning first awards. Lithuania's top sommeliers appreciate the potential of rowanberry wines. But they will have to be content with small quantities for the time being. The maximum bottling capacity of the Geri Metai winery would be 10,000 bottles a year, but even that is a long way off for the Kaukai family.
The quantities of individual wines are still limited to a few hundred bottles, and the only place to buy them is at Geri Metai's own online shop. The winery is now offering the opportunity to experience the unexpected flavours on the spot. This can be done by booking in advance and in the form of a wine tasting session or a dinner. And yes, rowan berry wines are not only great on their own, they can also be the perfect accompaniment to a variety of dishes.
You could actually take a longer trip to Lithuania for berry wine. The local magazine Vyno Žurnalas has produced the first Lithuanian wine tourism map, which includes various small producers from around the country.
