Southern Europe’s wine farmers flee to the north

SOUTH MELLBY. Last year, the wine harvest in Southern Europe was the worst in 62 years.

One reason was climate change, according to the industry organization OIV.

– For at least two decades, champagne houses in France have been buying land in England, in search of cooler locations, says wine farmer Margareta Laike.

Between a bed & breakfast, an apple farm and a farm restaurant on Linderödsåsen on the outskirts of Kivik lies one of Skåne’s small vineyards. To the east lies the sea, to the southeast Stenshuvud and to the south the church village of Södra Mellby can be seen beyond the rolling cornfields and apple orchards.

Margareta Laike and Marek Haraburda started Mellby No. 5 winery just over ten years ago. On 0.3 hectares of land, they have around a thousand logs where the vines are currently growing. They grow only green grapes, most of them of the Solaris variety.

Now it is in a hurry to clear among the vines, there must not be too many bunches on each vine, between seven and nine only. At the same time, the shoots must be guided correctly between the steel wires.

– The shoot develops very quickly, then it becomes a flower and finally grapes, says Margareta Laike, agronomist and farmer.

In total, the plant can reach upwards of three meters before the grapes are picked by hand in mid or late September.

– Solaris is quite bushy, it grows a lot on the sides, so you have to remove it so that the wall doesn’t become too dense. Now in June and July it’s about continuous maintenance.

Previously, there were cornfields here with grain, then Margareta Laike cut off part of the agricultural land to invest in wine.

In 2011, the first logs, imported from Germany, were planted in the ground. Then a small stick of about 15–20 centimeters with roots that would go down 40 centimeters into the soil. The first commercial harvest of the own wine was ready in 2015.

– I could imagine having twice as many logs, 2,000. It is a fairly small cultivation in terms of labor and machinery. If you want to have it as a hobby, maybe 200–300 logs will be enough, says Margareta Laike.

Today, she and her co-owner put in about 380 hours during the half-year growing season, which corresponds to an average of about half to two days a week. The result in a normal year is about as many bottles as vines.

According to a report from the industry organization OIV, International organization of vine and wine, total wine production in the world dropped to 237 million hectoliters last year. It is about a ten percent reduction.

The OIV mainly blames drought, fires, downpours, heat and other extreme weather events – which are expected to become more common due to climate change.

Looking up to the north

Wine farmers in southern Europe have been looking north for several years. Above all, it is about the south of England. Margareta Laike tells us that when she was working on a farm in Sussex in the late 1970s, viticulture began to take off there.

– The wine industry in England is huge now. In blind tastings, it has been seen that Sussex wines are at least as good as those in Champagne, she says.

– But wine has been grown in England in the past. The Romans had vineyards right up to the border of Scotland, so it was much warmer in Roman times than today.

Do you think there will be any major change here in Skåne?

– Yes, I think that sparkling wine is more reliable than still wine, because you harvest the grapes earlier. If you want to invest in wine on a larger scale, you should probably invest in sparkling wine.

The other day it was announced that the government wants to allow farm sales, if certain conditions are met. Margareta Laike says that it is not relevant for her, at least not now. So far, her wine is sold at three local system companies and restaurants.

– This is a commercial cultivation, but it turns over too little. Farm sales are good for tourism, the countryside and the small-scale. But I don’t think I’ll keep doing it myself.

Welcome the announcement about the farm sale

A few kilometers away, in Skepparp, Bengt “Fuffe” Åkesson, 66, sits on a tractor and plants new vines. There are already 23,000 vines on five hectares on the land near Haväng. With the new ones, there will be around 50,000 vines on a total of eleven hectares.

– If you compare internationally, it is tiny. We have some vineyards in Sweden that have 35 hectares. But I don’t think the size is the important thing, but that we produce good wine.

The first vines were planted in 2011, then expanded in 2018, 2022 and now this year. The first wine could be tasted in 2014.

– I had the help of a friend who is a winemaker in Italy, so I didn’t start from scratch, but we started at a good level. We try to do better every year, of course, says “Fuffe” Åkesson.

To help him pick the bunches from the 23,000 logs, he has four more full-time employees, two just to help with the viticulture.

– We are still fairly sparingly employed. It’s going very fast now. Everything was in hibernation and all of a sudden everything started up.

Unlike Margareta Laike, “Fuffe” Åkesson welcomes the news about the farm sale.

– Planting vines and growing grapes is the easier part. Then you have to sell it and have a sales channel. Systembolaget is fantastic, but with larger volumes it is a bit more challenging to find the right range for Systembolaget. We work with restaurants all the time, but then you have to start looking at exports, he says.

– The volume produced in Sweden is vanishingly small. It is not even one percent of the total viticulture, it is parts of the percent.

He has also followed the reporting on the changed conditions in southern Europe.

– Some traditional wine countries are too hot today. They have 50 degrees and no water. It gets burnt and everything dries up. The Champagne district says they haven’t had the right weather for the last ten to fifteen years, the grapes are getting too ripe, says “Fuffe” Åkesson.

He doesn’t think Sweden will become a new wine Mecca.

– Sweden is already a recognized wine country today, but not many people know about it. We are fighting to make ourselves more famous.

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