Sweden · Skane

J. Friberg Winery

A self-funded Skåne winemaker making natural white, orange, and red wines from Solaris and cold-climate grapes on rented coastal parcels near Kivik and Malmö, fermented on indigenous yeast with minimal cellar intervention.

The producer

Jesper Friberg makes wine from rented coastal parcels in Skåne, Sweden's southernmost province, while working as a roof thatcher to fund the operation. No estate winery, no investor capital, no owned land: he rents plots near Kivik on the Baltic coast and at Klagshamn south of Malmö, buys fruit from young growers, and between harvests climbs onto rooftops to keep the finances level. He farms without synthetic chemicals, using only herbal teas and microorganism applications, and ferments exclusively on indigenous yeast.

The wines that come from this arrangement are tightly made, fresh, and calibrated to the cold latitude. Fjälltopp, his white flagship, is 100 percent Solaris, a cold-hardy hybrid grape that ripens reliably in Skåne's short season. It is fermented and aged across three vessel types: oak barrels, an egg-shaped tank, and stainless steel, then bottled with only 10 milligrams per litre of sulfur. Fjälltopp has pear and white peach fruit, consistent mineral expression, and a medium-plus acidity that carries the wine forward cleanly. The range also includes Myrmark, a delicate orange wine from Solaris with skin contact, and two bright, fruit-forward reds.

Known for

Cold-climate natural wines from Solaris; orange wine (Myrmark); low-intervention reds from coastal Skåne parcels.

Notable facts

The story

The Thatcher Who Makes Wine

Jesper Friberg climbs onto rooftops for a living when he is not making wine. He is a working roof thatcher in Skåne, and the trade is not an affectation: it is how he pays for barrels. Sweden has almost no wine investment infrastructure, and Friberg had no estate to inherit, no family cellar to step into, no capital partner willing to back a small natural producer in a country that barely registered on the wine map. So he rents parcels, buys fruit from young growers in the same position, and between harvests takes thatching work to cover the gap. In autumn, he harvests Solaris grapes from a coastal plot in Österlen, ferments them across three vessel types in a cellar, and bottles the wine with a trace of sulfur. In winter, he is on a roof somewhere in Skåne, securing thatch against the cold.

From the atlas

J. Friberg Winery

At A Glance

The Producer

Jesper Friberg makes wine from rented coastal parcels in Skåne, Sweden's southernmost province, while working as a roof thatcher to fund the operation. No estate winery, no investor capital, no owned land. He rents plots, buys fruit from young growers building their own projects, and between harvests climbs onto rooftops to keep the finances level. The wines that result from this arrangement are tightly made, fresh, and structurally honest about the cold latitude they come from.

Friberg farms two sites. The primary parcel sits in Österlen on Skåne's east coast near the fishing town of Kivik, where the Baltic moderates summer temperatures and extends the growing season without generating enough warmth for conventional wine grapes. His second site, added in 2023, is at Klagshamn on the coast just south of Malmö, where the land is flat and the sea proximity works the same way. Both locations grow Solaris, a cold-hardy hybrid grape bred specifically for northern European viticulture: it ripens at latitudes that would leave Chardonnay or Riesling chronically underripe.

In the vineyard, Friberg applies no synthetic chemicals. The regime is herbal teas and microorganism sprays to support soil biology, nothing more. Fermentation uses only the indigenous yeast present on the fruit and in the cellar. In the bottle, he adds as little as possible: Fjälltopp, his white flagship, receives a microdose of sulfur at 10 milligrams per litre at blending, enough for stability without altering what the fruit brings.

Place

Skåne is a flat agricultural province at the southern tip of Sweden, separated from Denmark by the narrow Øresund strait. Wine has been grown here commercially since the 1990s, but the region operates without an established appellation framework. There are no classified growths, no formally demarcated sub-regions, and no grape variety requirements. Producers choose what to plant and how to label, which gives growers latitude but removes the shared recognition that builds regional familiarity.

The coastal position of both Friberg sites matters to the wine. Sea air and maritime breezes slow ripening, keeping acidity high and alcohol moderate. Skåne's short growing season demands a grape that accumulates sugar quickly once conditions allow, and Solaris delivers on that count: it reaches physiological maturity before autumn cold arrives, while keeping the freshness of the wines.

No formal appellation appears on Friberg's labels. The wines carry the Skåne or Sweden designation, with no classification hierarchy.

Soil And Site

The Österlen site near Kivik sits on Skåne's sandy, clay-mixed coastal soils with Baltic-facing exposure. The Klagshamn site south of Malmö is flat and close to the water, with a coastal microclimate that shares the moderating sea influence of the primary site. Specific soil composition for either parcel is not confirmed in available sources. Both locations provide the combination of maritime cooling and adequate summer light that cold-climate hybrid viticulture depends on.

Story

Friberg came to Swedish winemaking from international experience rather than from a family domaine. He returned to Skåne without conventional backing and without the possibility of buying land. Renting parcels and sourcing from young growers gave him access to fruit without the capital cost of ownership. The roof thatching work is not background colour: it is the financial mechanism that keeps the project running, harvest to harvest.

The expansion to Klagshamn in 2023 added a second coastal site and a different coastal exposure to the operation. Two locations rather than one gives Friberg more fruit options for blending and range development, and a second microclimate to understand. His natural method farming philosophy applied consistently across both sites: the same no-spray regime, the same reliance on indigenous yeast, the same minimal sulfur approach in the cellar.

Friberg represents a specific kind of new Swedish producer: trained, internationally experienced, committed to low-intervention methods, and operating without the infrastructure that wine regions in France or Italy take as standard. The wines are made from grapes that did not exist forty years ago, grown in a country that barely had a wine industry twenty years ago, by a producer funding barrels with a trade.

Vineyards And Cellar

The vineyard work uses no synthetic herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides. Friberg applies herbal teas and microorganism preparations to maintain soil biology and vine health. In a wet northern European climate where fungal pressure on vines is high, Solaris earns its place partly because the grape has built-in disease resistance: it was bred to withstand the conditions that would destroy vinifera varieties at this latitude.

In the cellar, Fjälltopp is fermented and aged across three vessel types: oak barrels, an egg-shaped concrete or clay tank, and stainless steel. Each vessel interacts differently with the wine. Oak adds a slight oxidative element and can lend texture. The egg shape encourages gentle lees movement without oxygen uptake. Stainless steel preserves direct fruit and acidity without adding anything of its own. The three together produce a white wine with more textural complexity than any single vessel would generate, while the stainless component preserves the freshness that cold-climate Solaris naturally delivers.

All fermentation across the range relies on indigenous yeast from the vineyard. No commercial yeast cultures are used. The 10 milligram per litre sulfur addition at blending in Fjälltopp is consistent with natural winemaking practice: zero input in the vineyard, a minimal stabilising dose at the point of bottling.

Wines

Friberg's published range runs to five named bottles, built around Solaris and cold-climate reds of unconfirmed variety.

Fjälltopp is the white flagship: 100 percent Solaris, fermented across oak, egg-tank, and stainless steel, bottled with a microdose of sulfur. The wine carries pear and white peach fruit in some vintages, red apple, dried apricots, orange, and nuts in others, with consistent mineral expression and medium-plus acidity. The three-vessel élevage gives it textural width without weight. It is the most documented wine in the range and the most technically considered.

Myrmark is an orange wine from Solaris with extended skin maceration. The skin contact gives it a lightly astringent texture and an amber colour. The body is delicate, the character slightly volatile in the way of natural skin-contact whites. It is a quieter, more fragile bottle than Fjälltopp.

Skogsbryn (2023) is a red with bright raspberry and cherry fruit and a spicy secondary note. The grape variety is not confirmed in available sources.

Urskog (2023) is also a red, bright and vibrant with bold blackcurrant and cherry fruit and clean purity. The variety is likewise unconfirmed.

Backarna is listed on the official site but no tasting detail is available.

The range covers white, orange, and red across a small natural winemaking operation. Fjälltopp anchors it. The reds show fruit-forward, unforced character consistent with the cool-climate growing conditions and minimal-intervention cellar approach.

In The Glass

Fjälltopp opens with fruit that shifts across vintages but stays in the same orchard register: pear, white peach, red apple, dried apricot. The nose has a mineral lift and a faint spice note. On the palate the acidity is the defining feature, medium-plus and mouth-watering, carrying the fruit forward rather than letting it sit. The three-vessel fermentation gives the wine a layered mid-palate, with a slight weight from the oak portion and a cleaner, more direct passage from the stainless component. The finish is fresh, faintly mineral, and longer than the wine's modest color suggests it would be.

Myrmark, the orange wine, is quieter: lower aromatic intensity, a lightly tannic texture from the skin contact, some of the slightly volatile top note common in natural skin-macerated whites. It is a contemplative rather than assertive bottle.

The reds, Skogsbryn and Urskog, are vivid and fruit-primary. Skogsbryn runs to raspberry, cherry, and spice. Urskog is darker fruited, blackcurrant and cherry, with good clarity. Both have the brightness of cool-latitude fermentation without the green tannin that underripe cold-climate reds often carry.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Fjälltopp. It is 100 percent Solaris, fermented across oak, egg-shaped tank, and stainless steel, and bottled with only 10 milligrams per litre of sulfur. The fruit is orchard-white: pear, white peach, hints of dried apricot and red apple depending on the vintage. The acidity is the wine's backbone, firm and mouth-watering, with a mineral edge that reads as place rather than technique. The three-vessel élevage gives it textural complexity unusual for a wine at this latitude: not heavy, but layered, with a mid-palate presence that a single-vessel wine from the same fruit would not have. It is the fullest picture of what Friberg does: cold-climate Solaris, farmed without inputs, fermented on indigenous yeast, assembled across three vessel types, bottled with minimal intervention.

Anecdote

Jesper Friberg climbs onto rooftops for a living when he is not making wine. He is a working roof thatcher in Skåne, and the trade is not an affectation or a side project: it is how he pays for barrels. Sweden has almost no wine investment infrastructure, and Friberg had no estate to inherit, no family cellar to step into, no capital partner willing to back a small natural producer in a country that barely registered on the wine map. So he rents parcels, buys fruit from young growers in the same position, and between harvests takes thatching work to cover the gap. The image holds: in autumn, he harvests Solaris grapes from a coastal plot in Österlen, ferments them across three vessel types in a cellar, and bottles the wine with a trace of sulfur. In winter, he is on a roof somewhere in Skåne, securing thatch against the cold.

Final Word

Friberg is a small producer in a country where wine has barely begun. His method is rigorous and his material is honest: coastal cold-climate parcels, hybrid grapes bred for the latitude, zero-input farming, indigenous yeast, minimal cellar intervention. Fjälltopp is the bottle to open first. It will tell you what Solaris can do when it is grown and made carefully in the far north.

Sources

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