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Kiviks Musteri

Swedish orchard-to-brand producer based in Kivik, Österlen, sourcing Australian rosé and bottling it alongside an apple-based sparkling and a house white, four generations of pressing fruit rather than selling it.

The producer

Kiviks Musteri is not a wine estate. It is a Swedish food and drink producer rooted in apple orchards on the slopes of Stenshuvud in Österlen, the southeastern corner of Skåne, that has spent four generations turning fruit into bottles. Henric Åkesson planted the first apple trees in 1888. His son Ivar pressed rather than sold the 1935 harvest, named the result Apple Must from Karakås, and founded the cidery. In 1985, the producer released Amadeus, credited as Sweden's first sparkling wine, made from apples rather than grapes. The fourth generation, siblings Kristina Levinsson and Bengt Åkesson, took over in 1999 and expanded into wine importing after acquiring Åkesson Vin in 2004.

The wines in the current range are sourced and packaged in Kivik, not grown there. Oz Rozz Rosé is a Shiraz and Petit Verdot blend from Australia, made with brief skin contact and bottled in Tetra format: strawberry, peach, blood orange, and a faint herbal edge. Twenty One Rosé is a Pinot Noir rosé from Riverland, South Australia, where grapes are harvested mechanically at night to limit oxidation and preserve fruit freshness through the 19-day tank fermentation. Husets Vita is an organic-certified house white with pear and white peach notes, dry at 0.7 grams residual sugar.

Known for

Apple-based sparkling wine, imported Australian rosé, organic house white

Notable facts

The story

The First Pressing

In 1935, Ivar Åkesson walked into the apple orchard his father Henric had planted on the Stenshuvud slopes 47 years earlier and made a decision that changed what the farm was. Instead of selling the season's fruit to a buyer, he pressed it. He named the result Apple Must from Karakås, after the orchard block, and set up a small cidery to produce it. The decision was not complicated: he had apples, he had a press, and selling must rather than fruit gave him a finished product he could put his name on. That first pressing in Kivik in 1935 is the founding act of Kiviks Musteri. The business that today imports Australian rosé, bottles it in Tetra packaging in the same town, and sells it across Sweden traces its commercial history back to that one choice to press rather than sell.

From the atlas

Kiviks Musteri

At A Glance

The Producer

Kiviks Musteri is not a wine estate. It is a Swedish food and drink producer, rooted in apple orchards on the slopes of Stenshuvud in Österlen, the southeastern corner of Skåne, that has spent four generations turning fruit into bottles. The wine shelf sits alongside apple must, cider, and an apple-based sparkling wine.

The Åkesson family founded the orchard in 1888. By 1935 they were pressing apples rather than selling them. By 1985 they had put their name on Amadeus, Sweden's first sparkling wine, made from apples rather than grapes. Today the fourth generation, siblings Kristina Levinsson and Bengt Åkesson, leads a business that imports Australian rosé, bottles it in Kivik, and sells it alongside a house white and the original sparkling.

The wines in the range are not grown here. They are sourced, bottled, and sold under the Kiviks Musteri name. The honest frame for this page is a regional Swedish brand with a wine offer, not a domaine with a terroir argument.

Place

Kivik sits on the coast of southeastern Skåne, Sweden's southernmost province, facing the Baltic and backed by the granite ridge of Stenshuvud. Österlen is orchard country: apples, cherries, and stone fruit, not vines. No wine appellation exists here, and no wine grapes are grown on the Kivik estate.

The wines in the Kiviks Musteri range carry Australian origins. Oz Rozz and Twenty One Rosé are sourced from Australia and packaged in Kivik. Husets Vita is an organic-certified house white of unconfirmed grape origin. The Kivik address on the label marks the bottling location and the brand's home, not a growing region.

Soil And Site

The Stenshuvud slopes where Henric Åkesson planted his first apple trees in 1888 are granite-based terrain, suited to orchards rather than viticulture. No sourced information confirms vineyard soils or vine-growing conditions at the Kivik site, because no wine grapes are farmed there. The site facts that matter for this producer are orchard-specific: a cooler northern climate, long Baltic light during summer, and four generations of fruit growing on the same slopes.

Story

Henric Åkesson planted apple trees in Kivik in 1888. His son Ivar, in 1935, pressed the first batch of apple must rather than selling the fruit forward, named it Apple Must from Karakås, and founded what became Kiviks Musteri. That act of pressing rather than selling set the direction for everything that followed.

In 1985, after five decades as a juice and cider house, Kiviks Musteri released Amadeus. The bottle carried the designation Sweden's first sparkling wine. It was made from apples. The category question, whether an apple-based sparkling counts as wine under Swedish or European labelling rules, was less important commercially than the landmark: the name stuck, the bottle sold, and Amadeus became the most recognised item in the producer's public history.

Kristina Levinsson and Bengt Åkesson took over in 1999. Five years later, the group acquired Åkesson Vin, a wine import and distribution business, which shifted Kiviks Musteri from a regional orchard producer into a company with international sourcing relationships. The Australian rosés followed from that expansion. The current range reflects a fourth-generation decision to build the wine offer around sourced products rather than estate viticulture.

Vineyards And Cellar

No vines are farmed at Kivik. The cellar work that matters for the wine range happens at the source.

Twenty One Rosé is sourced from Riverland, South Australia, where Pinot Noir grapes are harvested mechanically at night. The night harvest keeps grape temperatures low through delivery and crush, limiting oxidation risk and preserving the fruit's freshness before fermentation. The must ferments for 19 days in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks, a method that holds the aromatic profile and keeps the wine light and clean.

Oz Rozz Rosé is made from Shiraz and Petit Verdot with brief skin contact, which extracts colour and some fruit character before the juice is drawn off and fermented as a rosé. It is bottled in Tetra packaging in Kivik.

Husets Vita carries organic certification and is fermented and finished to a low residual sugar of 0.7 grams per 100 millilitres, keeping it dry despite its soft fruit profile.

Wines

The range divides into two sourced Australian rosés, a house white, and the apple-based sparkling.

Oz Rozz Rosé is a Shiraz and Petit Verdot blend from Australia, made with brief skin contact and packaged in Tetra format. It is dry, light, and built for easy drinking, with strawberry, peach, blood orange, herbs, and red currant on the nose and palate. The skin contact gives a pale salmon colour and a faint grip that keeps the fruit from reading as sweet.

Twenty One Rosé is a Pinot Noir rosé from Riverland, South Australia. The night-harvested grapes and 19-day tank fermentation produce a wine with ripe strawberry, peach, raspberry, and a herbal edge, with firm acidity from the cool-picked fruit.

Husets Vita is an organic-certified white wine with pear and white peach notes, a faintly floral lift, and a dry finish at 0.7 grams residual sugar. At 12% alcohol, it sits on the lighter side of the range.

Amadeus is apple-based and sits outside the conventional wine category. It is the producer's oldest and most distinctive bottle, made from the same orchard fruit that started the business in 1888.

In The Glass

Twenty One Rosé opens with ripe strawberry, peach, and raspberry. The night harvest keeps the acid line lively, and the 19-day tank fermentation preserves the aromatic freshness without adding texture or weight. It finishes with a herbal note and a clean, dry close.

Oz Rozz Rosé is broader and more relaxed: strawberry, peach, blood orange, and a touch of herbs, with the brief skin contact adding a faint savouriness behind the fruit. The Tetra format and light tannin make it an informal, immediate wine.

Husets Vita gives pear and white peach on the nose, a gentle floral note, and a dry, softly textured palate. The acidity is moderate, the finish short and clean. It drinks young.

A Bottle To Understand It

Twenty One Rosé is the bottle to start with. It is a Pinot Noir rosé from Riverland, South Australia, harvested at night and fermented for 19 days in stainless steel. It has a pale, aromatic profile with ripe strawberry, peach, and raspberry leading, a herbal thread running through, and a dry, acid-led finish. The night-harvest method gives the wine more freshness than its price point usually delivers. If you want to understand what Kiviks Musteri does with its sourced range, this is the most purposeful bottle in it.

Anecdote

In 1935, Ivar Åkesson walked into the apple orchard his father Henric had planted on the Stenshuvud slopes 47 years earlier and made a decision that changed what the farm was. Instead of selling the season's fruit to a buyer, he pressed it. He named the result Apple Must from Karakås, after the orchard block, and set up a small cidery to produce it. The decision was not complicated: he had apples, he had a press, and selling must rather than fruit gave him a finished product he could put his name on. That first pressing in Kivik in 1935 is the founding act of Kiviks Musteri. The business that today imports Australian rosé, bottles it in Tetra packaging in the same town, and sells it across Sweden traces its commercial history back to that one choice to press rather than sell.

Final Word

Kiviks Musteri is an honest Swedish brand with a wine shelf attached to a century-old orchard business. The wines are sourced and packaged, not grown and made, and the range makes most sense understood that way. Twenty One Rosé is the most carefully made bottle in the current offer. Amadeus, the apple sparkling, is the most singular. Neither requires a terroir argument to be worth drinking.

Sources

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