From the atlas
Skepparps Vingård
At A Glance
Skepparps Vingård is a mixed fruit farm at Haväng in Verkaådalen, just north of Kivik in Skåne. Bengt Åkesson and Eva Bergqvist began making wine here in 2011, adding vines to a farm already shaped by apple growing and cider. Solaris is the central grape among the producer’s reported 25,000 vines, so white and sparkling bottles are the clearest view of how the farm meets Sweden’s short ripening season.
The Producer
Third-generation owner Bengt Åkesson runs Skepparps with Eva Bergqvist. The farm grows grapes and apples, then turns both crops into wine and cider; that shared fruit-growing base explains why the range is broader than a vineyard-only estate. Solaris supplies the white and sparkling wines, while Rondo and Cabernet Cortis carry the rosé and red side of the cellar.
Place
Haväng sits in Verkaådalen, north of Kivik in coastal Skåne. For a Swedish vineyard, the growing season is the central practical fact: grapes must ripen in a limited window, so variety choice has a direct effect on whether fruit reaches the press with enough acidity, flavour and structure for wine.
Skepparps does not trade on a formal European-style appellation name. The useful label clues are instead the producer, Skåne, grape and bottle style: Solaris for still white or sparkling wine, and Rondo with Cabernet Cortis where colour and tannin matter more.
Soil And Site
The documented site story is agricultural rather than geological. Skepparps works with PIWI varieties—grapes selected for disease resistance—which fit the farm’s response to a short Swedish season. That choice moves from vineyard to glass: Solaris can anchor white wine and sparkling base wine, while darker PIWI material opens a route to rosé and red bottles.
The estate has continued to test the site rather than treating the first planting as final. In 2022 it planted trial parcels of Cabaret Noir, Sauvignon Gris and Sauvitage. Those vines are experiments, not established signatures, and their value lies in showing which grapes can ripen and hold useful acidity at Haväng.
Story
Wine arrived late in the farm’s history. Skepparps began production in 2011, but fruit growing had been part of the property for generations. That earlier orchard work remains visible in the present range, where cider sits beside wine and grapes are handled within a farm already accustomed to turning local fruit into bottled drinks.
Åkesson also organises a festival at Skepparps bringing together 12 vineyards and 55 wines. The event places Solaris, Rondo and Cabernet Cortis beside bottles from other Swedish growers, making the farm a meeting point as well as a place where its own fruit is grown and fermented.
Vineyards And Cellar
Early work with familiar international grapes did not fit Sweden’s short ripening season as well as hoped. Skepparps responded by concentrating on varieties better suited to its conditions: Solaris became dominant, while Rondo and Cabernet Cortis supplied the colour needed for rosé and red wine. The consequence is a range built from grapes chosen for practical ripening rather than from an imported varietal template.
Mertzling is the next step in that approach. Skepparps added it with longer-lived sparkling wine in mind, linking a vineyard decision to time on lees and development after bottling. Grand Prix Mousserande Solaris already uses traditional-method production, with a second fermentation and lees ageing that turn Solaris fruit into a wine of mousse and layered texture.
Wines
The white range begins with Solaris in still form. Grand Prix Solaris and Fumé Solaris show the estate’s main grape without the added structure of a second fermentation: the focus is on white-wine fruit, acidity and texture from a grape grown in Skåne’s short season.
Grand Prix Rosé and Grand Prix +15°C rött take the range in a different direction. Rondo and Cabernet Cortis supply the rosé and red material, bringing colour and tannin where Solaris supplies white fruit and acidity. The bottles are separate styles, not variations on the same white-wine recipe.
Sparkling wine is the cellar’s other major expression of Solaris. Grand Prix Mousserande Solaris and Grand Prix Mousserande Rosé use bottle fermentation, while Xplosion adds another sparkling option. In these wines, mousse and lees contact add structure beyond the fruit profile of the still bottles.
In The Glass
Taste Skepparps by moving from still Solaris to the red grapes, then to the traditional-method sparkling wine. In the still white bottles, Solaris sets fruit against acidity and a light-to-medium body. In rosé and red, Rondo and Cabernet Cortis shift the balance toward colour, berry fruit and tannin, with more grip on the palate.
The sparkling wines change that sequence through method. Second fermentation in bottle creates mousse, while lees ageing can bring a bread-like savoury note and a broader texture through the mid-palate. The finish is therefore shaped by both Solaris fruit and the time the wine spends on lees, rather than by grape alone.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with Grand Prix Mousserande Solaris 2024. It is a Solaris sparkling wine made by the traditional method, with second fermentation in bottle and lees ageing. The bottle brings together the estate’s dominant grape, its need for ripening-ready varieties and its interest in sparkling wine that can develop beyond primary fruit. Expect the experience to centre on lively acidity, fine mousse and lees-derived texture, with Solaris fruit carrying the finish.
Anecdote
Bengt Åkesson’s grandfather planted an apple orchard at the farm in 1888 and founded a juice factory. Long before Skepparps planted Solaris, Rondo or Cabernet Cortis, fruit from the property was already being pressed and turned into something bottled. When wine production began in 2011, grapes joined rather than replaced the orchard crop. The farm still grows apples, still makes cider, and now sends its grapes into still white wine, rosé, red wine and traditional-method sparkling bottles. The old fruit business and the newer vineyard remain on the same property at Haväng.
Final Word
Skepparps is most clearly understood through its fruit farm history and its practical grape choices. Solaris leads to bright still and sparkling wines; Rondo and Cabernet Cortis extend the range into rosé and red. The result is a Skåne cellar built around what can grow at Haväng, not around a borrowed regional formula.
Sources
- https://www.skepparpsvingard.se/om-skepparps/
- https://osterlen.se/en/skippers-wingman/
- https://wineanorak.com/2024/09/06/exploring-swedish-wine-7-skepparps-vingard/
- https://www.maklarnaekstrom.se/bengt-fuffe-akesson-skepparps-vingard
- https://www.skepparpsvingard.se/vara-drycker/
- https://www.skepparpsvingard.se/dryck/grand-prix-mousserande-solaris-2022/