Who makes it
Högberga Vinfabrik ferments Tuscan grapes in a suburb of Stockholm. The company was founded in 2004 by Per Hallgren, Johan Hjort, and Johan Zälle with a premise almost no European producer has attempted at commercial scale: source ripe Maremma fruit from organic farms on the Tuscan west coast, transport it three days north by refrigerated truck, and make the wine entirely in Sweden.
The Lidingö facility, opened in 2010 after earlier vintages in a garage in Tyresö, produces around 7,500 bottles per year. Every bottle is sold through Systembolaget, the Swedish state retailer. Consulting oenologist Luca Rettondini, who trained at the University of Pisa and served as production manager at Le Macchiole in Bolgheri, has overseen winemaking since 2012.
Where it grows
Högberga occupies two geographies simultaneously. The grapes come from Maremma, the coastal Tuscan zone that runs south from Livorno and includes the appellations of Bolgheri and Morellino di Scansano. Two selected organic farms supply around 10 tons of fruit each harvest, primarily Merlot, Sangiovese, and Petit Verdot, varieties that ripen dependably in Maremma's warm Mediterranean climate.
The wine is made in Lidingö, an island municipality connected by bridge to central Stockholm. No vine grows there. The ferry between terroir and cellar is a three-day refrigerated journey at 8 degrees Celsius, grapes packed in 20-kilogram crates, cooled continuously to arrive intact. On the label, no Italian appellation appears. Högberga is Swedish wine by legal definition, Tuscan wine by grape origin.
How it is made
The cellar
Grapes arrive at Lidingö in refrigerated trucks and go directly into temperature-controlled fermentation tanks. Fermentation runs at 22 to 28 degrees Celsius, with cooling water applied to the tanks to hold the range. Yeast selection varies by wine: cultured yeasts matched to Bordeaux varieties for the Merlot, Chianti-suited cultures for Sangiovese, and natural fermentation for the Natur range.
Red wines age in oak barrels for 12 to 15 months. The barrel stock is mixed: French Burgundy barriques for the oak-aged reds, and casks from Visingsö, a small island in Lake Vättern in central Sweden historically used as a source of naval timber. Swedish oak imparts different character from French or American alternatives, closer to fine-grained Baltic wood, with less vanilla extraction and more mineral dryness on the palate. After barrel ageing, wines rest a further 12 months in bottle before release.
What they make
The range runs to four bottles, each representing a distinct grape or stylistic position.
Högberga Merlot 2021 is 100 percent Merlot at 14 percent alcohol. It sits at the centre of the range: aged in oak, with plum, blueberry, cocoa, dried currants, coffee, and herb character, and clear barrel integration on the finish. The weight is medium to full, with soft tannins from the Maremma ripeness and the oak ageing program.
Wines to try
First bottle
Start with the Högberga Merlot 2021. It is 100 percent Merlot from Maremma organic farms, aged 12 to 15 months in oak and a further year in bottle, and it is the wine where every element of the Högberga method is most legible: the ripe Tuscan fruit character, the measured oak integration, the soft tannins from the long ageing program. Plum, blueberry, and cocoa on the nose, a rounded mid-palate with coffee and herb, and a finish that holds without hardness. At 14 percent alcohol it is full-ripe but not heavy. It is also the bottle most likely to be in stock at any Systembolaget branch.