Alf Tumble: Tumbling With a Dragon


Posted August 12, 2013 in Food & Drink

Photo: Fredrik Skogkvist
Photo: Fredrik Skogkvist

A producer and DJ of some repute with a taste for dirty disco, house and electronica, Alf Tumble is also a qualified sommelier. Although he has never worked in the restaurant under that title, his interest in all things drinkable has taken him into other areas, such as a writer for Livets Goda, long-time columnist for Nöjesguiden and the brains and founder behind the drinks blog collective Popit.nu.

Earlier this year, we humbly reviewed his latest accomplishment Drick!, the great and entertaining book on wine, beer and spirits. He’s about to produce a new podcast for nojesguiden.se and was recently was appointed successor to longstanding wine critic Bengt-Göran Kronstam at Dagens Nyheter, a prestigious position and something that will be a new gateway to the world of wine.  I contacted Alf in the middle of summer for a few words on this news.

 

As successor to the long-standing Mr. Kronstam at DN, what are your aims to change, develop and achieve in your new position?

First of all, I’d like to stress that I will share this assignment with talented sommelier Sanna Blomquist. Our main goal is to make people drink better in terms of quality. We will report on wine, beer and spirits together, and the new Saturday report in DN will include a Top 10 list, different kind of tastings, articles, international news, trend reports, interviews, wine makers portraits and so on. We live in a new era of consuming alcohol where restaurants and bars have a major effect on the consumer. We will follow all that and report the best of it.

As the face of a younger wine-loving crowd, can you name a few things that stand out about the new interest in wine?

When it comes to wine, it’s not snobbish anymore. It’s not about money, label-drinking and show-off cellars, it’s about finding the right wine for the right food, the most exciting expression of different areas and finding the right wine producer on a personal level. It’s more important that you are connected to the wine you drink in some way rather than buying the most expensive brand. Knowledge, independence and attitude are a part of the new era when the younger people find their way in to wine. I think we all want to know more about what we have in the glass. Storytelling is the next thing in the bev-bizz.

At Systembolaget we can find a wide range of good value – and occasionally rare – stuff, but it’s mostly middle-of-the-road wines. Can you tell us what to look out for and do you have any specific keys to decode the range of wines that is out there?

Try to avoid bag-in-box-wines if you can afford it. There are cheap bottles of better quality and not overdosed with sulphur. All the branded wines, like many of the celebrity wines, are not worth the money when it comes to quality. But if you’re a die-hard Motörhead-fan I’m sure you’ll enjoy their Shiraz anyhow.

I have noticed that many consumers are more or less slaves to the reviews in the big daily newspapers. Bengt-Göran Kronstam and his peers have done an incredible job and, right or not, they deserve a lot of credit for it amongst the importers and producers. What is your opinion about the Systembolaget monopoly and the major influence exerted by a few wine writers on wine buyers?

The monopoly has made it easy for a generation of wine writers. In my opinion today’s wine reporting is so much more than to go to the SB-tastings, writing tasting notes and publishing it. It’s a bit like writing about furniture and only reviewing IKEA. We still buy 99 percent of our wines at Systembolaget so that’s very important of course, but at the same time the whole world of wines is getting more and more accessible thanks to the internet. We have to observe the whole spectrum.

What do you think makes a good wine review and what should be the content? Do you think rating wine is necessary, and if so, primarily for whom?

A wine review is much more fun to read if it’s personal and subjective. Rating and objective tasting notes can be interesting when comparing wines, let’s say we try 12 different Barolos from the same vintage for example. Otherwise I’d say no to points. You’re the only one that will score a wine 100 points. The experience of the wine and the circumstances are what makes me thirsty.

Lately the major supermarket giant Citygross has been lobbying for the idea of selling wine with their home delivery service in co-operation with Winefinder, a Swedish-owned wine mail ordering company based in Denmark. Do you have any opinion on that?

We will see more of these kinds of co-ops in the future as long as it’s legal. The food companies want to get involved with drinks and vice versa.

How do you think your day-to-day wine life will change with this new position?

Not sure that much will change. I guess I’ll be testing even more wines than today. And maybe get insurance for my teeth.

Please name your top five bottles of all time:

Impossible. But here are five wine moments you shouldn’t miss for the world:

Krug Rosé in springtime with your lover

Top Riesling from Dönnhoff and the first German white aspargus

A really old Madeira from Pereira d’Oliveira with an old friend and a couple of cigars

Barolo 2001 – a fantastic vintage that just started to show, will age beautifully for the next 50 years, so no rush.

Brachetto d’ Acqui, together with a smultron semifreddo rounding off your Swedish midsummer lunch

His Top 3 
Palmer Blanc de Blancs 2007, Champagne (nr 7553) 289 kr
Domaine es Baumard Clos de Saint Yves Savennières (nr 92163) 189 kr
Domaine Santa Duc Les Quatre Terres (nr 95346) 119 kr

Words by Pär Strömberg

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