Growing up in an Italian family, former bartending supernova Calle Carboni’s first memory of wine is being at the home of his grandparents as a child – eating his grandma’s potato gnocchi with tomato salsa and tasting wine for the first time.

“It must have been about the same time as I started school, I was probably six or seven. I remember feeling a certain proudness of taking part in the grown-up’s mystical world. As for many Italian children, it was a small glass of half red wine and half water, though I remember enjoying the food more than the wine”.

Nowadays, Calle has left his position behind the bar and instead he’s working with PR and marketing for Riche, Teatergrillen, Sturehof and Taverna Brillo, four of the most high-profile restaurants in Stockholm. His work involves planning and realizing all the new projects within their business – no mean feat in the fast-moving restaurant scene.

“It´s really exciting times on the Stockholm restaurant scene at the moment, and one part of my work is choosing art and exhibitions for the restaurants, which is something I truly love doing”.

Having grown up in Täby, Calle eventually started studying Italian to try finding his roots. “My grandpa was from Italy and fled to Sweden during the Second World War.

So I grabbed my stuff and moved to Florence to start a new direction towards a degree in marketing. When I finished those studies, I came back to Stockholm and worked a part-time job as a bartender.”

That bartender job evolved from being a part-time gig on the side to becoming the bar manager, and then on to incorporating his marketing skills as it developed into a new position as being in charge of the events and the art program. It is a role that he feels is quite unique

“My employer always challenged me to strive further, and offered me jobs which are constantly more demanding, and therefore I find my job particularly enjoyable.”

Calle and I go back some way, as he has hosted some of my art opening nights during the years. He also organized my 2010 exhibition Darkness Visible at  Riche. Tonight we are hovering over a nice glass of Savennières in the Lilla Baren waiting for local punk rock outfit Pig Eyes to enter the small makeshift stage. We talk about his taste in wine, which being of Italian descent, perhaps not surprisingly ends up there.

“My parents bring a lot of really strange, interesting Italian wines to Sweden. My father has always been a bon vivant, and he taught me to appreciate fine food and fine wines. I really love coming home to my parents’ house to discover the latest bottles my father has brought home. My lady Maria is also a wine fanatic and often buys Italian bottles. Right now, she’s buying them just to get a whiff, because she´s pregnant. But I love champagne and I drink French wines as much as I drink Italian.”

I ask if, among all the talented chefs and fine vintages that have crossed his path, there are any in particular that stand out.

“Actually, as a connoisseur I would like to mention Sebastian Woolgar. Few people I have met are so into tastes and food combinations. He is totally self-taught and is very passionate. I had the pleasure of going with him to Italy, we visited my parents in Greve in Chianti, and he was blown away. We literally couldn’t walk more than a couple of feet before he found a new grape, fig or herb that he had to stop taste and smell. It was like walking around with Ferdinand the bull, you know.”‬

After spending many years behind the bar mixing cocktails and serving beer and wine to the Stockholm party scene, Calle has learned pretty much everything there is to know about the restaurant business, but did he ever aspire to work more closely with wine?

“I really enjoy wine and food combinations, and as a bartender it always gives you great pleasure to suggest or to create the best drink or food and drink combinations. Once upon a time I started attending an informal wine school with Niclas Tuomela, it really was a lot of fun, and I often think that I would have loved to continue as a sommelier.

“I also used to have a wine cellar. That was before I met Maria, but her enthusiasm for wine is incomparable. If there is anyone I´d love to share a great bottle of wine with, it´s her. I still have an old Pol Roger that I´m saving for a moment with my friend Fredrik and my father. There was a time when I was saving wines, but some of them went bad so now I mostly try to find moments to enjoy them instead.”

Our conversation moves towards food and back to his beloved Italy again, and I’m curious about his other talents and dreams.

“I´m vegetarian and my poison is cheese. I love the cheese store Androuet at Nybrogatan, and I love getting treated by the terrific staff there, they are great. Otherwise the Italian cuisine is by far the best for me as a vegetarian, and it also suits me because I´m more and more getting hooked on excellent ingredients than the combination of an intricate dish. But still, my grandmas gnocchi and salsa will always remain a favourite, it´s such a shame she left us earlier this year, but fortunately she taught me the secrets before leaving”.

Calle’s eyes drift into some imaginary perpetual space as he continues. “Right now, I’m dreaming about finding an old cabin, like an alp hut in the vicinity of Stockholm and transform it into a gathering place for my friends. Much like an Italian sports club. I hope I can realize that some day. I also dream about bringing more small batches of quality wine here from Tuscany.”

Finally I ask Calle about his short-term plans and with Christmas and New Years coming up, I request some good tips for the holidays.

“I will spend Christmas in Stockholm, just at home with the family. New Years will be celebrated at Teatergrillen with my lady and some friends. And, of course, I have to mention, there is a lot of anticipation for us right now. Maria and I have this project called “having a baby” in the beginning of 2014.”

I congratulate Calle and thank him for the chat. The music from Pig Eyes flows like lava, and we mix the meditative pounding of drums and the taste of yet another nice glass of wine, a Chateau Cadet Bordeaux in the bar that brings us further into the night and closer to that promising future.

Calle Carboni’s tips for the holidays and the winter season:

Magnum Gustave Lorentz Riesling – “I have such a love for family-oriented dinners and Magnum bottles really makes it for me. This one is tall and handsome and just gorgeous. (no. 22257) 199 kr for 1500 ml magnum.

Campari Soda – I was partly involved in bringing this to Systembolaget.  The bottle was designed by Fortunato Depero in 1932 and gave birth to a new modern, emblematic piece of design, which forever been linked Campari.

(BS no 88312) 10 bottles, 189 kr at Systembolaget beställningssortiment.

Salon Champagne – for their genuine and honest approach to the harvest. Their product might be pricy, but oh so worth it! (no. 96551) 1,759 kr.

And for new years, a cocktail of Champagne and Pastis (or even better, Absinthe) called Death in the Afternoon or Hemingway Champagne. And as Papa himself stated: “Pour one jigger of Absinthe into a champagne glass. Add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.”

And your New Year is good to go!

Words: Pär Strömberg
Image: The Photobooth at Taverna Brillo