Vinfabriken, Högberga Vinfabrik, Druvplockning i Toscana

Högberga Winery

Sweden's first Tuscan winery

"Nothing is impossible. It just takes a bit longer to reach the impossible."

Högberga Winery

We love wine. And we know that there are others like us out there. That's why we opened Högberga Winery here at Högberga Gård in the autumn of 2010. In so doing, we became the first winery in Sweden to make wine using Tuscan grapes. In September 2010, we travelled down to Maremma in Tuscany and picked 10 tonnes of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese grapes. The grapes were then transported to Lidingö by refrigerated truck. This is where the fermentation and oak barrel ageing takes place.

The first 7500 bottles were ready in the autumn of 2011. Then it was time to do it all over. We took a new trip down to Tuscany and picked 11 more tonnes of grapes to make a new batch in our winery. In the autumn of 2012 we also added Merlot grapes to our harvest, making for an exciting new addition to our family of wines. We went on to add Malvasia Nero. And the success story went on...

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Our winemakers

Per Hallgren:
Per is an ardent wine enthusiast and one of the founders of the business. His skills as a winemaker have been seasoned by 11 years of experience. Per is in charge of daily operations and planning at the winery. He is constantly making sure that we test low-priced wines and compare them to renowned varieties. That way we continue developing our palette and are always able to distinguish between the best varieties and lower-quality ones.
Johan Hjort:
Johan is a serious entrepreneur with a serious interest in wine. He has many years of experience in the bar and hotel business. Johan is the person who made sure that Högberga Winery got off the ground. Without Johan's participation, the enterprise would have stayed where it was: in a garage on Tyresö. Johan is the owner and CEO of Högberga Gård.
Johan Zälle:
Johan lived in Tuscany from 1990 to 1991, and has spent the better part of 25 years visiting wineries all over Tuscany. Johan is our business development manager and the person who manages most of the wine-related activities at the company. Johan has also been active as a wine importer at Vinmakarna i Toscana AB for several years.

A tasting straight from the oak barrel? Because we can arrange that...

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Winemaker for a day

Our idea at ​Högberga Winery is to make it possible for you to make your own wine together with us and other wine lovers. You can participate in every step of the winemaking process: from the picking of the grapes in Italy, to the fermentation, to the oak barrel ageing stage, and finally bottling your own blend with your name on the label. You can then pick up your wine from Systembolaget. You can naturally taste the wine as you go along.

We also offer a variety of wine tastings for both conference groups and private individuals at the Winery.
Read more about our tastings here »

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Our wines: the 8.90 label

The Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon varietals still constitute the bulk of the grapes we pick, but we have added other grapes over the years. The wine is stored in oak barrels at Högberga Winery: French, American, Hungarian, Slovenian and Swedish oak barrels from Visingsö.

The name 8.90 was inspired by the world record famously set by Bob Beamon in the long jump in 1968. Beamon shocked the whole world by jumping 8.90 meters, something considered impossible at the time. Which is exactly what the Italians told our winemakers about making Swedish wine using Tuscan grapes: "impossible". Today we produce about 7500 bottles a year. Our wines can be ordered from Systembolaget outlets throughout Sweden. They are kept in stock by the three Systembolaget locations closest to us: Lidingö, Fältöversten and Garnisonen. Naturally we also serve our wine to the guests who want it at Högberga Gård.
8.90 is also served at select restaurants in Stockholm and Tuscany.