A chronichle by Richard Juhlin about the summer of 2024. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
Summer is short
Yes, he is right, Thomas Ledin, the writer of the song, who, incidentally, together with Wille Crafford, are perhaps my nicest new friends that I have made acquaintance with during the year. Of course, boosted by a duo vintage Krug and a trio Cristal, we found each other in the Opera bar. I am sitting right now and looking out over a peaceful and breathtakingly beautiful natural area outside my window on Lidingö. It really is the calm before the storm. So quiet, so harmonious, the green still dominates, only with small, beautiful touches of ocher yellow and light autumn red with an embarrassingly pleasant temperature like velvet against the cheek. I have just been and left my son Leo at football practice in the same privileged scenic nature park and was struck by the harmony in all nature and by all the positive people who seem so rested and eager to get started on their lust-filled work projects after the summer’s energy-gathering holiday break. I love this time in mid-September when the sun is still warm, but not too hot to sit at the lunch service. The wasps are gone, and the air is high and clear, the desire to work out, the fresh start and the spirit of excellence permeates most of us this year, right??
Influence factors ?
That’s usually how it is for me, but I don’t know if it’s age or if it’s other factors in life that make me not really feel that way this year, but instead a little depressed. Lower testosterone level? Small injuries that interfere with training? Fewer tasks? Adversity with family health and in the children’s careers? A sad hateful and aggressively confrontational social climate and world situation? Probably a combination of all this, but most of all a nagging feeling that time is passing too quickly and that old age is fast approaching. Friends who pass away, relatives who are no longer as vital, friends who can’t stand the obvious escapades we’ve always done and taken for granted. All these feelings at the same time as I have a wonderful family and I, myself , am at the top of my professional career. Never before has it gone so well, even though I put in less effort and perform more impulsively and sporadically than before. Maybe I’m worth it after all the work I’ve put in since 1986 when the gym teacher’s champagne interest started with a jumpstart from zero to 100 overnight. My Richard Juhlin wines both with and without alcohol are selling like never before and I have a wonderful staff around me who take care of my creations both on the commercial and administrative side. Björnstierne and Herman sort and gild my bubbly creations and the Champagne Club today has millions of visitors and I can sit in my beautiful villa and look out over my newly built pool and try new champagnes every day that arrive at my door by FedEx and DHL.
Then why am I depressed?
Richard Juhlin
Basically, I think it’s because I love life. Yes, it may sound paradoxical, but I believe that most life crises stem from the fact that you love life and simply do not want it to end. At the very least, I want to experience more of all the wonderful things my 62 years have given me so far. I live on beautiful memories, in the present and always long at the same time for the next great experience. These three intertwined time-spaces whose balance is so essential to happiness and enjoyment.
The love of autumn
I actually love autumn, I say “really” because when it whispers its first whispers I am filled with sadness and melancholy despite its beauty. Not for autumn’s own mysterious essence. In truth, it is absolutely miraculously beautiful with the splendor of the colors, lovely with the forest walks and jogging rounds in the Lidingö race running track. The chanterelles, the autumn harvest, the musty red Burgundies, Eddy’s creamy sep risotto, the first Alba truffle at Mancini, the first lit candles on the dining table, the snorting energy of the autumn storms, the morning fog, the dew and the mists of the Finnish ferries that create a familiar and homely melancholy I have heard since my childhood. No, it is not autumn that is the problem. The big problem is that autumn is a prelude to winter and death!
Autumn gossips that another year has passed which brings us all closer to the dead end and above all very close to the colorless stinging cold season spelled WINTER. This abomination of invention that hurts the marrow and bones and that every year makes me envy people who were born in warmer latitudes. Sorry, I’m not going to rant and rave any more about this fact-based abomination. Time to accept the mode. Right? For the children’s sake, I promise to persevere through both Advent and Lucia and enjoy Christmas with a comforting bun in my hand and then make sure I move quickly to a part of our planet where color and light are a matter of course.
A place where the sun warms and gives life.
Scotland
Color and light have otherwise, as usual, been self-evident throughout this summer. I wrote that summer is short, but in all fairness I must confess that I have been good at extending the golden period of cycling this year. I got off to a flying start with my son Henrik, Björnstierne and my faithful photographer Pål Allan in Scotland. A beautiful landscape met us when we stretched our bow properly and made a pilot film for the production companies to bite into. We have given ourselves that we will succeed in placing a TV production on a good platform and show the world how wonderful and unique Champagne Hiking is . Otherwise charming Edinburgh was rained out, but the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness were certainly as majestic places as we had hoped for. Admittedly, I never met Nessie, but a 20-minute long bath in 9-degree water got me through. What do you not do for art? Of course we were extremely focused on the work, but I think you can see that we really enjoyed it when you watch “Champagne Hiking goes to Scotland”. Bollinger’s precious Pinot Noir trio at the world famous Old Man of Storr rock formation was almost unreal and the finish on the fjord shore below our hotel in blazing early summer sun still smiles at me in the most oxytocin filled parts of the memory bank.
Gotland
After the Hebrides it was once again time for another island to be taken possession of by Björnstierne and me. The pearl of the Baltic Sea, Gotland, has become the scene of advanced champagne meetings and absolutely world-class hiking, which you can see from our Champagne Friday film, where Jacquesson met blue fire plants and raukar in Holmhällar’s unique nature. The star chef Daniel Couet has now become a full member of our illustrious champagne society at Vamlingbo Prästgård, where the bird artist Lasse Johnsson receives us and our most delicious magnum bottles. The traditional champagne dinner doesn’t get any worse because Daniel prepares a specially composed stove adapted to our bubbling jewels. Even here, it felt like we got a lot of the joys of summer. The family part also got its due with an emotional and hopeful “the brightening future is spring celebration” by Melker, the newly minted student on his way out into the big world, as well as an ultra-Swedish midsummer celebration at my sister’s country house in the middle of the field where, of course, the champagnes sat like a bell for both herring plate and old man’s mix (hash with anchovy, eggs and onions).
Northern Spain
This year’s big summer trip, where childhood friend “Henrik the Elder” and I take our adult children on an exercise-filled and gourmet car holiday in luxury class, this time went to northern Spain. We started this tradition, (it’s starting to become a lot of travel traditions these days), three years ago in Italy with Italian European Championship gold celebrations in Milan, natural spectacle in the Dolomites, relaxation and classic holiday at Lake Como before we felt like we owned Tuscany and half the kingdom. The following year we steered the cuddly to the Greek mainland with Meteora as a surreal highlight and more comfortable luxury traditional holidays in Costa Navarino and gourmet experiences in Athens. Last year, it was the South of France that stood for the garland with a mix of Calanques, knight’s castles in Carcassonne, Riviera excesses with Mirazur as the top and Champagne Hiking with Vingårds-Selosse at the foot of Mont Blanc. This year we were so diligent that you can follow us in detail if you check out our Champagne Friday videos. The star restaurants stood like rods in the hill with a grand opening in San Sebastian at Akelare, stomach splash at Mugaritz. Stomach splash was an appropriate word as perhaps the most gut-wrenching thing was when we were asked to lick up olive oil from our mother’s 37-degree clay stomach. The very best of the restaurants was the considerably less famous 2-star Asturian mountain restaurant Marcial, where the family’s house had been renovated into a homely, world-class gastronomic oasis. The entire Spanish north coast from the Basque Country via Cantabria, Asturias to Galicia is breathtakingly beautiful and verdant with cool temperatures and high rainfall even in July. One moment the landscape reminded me of Scotland or Brittany, and in the next bend it reminded me of Norway, and in the next the associations ended up with South Australia’s eucalyptus forests that Franco had planted here after a trip to Australia. Even despotic rulers sometimes happen to leave something good behind in their otherwise rotten stinking legacy.
Like champagne pilgrims in Santiago de Compostela
The end of our journey as champagne pilgrims in Santiago de Compostela was devout and euphoric with two versions of the magnum Grand Siècle on two men in a 15th century courtyard. There is undeniably something in the saying. “A magnum is the perfect size for two if only one is drinking.” Otherwise, I probably consider both the stay at the SPA hotel between the mountains and the dramatic Atlantic coast in the Asturian Palacio des Luces, as well as our hikes in the Picos de Europa as the most memorable experiences from this trip. In terms of wine, it is clearly a champagne that stands out. Not only here, but throughout the summer both in Sweden, Italy and Spain, there were different vintages of Pommery’s ultra-sophisticated prestige champagne composed of the best grapes from Cramant, Avize and Aÿ, which were the great finds of the wine lists. Namely, Louise Pommery with a few extra years of cellar maturation is breathtakingly beautiful, intellectually challenging and thirst-quenchingly irresistible. Happily for us and sadly for the house in Reims, the PR department has not done nearly as good a job as Roederer, Moët and Perrier-Jouët managed to do with their prestige champagnes Cristal, Dom Pérignon and Belle Epoque, so the exuberant and slowly developing Louise Pommery goes under the radar. Our carried bottles in vinothèque form of 2004 and especially 2002 for our Champagne Hiking moments at Bulnes and on the river Sella go down in history.
Ischia
After our Spanish adventures, it was once again time for me, Ragni and my sun and beach loving still quite young children Leo and Nora to go on holiday to Ischia. A favorite that we visited for the first time back in 2018. An island highly regarded in Italy, but unknown to most other nationalities. I think it’s a bit strange considering that the island strongly resembles the world-famous Capri and is only two miles away. This is where the Neapolitans go when they want to get away from their vibrantly beautiful, but noisy city at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. Capri is probably to be considered even more beautiful with its even more dramatic cliffs and breathtaking views, but the wonderful gem is unfortunately overcrowded with tourists and all that that entails during high season. Ischia is about twice the size of Capri and considerably more genuine and, in my eyes, more charming with a suffocated air of history and Bella Notte romance from the 50’s when the movie stars gathered in droves at the newly opened luxury hotel Isabella Regina in Lecco Ameno. The pace is slower and the people radiate a warmth that is like balm for the soul for us freezing northerners. However, the island is not completely tourist-free. The island has just now received a boost through the film adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s, “My brilliant friend”, which is partly set here. Most of the very largest luxury yachts run their regular route every summer starting in Ravello, Amalfi, Positano, Nerano, Il Faraglione off Capri before passing Ischia on their way to Liguria with Cinque Terre and Portofino to finally reach the French Riviera. This summer was still heavily marked by justified restrictions against the Russian oligarchs and the luxury yachts were significantly fewer. The boat that fascinated us the most was a British sailboat with a startlingly tall mast that Leo wondered how it could keep its balance if caught in a storm. It apparently couldn’t, but tragically sank, as is well known, moored in the same way outside Palermo a few weeks later.
Capri
This year there were a couple of things that stood out a little extra during our stay. One was the vespa trip up to my and priceless Gerardo’s slightly religious Champagne Hiking at sunset with an absolutely perfect 2002 Comtes de Champagne at one of the island’s highest vantage points which you can see in one of the most beautiful Champagne Friday videos we’ve made so far. The second was our excursion to Capri where we were lucky enough to be hit by the only rain shower of the trip. A torrential downpour that scared the other tourists off the streets and made our family walk through Capri town pure contemplative pleasure. When the gates of heaven opened a little too much for us, we ran into the world-famous Hôtel Quisisana and warmed up with a nice unplanned lunch where the undersigned smacked me the Italian summer’s only lunch bottle in the form of a refreshing and coconut-fueled small exotic 2020 Where dreams Chardonnay by masterful German. We also managed to explore the other side of the island, Anacapri with 2 star L´Olivo of course paired with a bottle of 2002 Louise Pommery again before the next day I was surprised to find that my vertigo which I thought had diminished over the years was back in full force in the chair lift on the way to the top of the island.
So beautiful, but what a nightmare to dangle your legs when your head spins and your stomach heaves.
Chronichle; The Summer of 2024, swish, and then it was over
Once back in Ischia, we couldn’t resist a fond return visit to Nino de Constanzo’s paradise restaurant Dani Maison. Yes, I really think that the restaurant is probably Italy’s very best! Italian food culture is often at its best when it is simple and not complicated. The mother’s dishes with perfect local ingredients based on old family recipes where you have competed with the neighboring farm for generations can be heavenly good. The fine dining restaurants have a harder time impressing when they try to play French, but Nino has found that great balance in everything he does. After our family trips of just over a month in Spain and Italy, it was really nice to come home and land in some kind of everyday-like state for a couple of days before I got holiday withdrawal which was settled with some nice champagne gatherings with good friends in my own garden and by the pool. As an old teacher with long summer vacations, I have always been so spoiled with the time off that I started to despair early on and can’t help but utter the idiotic phrase. “Summer is almost over” already when there are three weeks left in the holidays.
Champagne orgy at Sölleröd
Just as I think all the glory is over, it starts to close in on one of the real highlights of the year. A summer’s Grande Finale. The 19th edition of Björn Leisner’s Champagne Orgie at Sölleröd Kro north of Copenhagen. It was just that it wasn’t Björn who was responsible for the bauble this time, but his main customer and one of the Nordics’ biggest champagne collectors himself held the baton and whipped up a veritable exuberant smorgasbord of rarities, most of them in perfect condition straight from the house. Or how about three 96s from Krug with Clos du Mesnil both from magnum and regular bottle? Or maybe 71′ vs. 73′ Dom Pérignon Oenothèque or 1985 Belle Epoque Rosé by magnum? Maybe your mouth waters a little extra when you read that we drank magnum Salon 2008 against 1988 Salon and 1988 DP P2 against 1988 Krug Collection? Did you get jealous when 1949 Cristal and 1976 Comtes de Champagne were on the menu? Or was it the Esprit du Siècle, this unique in 300 magnum examples that Moët made from a mosaic of vintages between 1900-1995 that attracts the most and which for me was the best of all? Unreal and so mindlessly magnificent without being boastful, it was in any case. Blind tasting, but more emphasis on enjoyment than results. All the time with a smile on his face. An atmosphere that the Danes, with their famous temperament, are masters at creating and maintaining. It was really with this smile on my face that I and my daughter Stella loaded up my comfortable Polestar Limited Edition in Elsinore on the way home and enjoyed the last breath of summer at Hamlet’s castle with a fast-melting Hansen ice cream in our fists. Because despite the fact that I didn’t dare to ride a single attraction at Tivoli apart from the tunnel of love due to my newfound vertigo, we were so happy with our days in the real capital of the Nordics.
Yesterday I read an article that briefly stated that happy people see the glass as half full instead of half empty thanks to a personal disposition that is almost 100 percent genetic. When I look at my father’s 89-year-old forward-leaning optimism and remember my mother’s infectious laugh which, four years after she left us, clearly echoes inside me, I can only state that I am one of those who was born with the right genes in the lucky lottery and decides me herewith to stop depressing and look forward to Paris the day after tomorrow and my soon to be 50th VIP trip with the Champagne Club. It tingles nicely in my stomach and I can almost feel the taste of a turn-of-the-century Pol Roger and the scent of a mature Bollinger R.D. which will soon be served to us in harvest time in my second homeland by my dear champagne friends. I never get tired of that, even though I’m up to 16,000 different champagnes.
Life can actually be quite wonderful when I think about it…
Richard Juhlin – September 19, 2024
