Part One

In the year 2004, January 31st, I move to Sandsjödal, about 20 km north east of Gothenburg. There were appletrees, peartrees, red currant, black current, gooseberrys, green and red.

The first summer, there were so much fruits and berries. I froze part of the berries and took the rest to the restaurant and made pies for my customers. There was one green appletree, the fruits were sour, so I gave them to the cow next door. The red apples, I kept for my horses.

In the year 2005 the storm ”Gudrun” came and blew down two peartrees and one appletree.

So, years go by and a good friend of mine, Inger, suggested that she wanted to make must of the Swedish apples, so I said you can have all the green apples.
In the summer of 2008 she came and took the green apples. "So, what is the name of your apples" she asked? "I don’t know", I said. All I know is that the farm was built in 1895 and this appletree is more than 100 years old. The ex, ex, ex owners son Stig who is 93 years old remember that his father planted the appletree when he took over the farm from his family. Stig does not remember the name of the appletype, so Inger researched, and the nearest she could come to is Transparente De Croncels which origins from France, from the province where Champagne is made. The orchard released the seeds to the rest of the world in the year 1850, and Sweden imported the first seeding in about 1880.

When Inger's must was finished it tasted sour and very little liquid came out of 30 kgs of apple. So Inger said: "It's not so profitable to make must of these apples. I think it will be better to make wine, because the fruits are sour".

So in the summer of 2009 the EKO Wine production is on the way. As an amateur of wine making, a teetotaler, and with no knowledge of how wine should taste, I begin to make wine.
I gathered blueberries from the woods and combined them with my red currents and made the first red wine that I called Bleuet Groseille Rouge. I combined the red and black currents, blue berries and apples de Croncels and made the first rosé wine called Cassis Bleuet de Groseille. My prestige white wines are made of apples from Transparente de Croncels and known as Filippa de Croncels, and de Croncels.
From the pears I made white wine named Poire G Moltke.

With no knowledge of wine making, I learn the what to do and what not to do. I also learned patience. Now the wine is in it's hibernation time. In June 2010 I will have the white wines tasted before any new production in 2010. In the summer of 2010 I will also have my apples analysed by an apple expert.

So just wait, the wine will be out of hibernation in about August 2010, so then ... Does my future lie in Wine making?!

You guys can wish me luck with my winemaking, or the otherway around so you kan have apple pie for dessert everyday. Ha! Ha!

Part Two - 15th February 2010

I took a bottle of de Croncels - 2009 to the restaurant for the Boullabaisse on the meny week 7.
The result was impressive even though the wine was bottled in September 2009 and stored in this extremely cold winter year 09/10 at a temperature from about -5 to +5 degrees celsius and out of hibernation after four and a half months.

De Croncels is quite light with 12% alcohol. It has a little draw feeling with a little after taste of apple. Surprisingly it doesn't taste home made. Anders Cederkvist tasted it and was surprised that it was a home made apple wine. He thought that I had been to the Systembolaget and bought a bottle.

My guests at the restaurant did a wine test and they all felt that the wine is tasteable and fine. With this result I told them that there will be no more apple pies in the future, I will make wine instead. They were disappointed, apple pie is better one guest replied, so I felt sorry for my loyal guest and bought some apples and made apple pie the next day.

Dick, one of my guests, tasted the wine and said that for a first time wine maker, it's not bad!!! So, we will see, I will be having some wine expert to taste my products in May, and if the result is as good as I'm hoping for, then I will continue making wines.

Part Three - 27th February 2010

February 25 2010, I took a bottle of my white pear wine Poire G Moltke to the restaurant for wine sauce and at the same time my guests got to taste the wine.
Tomas N. was impressed with the wine and of course the logo.
The Swisslog gang tasted it and commended that it was a little sour. Only one person was happy with the taste.
Patrick and Rune, tasted and said that it is not ready. The next day Sture tasted the wine and was impressed.
Tomas H. who don’t drink so much wine thought it was quite good. Rysk also said it was good.
The wine matured more after it had been in contact whith the air! The Poire G Moltke has to be in hibernation a little longer.

Part Four - November 2010

Hello everyone, it`s been nine months since I came with information about the wines (2009).

Getting feedback from friends, wines knowhow experts and so on, the following are the result of my wines (2009).

de Croncels - white wine, light wine with a sweet touch (apples) **
I use it to wine sauce in the restaurant.

Poire G Molke - white wine, light wine with vanilla touch (pears) **
Also use it in the restaurant for sauces.

Rubin de Croncels - rosé wine, very fruity taste, taster compare my rosé with the Aussie Creek, not bad!!! (red/black currant, blue berries and apples) ***

Filippa de Croncels - white wine, most appreciated, Calvados taste, good for aperitif and for Dessert.
(apples) ***

Croncels Rouge - red wine, Bourgogne, fruity, little sweet (red/black currant, blue berries) ***

These are the result of the 2009 products for a new beginner.
For 2010 products, I will try to make it dry???, we will see, to be continued …

Information about the origin of my apple type, much have come up. After much research about apples, my knowledge has grown during this past six months.

In September, three apple experts at the Botanic Garden in Gothenburg couldn't identify which type of apple my apple belongs to. They confirmed that my apple tree comes from seedling. Two more experts guessed that it is Flädie (a type from Skåne). They also agreed that the tree comes from seeding. I have learned that, taking a seed from an apple and plant it, you will not get the exact same type of apple from your apple tree. Because it has been pollinated by other types of apples nearby you will get a new type. The only way to get a 100% same type is to graft.
So, my friends, that also rules out Flädie. Just to make sure, I sent my apples, picture of the trees and flowers, bisect of the fruits and so on to SLU (Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet) in Alnarp. The feedback, 100% not Flädie, the tree comes from seedling. So I have my own type of apple. My tree is over 120 years old, and the BEST OF IT IS, I CAN NAME MY APPLE TYPE, how interesting!!!.

Part Five - September 2011

I have named my apple type Jennifier and registered it at PRV. So now she is the 251th apple type in Sweden. I have also grafted 50 new apple plants. The plants are for sale. You can go to Facebook Jennifier apple and place your order or email to hortogreen@telia.com. Everyone that purchases an apple plant can mail me and register in our log so we can keep track of all apple plants spread in the country (kartlagret). All plants will be accompanied by a numbered certificate of authenticity and a bottle of apple chutney (of course 50%). I only have 50 apple plants in stock, so a part of the project have to be to place an order in advance.
Proud owners can have mail contact and meet and exchange recipes and ideas and have family activities. Why not!!! Join the group, it's fun, cheap and ecological.
2010 wine making are in progress. It is a more experimental wine, dryer with a taste of oat. The 2011 wine will be even more advanced. Wish me luck.
I will keep you guys updated when 2010 wine has been tasted. Bye for now.

Yours sincerely