Andreas Larsson
by Andreas Larsson

My culinary background comes from my teenage days when I was always hungry and constantly eating until I reached my 194 centimeters. Although I was mostly focused on my beloved guitar and my dream was to become a guitar hero (I later continued to play and perform and have 60 compositions and two recordings behind me in the genre of modern jazz). I didn´t even know what a sommelier was around this time.

My hunger and growing interest for food still made me choose the chef school that I attended when I was 16 and two years of education, long nights in restaurants and a thorough study of classical gastronomy made me much more aware of gastronomy and wine although I continued to work active as a chef until 1998.

Then my growing interest of wine after a trip in Burgundy in 1996 made me absolutely obsessed by the highly alluring and utterly fascinating world of wine and I did nothing else than read about wine, taste wine, cook and I tried different pairings.

When I attended the sommelier education at the restaurant academy in Stockholm in 1998 I still didn´t know what was to come. I graduated in 1999 and started to work at Vinkällaren Grappe in Stockholm where I stacked cases of Latour by day and enjoyed luxury problems such as comparing the first growths Bordeaux of various vintages by night.

My friend and mentor at that time Jonas Röjerman who was the leading sommelier persuaded me to participate in a competition for young sommeliers (I was 28 but a newbie as sommelier) I successfully won this and got hungry for more and decided to participate in the first official Swedish championship in 2001 which I as an outsider surprisingly won with great success.

The following year I also participated in the Swedish championship and managed to win again and some months later I celebrated my 30th birthday at the same time. I won the best sommelier of the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland). In 2003 the next challenge followed and I won the Trophée Ruinart best Sommelier of Sweden and became the official candidate for the European championship.

I started to work as head sommelier at the renowned restaurant Bon Lloc and some interesting months followed, with late nights at the restaurant and early days of studying and practice.

When I went to Reims in June 2004 to participate in the European Championship (Trophée Ruinart Meilleur Sommelier d´Europe), I didn´t really know what I expected although my friends said “you´re the best now, win!” -and since I love to compete and hate to loose I went there in a good mood had fun and did my best.

On the Swedish national day the 6th of June 2004 I was crowned the best sommelier of Europe, after a tough but entertaining competition.

In 2005 I also won the food and wine matching competition known as wine international sommelier of the year, another feather in the hat.

In the beginning of 2006 I started a new venture in southern part of Sweden at the well renowned restaurant Pm & Vänner where I currently hold the position as Head Sommelier and have great fun to work with great cuisine based on local ingredients.

In my wine philosophy I fancy personal wines mostly from the old world made from indigenous varieties not masked by to much “modern winemaking”. Otherwise my passion is to travel the world, eat, drink, meet people and enjoy playing music and listening to music.Wines I can´t be without: electric German Riesling, bold and structured Austrian whites, seductive Pinot Noir, tangy Sherry, classy claret, exclusive Piemonte or Champagne.

Food: I always cook and love to do it, to understand wine you need to love food.Music: my biggest influences are Bach and John Coltrane and thousands of others, music can be more touching and moving than wine but I prefer to enjoy them both. Future: I never planned anything or had goals I live for the moment and just like to continue to do what I do.What does it take to become a good Sommelier? PASSION!