After a rather hectic day, I was trying to soothe my soul by talking with a friend and sipping a glass of wine.

The conversation flowed to many subjects — from the day’s political shenanigans to what was happening in our neighborhoods and somehow, we got on the subject of wine. Can you believe that?

We began to relate the number of wines we had tasted from around the world and we did fine for awhile. Wines from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Argentina, South America and of course, the United States, were easily recalled and, then, we hit a snag.

Our discussion centered on the Scandinavian countries and, in particular, Norway. Ah, the home of at least some of my ancestors, land of the Vikings of yore, the country with fjords, lots of snow and at times, little sunshine. My mind began to cringe because it became apparent, Norway isn’t located in good grape growing latitudes.

As uneasy as I was about finding wine from Norway, I had hope. Horticulturalists have made immense strides in producing cold weather grapes and maybe, just maybe, those new grapes hybrids were the salvation to growing wine producing grapes in Norway.

Norway has over a thousand years of beer brewing history and has various styles of beers ranging from a Pilsner (a pale lager that is the most widely purchased beer in Norway) to the traditional Christmas beer called Juleøl (a dark malty beer). But wines?

Of course, we know about aquavit — that wonderfully flavored spirit that is popularly distilled in the country. OK, that’s a spirit. But wines? Where were my Norwegian wines?

It was time to do some research and as in so many stories, there’s the good and the bad.

The bad: Norway’s climate is not very conducive to growing grapes — a needed ingredient in the making of grape wine! I’ve read that Norwegian bartenders call Norwegian wines “undrinkable” and “better used as salad dressings than wine” — not a good start in my quest. And, they are expensive. The Norwegian government uses high alcoholic beverage pricing as a way to control the use of alcohol. Can we have some goods news, please?

The good! The world’s northernmost vineyard — Eventyrvin’s Lerkekasa — is located a bit southwest of Oslo in Telemark County near the city of Gvarv. Along with other vineyards in the area, the vines may not produce world class wines yet — but have faith in those Norwegians — they do produce grapes that are wine worthy. The wines tend to be a bit acidic and harsh tasting but like I mentioned — have faith in those Norwegians because one day, their wines will compete with our Minnesota wines for gold medals.

It seems wines are produced in Norway — although in very limited amounts and they aren’t distributed to this country. There must be someway to ease that pain of having no Norwegian wines and here’s where I return to aquavit.

Aquavit is a high test herb flavored liquor that in my estimation, is under used in this country. I was introduced to Norway’s Linie Aquavit a number of years ago and must admit I wasn’t initially drawn to it. It was too sharp tasting and had too many flavors. Then I became aware of the simple complexity of the spirit and learned to appreciate the flavors of caraway, coriander and aniseed that are pronounced in the potato distilled liquor. Because it’s aged in Oloroso sherry casks, the liquor hangs onto a bit of sherry sweetness and I find it a pleasure to sip — a small glass, thank you. It’s powerful stuff!

Then I discovered Duluth’s Vikre Distllery’s Voyageur Aquavit. I really enjoyed taste testing Linie against Voyageur. Voyageur has flavors of caraway, cardamom along with a hint of orange (from orange peels) and it’s aged in cognac casks. Vikre is producing a winner in Voyageur and I thoroughly enjoy it. It’s even more powerful than Linie so again, just a small glass, thank you!

Looks like I’ll have to wait awhile before I get to taste a Norwegian wine so I’ll continue to soothe my soul with a bit of either Linie or Vikre aquavit. And, I’ll pray those Norwegian vintners will soon solve the problem of overly acidic and harsh tasting wines We did it here in Minnesota and I have hope and faith in my Norwegian “relatives.”

Next week, what will the weekend bring?

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!