Dear Arvid

Let us keep the debate on wine alive, but let us keep it real and honest.

Do we all have to be the same? Do we all have to agree on one style of wine, serve the same kind of wines and build the same wine list? Let us know why is it not okay to select the wines you like the best. Is the discussion about being a good sommelier, or should we discuss what the job of a sommelier really is. Is it about building a wine list, or is it about matching wines to the food that he or she is working with? To write a list of wines is easy, but is it not much more fun to mach food and wine? Working freely and creatively, matching the style of kitchen and wines made with the same philosophy, with the same ideas and respect for nature and diversity. We pick the wines we like. You are free to do same. Let's not copy each other, but do what feels right, let 's inspire each other instead of telling what's right and wrong. And leave space for just as much personality in the work of the sommeliers as for the chefs. We all have differences – and those differences is what makes our jobs as sommeliers interesting and challenging every day.

Natural wine has become a theme that everyone has an opinion about. The term doesn't have a fixed definition, but we consider natural wine as wine that is unsulphured, unfiltered and free of any other interaction such as cryoextraction, reverse-osmosis, micro oxygenating and temperature control. Natural wine is natural in the sense that nothing is added and nothing is removed. Natural wine is made from organic or biodynamic grapes. Making natural wine is a long process and the winegrower has to arm himself with patience – both in the vineyard and in the cellar.

Natural wine is mainly developed in the vineyard, and because of that the grape will taste of its terroir – the climate and soil conditions – along with the winegrowers’ judgment and skills. In the cellar, the wine is fermented gradually, without added sulphur, yeast, sugar or other adulterants. Thus, the wine takes form where the grape is grown and it matures in the cellar, where it creates its own structure, balance and style. Natural wine is a product like a cheese made from raw milk or a bread made from sourdough – it's alive and a will of its own will constantly develop. The winemaker doesn't completely lose or relinquish control, but instead, hands it over to the wine itself and braces himself with patience and curiosity.

The winemaker is resigned to the fact that the return on the vineyard is small. In exchange for another year’s harvest, he has to give the fields back what he has taken from them. Not in the form of fertilizers or pesticides, but with hard work. Wine is mainly made in vineyard, not in the cellar!

We don't work with natural wine because it is natural wine. We do it because we work with the winemakers, who produce great wine that fits perfectly with our ideas for a wine menu. These winemakers are as dedicated to their wine, as the chefs are to their gastronomy, and we feel they should be showcased as much as the food it is served with.

To state that all sommeliers working with natural wine in Copenhagen lacks proper wine education and has no reference to classical wines, is not only a pejorative statement that leads to bickering and infighting, but also simply not true.

Just to name a few sommeliers working with natural wine, but with classical background; Pontus Elofsson – Noma

Jan Restorff– Søllerød Kro

Mads Kleppe – Noma

John Sonnichsen - Noma

Bo Bratlann - Amass

Anders Frederik Steen – Relæ & Manfreds

Peter Pepke – Søllerød Kro

Søren Ledet – Geranium

Don't tell us we do not like wines from outside Europe. For us the origin and wine label will never be as important as the content. We pick the products we find the best, regardless of the length of winemakers mustache. We enjoy the relationship of the suppliers not for the stories, but because it matters what they do in their vineyards. To know the winemakers we work with, is for us a way to know their world and for us, the key to understanding wine, natural or not, even better. In fact at Relæ you will find natural wine from a great guy from South Africa called Craig Hawkins.

Why this debate?

Let's talk about the things we like and tell us about the wines you really love. Instead of going down the road of negativity on social media, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to all of us, chefs and sommeliers, to drink a bottle of wine together and discuss it in a more open fashion? Criticizing each other for each other’s “faults” doesn’t make us grow as sommeliers, chefs or persons. You wouldn’t tear your friends down for a difference of opinion? Why do that to your professional colleagues?

You have not yet been to Amass. Please come and dine with us. Our wine paring is only 375 DKK or just above 50€, so we’re not going to serve the mature first growth Bordeaux or Grand Cru Burgundy. But we do believe in the wine in we serve and we took care in pairing it to the food, ambience and style of our restaurant. In fact, we offer you a challenge: If you honestly feel that the wines do not match the food, the meal is free.


/Bo & Anders