At 28 years old, Arvid Rosengren is the new Best Sommelier of Europe. To reach this summit, however, he did not follow the traditional path …
In fact, without chance playing a part, he would have become an engineer in nanotechnology! “When I was twenty, a friend of mine happened to be working in a wine shop, and he found me a summer job there. I liked it so much I decided to take time off from my engineering degree and stay on at the wine shop.”
On the strength of this experience, the young Swede turned his back on the field of engineering for ever. “I went to a catering school and worked in some very good restaurants to gain experience. I graduated in 2008 and found my first job as a Sommelier in a Stockholm restaurant called Le Rouge, where Sören Polonius, my coach, was the Wine Director”. That same year, Arvid won second place in the Best Sommelier of Sweden of the Year contest.
Opting for a change of scene, the Danish capital, Copenhagen, was his next port of call. Arvid continued his career growth at top-ranking restaurants. “The economic crisis complicated the situation and I started working for a different category of restaurant. I joined Modern American SteakHouse (MASH), which specialises in the finest quality cuts of beef. I immediately felt at home there. I was selling and tasting a lot of wines and I worked in that job for four years. Then things moved forward and my role changed. Today, the company has eight restaurants, and I am now their Wine Director. I supervise procurement, sales and the hiring of the Sommeliers for all the restaurants.”
Arvid's aspirations have therefore come to fruition but he has also caught the competition bug. In 2009, he won the Nordic Sommelier Championship and went on to take the Swedish title at the beginning of 2010.
“From then on, I was totally hooked. The competitions had given me real status and that gave me the incentive to want to improve more and more. So I entered the European competition in Strasbourg, and reached the semi-finals. Just after that, Sweden organised a competition to select their candidate for the world competition in Japan. I won and suddenly I had my work cut out for me for the next two years!”
Arvid Rosengren organised his preparation with his coach and a team of friends. He travelled, tasted a lot of wines, “several thousand wines a year”, and went back into the dining room to work on his serving skills.
“In April 2013 I went to Tokyo, feeling well-prepared and ready to show the world that I could do it. I didn't reach the final but I was proud of my performance. However, I decided that the European competition, in Sanremo, in Italy, would be my last… unless I won, in which case I would carry on till the next world competition.”
And so he won his first final! And the Scandinavian visibly enjoyed the taste of success. “My goal now is to learn even more about wine, to travel more, boost my communication skills, maybe teach, write, read as much as possible and taste wines. And, of course, I shall also be working hard to prepare for the world title in 2016...”
Jean Bernard
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