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Who’s the Swede named the world’s best sommelier?

Take your hat off, Italy. Eat your heart out, France. The world's best wine waiter is... a Swede.

Published: 20 April 2016 11:19 CEST

Who's the Swede named the world's best sommelier?

Swede Arvid Rosengren at the finals. Photo: AFP Photo/Pachy Reynoso/TT

Swedish sommelier Jon Arvid Rosengren has been crowned the world's best wine waiter, at the culmination of a four-day competition attracting entrants from around the globe.

The 31-year-old took home the award in the prestigious finals of Le Concours du Meilleur Sommelier du Monde, held in the Mendoza province, home to the Malbec grape, of Argentina.

“Wow, that was unexpected. It was a really, really tough final and I didn't think I would win. Thank you very much,” Rosengren told the audience after he was named this year's winner.

It was the first time in its 15-year history the contest was organized in a South American country.

The Swedish champion beat 60 other participants from 58 countries to the title, including runners-up David Biraud, representing France, and Julie Dupouy, born in France but competing for Ireland.

He adds the new crown to an already impressive list of accolates, including best sommelier in Europe in 2013, in the Nordics in 2009 and on home turf in Sweden in 2010 and 2011.

The final took place in front of an audience of 500 spectators. The sommeliers were judged on their skills in several categories, including service and wine tasting, and quizzed on their knowledge about wine production, geography, gastronomy and the wine development process.

Born and raised in southern Sweden, Rosengren normally spends his days at the trendy restaurant Charlie Bird in New York's SoHo district.

However his success follows a recent boom in the food and wine industry within Sweden, which is increasingly becoming known for hip and pioneering cuisine.

Earlier this year chef Magnus Nilsson from restaurant Fäviken in the rural Jämtland region claimed the nation's first two Michelin stars for an eatery located outside Stockholm.

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits.

SEE ALSO: What’s the tipping etiquette in Sweden?

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user).

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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