An evening of open wine testing at Soup’n Bagel. In the middle, owner Svante Boberg and to the right friend and colleague Sandra Lam Carlsson.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012
In from the biting cold of winter that is still in the air in Sweden, I thought the cozy, dimlit interior of Soup’n Bagel by night in the city of Gothenburg set the perfect calm and mellow atmosphere for an evening of wine tasting and long conversation amongst good friends.
Some wines for the evening with Connoisseur Depot and Soup'n Bagel.
Magnus Lilja and Sandro Schöpper of Connoisseur Depot hosted the evening and presented guests with some wines they found to stand out from the sea of well made but sometimes indifferent reds and whites, that are the majority of wines that one meets today regardless of origin. Whatever you think and hope for, it usually takes an adventurous testing together with some relevant food samples for anyone to get to know what lurks under the label.
And given enough number of times by which you make a point to try a wine from a different country, region or even method of make, you’ll soon find yourself well on your way to making some really good acquaintances.
Brie to Reisling.
The wine-by-the-glass concept, with a touch of tapas bar, exactly as how our long time friends Magnus and Sandro hosted tonight is indeed a splendid way of getting acquainted with what some experienced experts in the field have found interesting lately.
Both of them took time to explain the finer details of each wine presented and of course could not resist the possibility to tote their own very favourites of the lot, or rather ‘loot’ would be the more appropriate description of the selection presented.
Magnus (left behind the counter) and Sandro (right behind the counter) of Connoisseur Depot, introduce guests to interesting wines for the evening.
After a long week at the office cubicle for some, many guests admittedly loved the whole idea of this evening’s wine tasting and sampling that allowed, even encouraged trying some different wines that run tangent from our regular choices.
It was only towards the close of the evening that most of us found our way back to our special favourites with a feeling of satisfaction, a mission accomplished.
It was a quiet evening of soft talk, laughter and calm. A much needed Friday night, just the right thing to do to unwind to the start of a weekend.
Thank you Magnus, Sandro and Svante for the Wine Bar Invite! It was a pleasant evening indeed.
With the quick glances of distraction observed from tourists and a slight quickening of their pace past the local lunch scene at Yuyuan in Shanghai, where the local people seemed perfectly at east sitting along the roadside with their bowl of rice in one hand and chopsticks in the other, eating whilst waiting for their next customer to walk into the shop, I understood with clearing clarity that for most of Northern Europe, dining was a much more formal affair around a set table. 
