Jantelagen is a Swedish variation of Australia’s tall poppy syndrome (cut the head off the poppy that stands above the rest). If ornithologists look for birds I am a Jantelagenologist. Last week I may have spotted a classic example that should be shot, stuffed and put in a glass museum case for future generations to admire.
Jens Dolk is the wine expert for SVD, one of the most respected national daily newspapers, he has a regular wine slot on morning TV and has considerable influence over what people buy.
In a recent interview Jens gave to the magazine published by alcohol importers Chris Wine Dolk reveals his secret of being the Jantelagen Wine Expert of Sweden:
“Something more that differentiates him (Dolk) from other wine writers is his total lack of interest and ability to pick vintages and remember how a wine tasted in the previous year or, for what it matters, if a wine is Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot dominated,” wrote the Chris Wine journalist.
Hej, I’m just like you! Dolk is saying, waving the Jantelagen flag with pride.
Why then is he paid to write an expert’s column in a national newspaper? How did he get the job?
Perhaps Dolk quoted Sam Cook in his job application:
Don’t know much about a science book
Don’t know much about the french I took
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be
Indeed, a wonderful world of ignorance. Having worked as a journalist I can verify that being ignorant is not a guaranteed red card from the news desk but Dolk’s further comments could give him a place in the Jantelagen Hall of Fame.
“Jens wants to be the average Swede’s wine nose, as he describes it himself, and therefore he is afraid to try too many wines. While his colleagues compare how many thousands of wines they have tested, Jens tries to taste as few as possible because he is petrified his nose and palate will become more discerning and demand better wines – I want my taste to be as close as possible to the consumers rather than the experts, he said”.
What then makes an expert and why should we read his column in SVD rather than raffle out the space each week to anyone who wants to write about wine? Would Råd och Rön proudly claim that its expert testers know very little about the products and try to test them as little as possible “We try not to test too many chain saws so we can make the same mistakes as the ordinary user”?
Admittedely none of the Swedish wine journalists are as well educated as foreign journalists such as Jancis Robinson Master of Wine (FT amongst other publications) but at least the ones I know taste A LOT of wine. Why does tasting a lot of wine matter?
Because you need to be able to compare wines; understand different types of wines from different grapes, regions, countries; know if the wine is a good or average example of this type of wine; is it good value; was this vintage as good as previous to guide your buying decision and most importantly …
…have an expert’s understanding of what is a well made wine and in our case push our producers to improve their quality and value (and not let faults slip through) and for a wine journalists, keep the retailer and its importers on their toes to continually offer better wine. And if you love wine, want to write about wine, you take every opportunity you can to try new wines. It is just fun!
I hope that Jens was just kidding, pulling Jante’s leg you might say. If I had his job to taste all those really disgusting bag in box wines at Systembolaget I would also find a polite way to explain why I didn’t taste too much wine. That’s what you were trying to say right Jens?
Cheers
Mark
.
