Wine has been a key part of Arvid Nordquist’s business since the outset 125 years ago – not surprising perhaps, since wine is one of the pleasures of dining.

 

Back in 1884, wine was a major feature of Arvid Nordquist’s trade. It was a few decades before the state alcohol monopoly Systembolaget was established and there were a number of private vintners across the country. Looking at the store’s range of wines at the time, it soon becomes clear that a great deal has happened in 125 years – the wine world has grown! The market then was limited to France (Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy), Germany and, for fortified wines, which were very popular at the time, Portugal and Spain. And these were wines that now command astronomical prices, premier crus from Bordeaux, grand crus from Burgundy, and so on.

The wine world has expanded since then and what used to be entirely unknown wines from the New World now dominate across Sweden generally and at Arvid Nordquist in particular.

So what happened when the monopoly came into being in 1918? Arvid Nordquist lost over half of its sales, but was quick to compensate for this on the food front. For a long time, the company had nothing at all to do with alcoholic drinks but, in 1955, when Systembolaget was put on the commercial footing that has lasted largely to this day, the opportunity arose to work on marketing alcoholic products in the capacity of an agent. Importing was not permitted – that was the preserve of the state-owned Vin & Sprit – and selling was certainly off limits, but it was possible to conduct marketing of various brands aimed at restaurants and consumers. The producers paid for this service as a percentage of their sales to Vin & Sprit. Arvid Nordquist immediately set up a subsidiary, Nordman & Co, to handle this new business. The first brand taken on was Beaujolais Royal, with several more later added.