Lisbeth and I took over Årø Vineyard from Svend Aage and Laila just before the harvest of 2015. Thus, the transition from a busy job to being a winemaker on Årø became a reality. The idea for the generational change came on a summer day when I visited Svend Aage at the vineyard to get some help producing some apple cider, but I came home to Lisbeth with the offer to take over the vineyard. Such an offer requires some thought, but on the other hand, how often do you get the opportunity to take over a vineyard in Denmark, and the more we thought about the idea, the better we could see that the elements involved in life as a winemaker actually fit perfectly with the desires I have for a work life.
But the idea for Årø Vineyard goes all the way back to 2004 when Svend Aage visited a small winemaker in Christiansfeld. The visit sparked his interest immensely - and he began to investigate what requirements would be needed for him to get started. The first thought was simply to plant some vines to see if it was even possible.
In the autumn of 2004, the first 125 plants were purchased from the Danish Wine Center.
As Svend Aage's knowledge grew, and he joined the Association of Danish Winegrowers, his interest and ambition grew - why not create a real vineyard?
Therefore, from 2004 to 2007, additional vines were planted, so Årø Vineyard reached a total of 2200 vines. At the same time, a winery was set up in Svend Aage's barn, and production equipment was purchased.
Therefore, Årø Vineyard could open for the sale of its own wines in 2008, as well as open the farm to visitors.
Since then, there have been 7 years of production of their own wines, as well as a constant positive development in the number of visitors both to Årø and to the vineyard. The vineyard currently has around 20,000 visitors each year, and during the season, we have a lot of wine tastings for groups or companies.
With the growing interest in the vineyard, another "problem" arose; the production was not large enough for all our guests to taste or buy the wines they desired.
So, at the same time Lisbeth and I took over the vineyard, an additional 3500 vines were planted. They were planted in the spring of 2015, but unfortunately, a little patience is required, so we can only harvest from the new vines in 2017. However, the original idea of producing apple cider and wine from apples did not completely disappear. Therefore, we also planted a total of 1200 apple trees, so that in the future, we can also produce some exciting products from apples.
The idea of the generational change has always been that the "vineyard" should move from Svend Aage and Laila's property to Rørhave, as our farm is called. At the same time, we would like to be able to offer some visitor facilities to our guests that would be useful all year round. Therefore, we have erected a new visitor building at Rørhave. Our new building allows for a wide range of different events and receiving guests in larger numbers than was previously possible. At the same time, we also had the opportunity to serve light lunch dishes for our guests.