Pontus Elofsson
At Noma you get lumpy wine

What do you put in the wine glass at Noma?

And what are the thoughts behind the wine selection at one of the world’s most influential restaurants?
Noma’s head sommelier during 8 years tells about his life with wine and presents his interpretation of René Redzepis food in the wine. Organic, biodynamic and natural wine is the centre of attention.

Which wines go well with the elegant and light dishes that origins from Noma’s imaginative kitchen, which are based on Nordic ingredients and have a close relationship to nature. In time the answer has developed in the direction of natural wine – most of them organic or biodynamic.
It is Swedish Pontus Elofsson, who is the man behind the restaurant’s wine philosophy, and it has been quite a long journey, as Noma does also wish to challenge the guests by the content of the glass, and strive to be innovative and move away from the conventional landscape. Elofsson states: “In this connection, Noma has contributed to change the opinion about which wines are allowed in the glasses at a gourmet restaurant”.
The book gives insight into the thoughts behind the wine selection at Noma, thorough information about the concept of natural wine – vin nature – and educates us in paring wine and food.

Besides being a history about Noma’s wine philosophy, it is also Pontus Elofsson’s personal wine story. From the day he left university to become a sommelier, travelled across the Sound and got employed by some of Copenhagens top restaurants, before he, back in 2004, became the sommelier at Noma. Along the way, his taste in wine has changed radically, and most importantly, he has taken a turn towards biodynamic – a track, which he is still very fond of and which is being displayed in this book.

Here at the blog, we will soon post an extract of the first chapter of the book –
“A sketch of Nomas wine philosophy”