Concierge lifestylemagazine NO 4 EN

Non-alcoholic!

The new trend?

Yemisi Wilson

A sculptur with a elemental force

The

Birkin bag

Every woman´s dream

Welcome to the fourth number of Concierge Lifestyle Magazine!

After a year of war, economic challenges and other dullness on earth, it’s more important than ever to make the most of your life. Take a break and enjoy issue 4 of Concierge Lifestyle Magazine. Let us take you on a dream trip to South Africa’s wild savannah, delve into beer with our beverage expert Ann Fogelberg or get inspired by non-alcoholic bubbles with the champagne guru Richard Juhlin

Welcome aboard!

Patrick Hillberg Editor in Chief

Margas Collection by

A bubbly meeting with champagne expert Richard Juhlin

Champagne expert Richard Juhlin is known worldwide for his knowledge of champagne. Over the years, he has tried several champagnes and felt that they lacked a non-alcoholic alternative, which was the upstart of Richard Juhlin Blanc de Blanc’s non-alcoholic.

Richard Juhlin, one of the world’s leading champagne experts, has tried and judged several champagnes over the years. He has travelled around the world giving lectures on champagne and sharing his knowledge all over the globe. Today he is considered the best in his field, namely champagne.

When Richard was eight years old, he understood that drinking was something that he would be doing in the future. When he and his parents visited the Moselle Valley and based on facts about soil, hills and grapes were able to spot four different wines at a blind tasting, his interest was aroused.

”I remembered thinking, oh, that wine was so good and could taste so different,” Richard says.

Since his parents were interested in wine, it was easy for him to keep his interest alive. As the years passed where he had the opportunity to try different wines, primarily wines from the Moselle Valley.

A few years later, while on vacation with a friend in the Canary Islands, he had the opportunity to try cava, and was completely sold.

”It was so fresh and we didn’t get a hangover.”

This drink became the gateway to something bigger, namely champagne. In the past, Richard has only drunk champagne and wines with alcohol in them.

”I have never believed it, nor thought it has been good. Then I’d instead drink juice or soda,” continues Richard. It wasn’t until his wife Ragni was pregnant and they were out at various events and wanted to take the car that he discovered there were too few non-alcoholic options. And when he was in Singapore holding a tasting with dinner to a large number of Chinese with wives, there were some at the table who fainted after half a glass, even though

there were 30 people in a bottle. As Asians lack enzymes and have difficulty dealing with alcohol, he thought he should invest in making a non-alcoholic bubble. Even Arab countries are very restrictive of alcohol, so when he got in touch with Moa Gürbüzer at MRG Wines Sweden, who was then in Turkey, the idea was born. Through his travels around the world, he has found that it is often not socially acceptable to abstain from alcohol. But Moa stood her ground and wanted a heavy name that was behind a non-alcoholic alternative, after which Richard was contacted and they had a meeting. At the meeting, Richard says;

”I’m sceptical it can succeed, so we’ll hold off on putting my name on it before it’s good enough. But it will come at a cost.”

Two non-alcoholic bubbly

First, Richard contacted the Champagne region, but they said no considering that champagne from Champagne must have at least an alcohol content of 11.5%, so he instead started chasing suppliers in the south of France. When Richard found a supplier, he asked for samples and tested different mixtures with alcohol. He strived for purity and freshness without two tones and got to grips with how the wine would taste without alcohol. In Frankfurt in Germany, they have a good method where they alternately heat the wine and then cool it down, which retains the wine’s original taste.- It was good timing as we moved towards a stronger health trend, where even pregnant girls could stand with a glass of bubbly without alcohol. So first Richard Juhlin Blanc de Blancs non-alcoholic was released. 0%, which is an elegant non-alcoholic sparkling wine with crunchy acidity, balanced freshness and notes of lime and green apples.

The wine is aged for a short time in small oak

barrels and has since been de-alcoholized with a patented method that leaves behind the wine’s natural aromas and character.

”Blanc de Blancs is made from 100 percent chardonnay. It’s really good, if I may say so myself, and the fact that we’ve done so well has made me excited to realize further ideas,” explains Richard.

The wine is perfect for festive contexts, such as mingling and canapés, as well as seafood, salads, fish, poultry, chicken, roe, Salma lax and for lighter dishes.

Next in line was the rosé, released some years ago, which has also been highly appreciated with grapes from Limoux in the south of France. Richard likes to drink rosén for meat and beetroot with chevre and pine nuts and preferably also for mild creamy cheeses. - Feel free to drink both with a temperature of 9 degrees.

The wine is made with special technology and the drink contains no e-substances. The technology used is more gentle than what other manufacturers apply. Among other things, the wine is cooled down instead of being boiled up. In this way, much of the natural flavours in the wine are retained. The grapes are not crushed, but instead, they have carefully wallowed. This is also done to maintain the grape’s characteristic taste that is felt in the wine.

Richard has also made a Blanc de Noir as well as an anniversary blend to the Arab world, but only on a small scale. The jubilee blend is a Blanc de Blancs from better individual farms with the best grapes, where the price is € 100 per bottle.

FJÄRE LONDON DRY GIN

PIONEERING SWEDISH GIN FROM SMALL SCALE CRAFT

DISTILLERY

Yemisi Wilson - A force

When I get to Vinterviken, where Yemisi Wilson has her studio, the sun is at its zenith and the noise of the city seems remote. A creative murmur has replaced it, and Yemisi is standing outside wearing a protective mask, holding her grinder at the ready. Once inside, we have coffee and talk about a coming exhibition. And about stone. Yemisi’s knowledge of the subject is profound, and she eagerly shares it with others. The studio teems with figures in everything from yellow marble from Sienna to sandstone and grey granite. Their scale runs from miniatures to monumental. Yemisi’s sculptures are figurative; the works tend to manifest naturalistic precision – something that’s extra clear in her animal portraits. Here there’s an evident connection to the classical Italian heritage

in sculpture, which she is also trained in. She finds it difficult to work with conceptual ideas and avoids sullying her art with theoretical frameworks. In her work with human portraits in porphyry, she abandoned the outright figurative in favour of a dialogue with abstraction. The properties of porphyry are very different from those of, say, marble, where the softness invites you to create layers of playfulness in the lines, in the spaces between the convex and the concave. Porphyry is brittle yet very hard—the hardest stone Yemisi has ever worked with. It soon became evident that she couldn’t use her chisel to work sculpturally; instead, she had to rely on coarser tools and thereby find new entry points into the material. Familiar approaches had to give way to what the tools permitted.

And that’s precisely where Yemisi’s strength lies: She allows her fascination and curiosity to trump frustration and fear of the unexplored.

However, it would be an underestimation, and partly misguiding, to depict Yemisi’s work as driven merely by curiosity. Yemisi seems to be impelled by a primal force that she herself is not always able to control. Her primary guide is her intuition, and she follows it with tools and instruments without a map or a destination. She’s devoted to her instinct and has learned, throughout her solid classical training and her many years of sculpting, to remain humble toward the material she has before her—its heritage, its history, its capabilities, and its limitations. She keeps coming back to the notion that there’s an ongoing conversation between her and the material, where both are doing their best to release what seems to want to get out—what yearns to, has to, tell

us something.

There’s a thread connecting how Yemisi approaches each new assignment: she often dwells in the sphere of memory. She moves between an unconscious collective memory, the history of the place, and her own connotations of events, occurrences, and places. And, perhaps most of all, of stone as a bearer of memories. The work with porphyry started out as the “Great Uproar” that took place in Älvdalen 300 years before Yemisi’s own birth and sparked the organized witch trials there. The point of entry became the exploitation of stone as a memorial material and the creation of a posthumous tribute to the women who were burned at the stake. In the summer of 2018, in Älvdalen’s open quarries, Yemisi found black rännås porphyry, a stone that in its blackness has streaks of red, bringing to mind glowing embers. The connection was reinforced by the fact that forest

fires were then raging uncontrollably in large swaths of Sweden, and there was a pungent smell of smoke. But the porphyry sculptures changed as the work progressed; the material had a will of its own, and the women who emerged now seem to come from different places in the world—all with different origins, and with their voices filled with unheard stories. The connection to the origin of the material now feels even closer: porphyry is rock from magma formed at a time when the earth’s equator went through Älvdalen.

The portraits of women have been given asteroid names taken from mythology, and as your eye washes over the polished surface, a piece of the universe opens up. The mirror finish reflects your own image,

and, at the same moment, a part of your life heritage is released. Our history is infused in the material and, if we listen carefully, we can almost hear how these ignimbrite pillars of cinders continue to crackle and burn. There lies a serene universality in knowing we are all one, part of something greater. This is what she gets back to as I leave her in her studio at Vinterviken—making space for what had never been told.

Martina MacQueen

South africa 2020 (Part 3)

From deciduous forest and good sipping, we headed northeast across the country towards the bush and Kruger National Park. It’s a general mistake not to include a few days in the wilderness during a trip to South Africa, at least if it’s your first time in the country. We land at an airport about the size of one of the waiting areas among the terminals at Cape Town airport. It’s quite impossible to make out the airport staff until a man walks up to the blunt little board on the wall and manually updates the schedule of arrivals and departures with slips of paper. The road out to our accommodation is just as full of gravel and bumps as you can imagine, just on the way out to our accommodation we have time to see giraffes, baboons and zebras. Apart from the sudden presence of wildlife, the landscape is huge and it really feels like we are going right out into nowhere. Consistent with

much else in South Africa, the accommodation we eventually arrive at provides yet another contrast in the form of low, wide buildings in fine stone materials with open plan layouts with modern furnishings and an overall luxurious feel where not a sign of civilisation can be seen as far as the eye can reach along the wide savannah and bushveld.

In addition to the public areas surrounding the site with classic facilities such as a pool, bar and restaurant areas and reception, the accommodation itself is spread out a short walk away in a lodge style. The paths are laid with wooden planks, some of which cross over into bridge parties, and apart from handrails are completely open to the wilderness. As newcomers, we are easily impressed when we see various wild ungulates roaming undisturbed in the walking paths between our accommodations and the main building. Something

surprisingly easy to get used to. Washing in an outdoor shower overlooking the wilderness is a unique experience.

The safari tours usually take place in the early morning before the sun has risen or in the late afternoon. This way you always catch incredibly beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It’s time for our first tour which takes place in the afternoon of the first day. We are introduced to our guides and rangers and hop into two custom-built Toyota’s in jeep model with no windows or roof. It’s like sitting in a moving grandstand with front-row seats. We pull straight out into the bush and you quickly realise that what lurks around the next bend in the winding narrow space is a pure lottery. As if the thrill of sitting in a fully open car and knowing we’re visiting the home of some of the world’s most magnificent wildlife isn’t enough, the guide’s observations of the area also add something extra. By now the guide is multi-tasking, both driving the car and seeming to know every bush in the vast landscape, but also answering questions and telling us relevant whimsical information relevant to what we are seeing. Our ranger sits on his own throne on a seat in the front left, dangling his legs freely over one corner of the bonnet with only a rifle in his defence. We can’t decide if it’s insane, fascinating or both. A ranger’s job is basically to be our guide’s map reader, much like how a rally driver has a co-driver next to him. The only difference here is that ours sits on the hood to easily catch what’s easy to miss as a driver. The ranger is also in touch with colleagues moving around the huge area, scouting with eagle eyes to give us the best experience possible. We barely have time to be out for half an hour before we bump into hordes of hoofed animals such as antelope and gazelles. We also slip past a bunch of water buffalo at close range.

The highlight of the day comes after another half an hour when we become aware of a pride of lions stationed under a magnificent tree, where one of the lions has also climbed up presumably in search of prey. But there was nothing we could see, all that was left was a large feline in a tree. The lions inspire a special respect in us right away as you get a feel for how big they really are in real life.

Satiated and satisfied with the safari experience, the cars glide on into the beautiful sunset where we finally park in a slightly more open spot in the bush. Still in the middle of nowhere. Imagine this image: you’ve just stepped out of the safari vehicle and are looking out over shades of neon orange, pink and purple, while you watch your guide whip up a makeshift table on the bonnet and set out dried fruits, nuts and biltong (sun-dried meat). To

complete the ritual, each person then mixes a sundowner which, traditionally, is always a gin & tonic. Nothing tastes more refreshing and feels so right to end the day with. On the way back the sun set and darkness settled over us, this doesn’t stop our Ranger from managing to catch an incredible bonus to the finish as we manage to slip up right next to a leopard that was out roaming quite openly along the small path. We are eventually escorted onto an outpost where we are dropped off in the dark to a path lit by small fires that leads to one of the most unforgettable dinners I have ever had. In the middle of the wilderness with a huge bonfire, long table and braai (South African barbecue over an open fire with charcoal and wood).

The next day we are up with the rooster to get the chance to see as much big game as possible. The day is a complete success and seeing lions, rhinos and leopards up close cheer you up

better than any coffee in the world. We even got to see elephants drinking and playing down by a stretch of water at sunrise. The morning session ends with setting a table a bit in the same spirit as it did yesterday, but now we drink tea, coffee and hot chocolate which is perfect for the slightly cooler morning. Once back for breakfast, a herd of unconcerned wild boars drift around the small green area between the reception and the breakfast area.

We have an afternoon and morning tour left on our stay in the wilderness where we manage to see hippos, giraffes (who can pee for over 15 minutes, believe it or not), hyenas, zebras and much more. We were lucky and managed to see all of the big five and the only animal we missed was the cheetah. It’s an absolutely enchanting feeling to experience such large and beautiful wildlife up close in their natural habitat. We all leave our stay

in the bush with completely new impressions and all agree that this is something everyone should have the chance to experience at least once in their lives. With this, we end our trilogy on South Africa. Ube nosuku oluhle!

Czech beer is something special

The Czech Republic is the country that drinks the most beer per person per year.

With an annual consumption of just over 140 litres per person, they top the list, compared to Sweden’s just over 50 litres per person.

We in Sweden also like beer from the Czech Republic and are happy to choose a pilsner from the country.

The Czech Republic is the country that consumes the most beer per person in the world, where their Pilsner Urquell, from Plzeň, also known as

Pilsen, has set its benchmark.

In 1842, Urquell started his brewery and paved the way for pilsner where all malt should preferably be pilsner malt of native barley along with soft water.

Brewmaster Josef Groll was then able to present the first clear, golden and under-fermented beer in the world, namely pilsner, which became a golden revolution.

In 1895, the state-owned brewery Budějoviký Budvar, located in České Budějovice in the southern part of the Czech Republic, started about 150 km outside Prague.

The brewery is one of the largest in the Czech Republic with their bestseller Budéjovický Budvar Premium Lager. All of their beers are made from local ingredients; water, malt, yeast and hops with beer traditions dating back more than 700 years in time.

The local water is taken 320 meters into the soil and the fresh hops are well-selected. It takes between 30-200 days to brew their beer, which is of very high quality. Well-made beers with a lot of flavours. Their Budvar Buděvjoviký (1353), which is their flagship, accounts for more than half of the total production. A well-balanced good light-lager beer with just the right amount of 5% sweetness and sweetness, which is one of the most famous Czech beers in the world.

The brewery, which is high up in the export market in the Czech Republic, exports to 58 countries. Of which the largest market is Germany, followed by Slovakia and Austria.

The name of the beer varies depending on where in the world you are. Budějoviký Budvar, Budweiser, Budweiser Budvar, Budvar, Bud or Czechvar.

In the United States and Canada, the beer is called Czechvar, so that it does not become interconnected with the American Budweiser, which belongs to a completely different brewery.

Czechvar which, incidentally, is the combination of the two words ”Czech” (Czech) and ”pivovar” (brewery).

The beer cafes in Prague are full early in the morning where the locals sit and drink their good Czech pilsner. Feel free to order a ”snyt” when you are in Prague next time, or half/half as it is also

called, where half in the glass is beer and half foam. They pour the beer in a different way that makes it taste lovely.

I can understand that there is a lot of beer drunk in the Czech Republic because surely they have a good beer that is hard to resist. Or as beer and whiskey journalist, Michael Jackson once said.

”To my mind, the beer made by Czechvar brewery is one of the world’s truly great beers...”

Text: Ann Fogelberg

The Birkin bagEvery woman´s dream

Drake collects them for his future wife. Kanye had one customized by artist George Condo. Kate Moss uses them as nappy bags. Victoria Beckham is rumoured to own over 100 of them.

Yes, it would be fair to say that the HERMÈS (pronounced air-MEZ) Birkin bag is the holy grail of handbags — but it’s not the only highly coveted style from the French Maison.

The Kelly bag. This signature handbag is just as sought after — and just like the Birkin, it has a waitlist to match its icon status.

The History of HERMÈS

First, a little history. In 1837, Thierry Hermès founded his namesake business in Paris as a horse harness shop, dedicated to serving European noblemen. Winning various awards during the late 1800s, Hermès earned a reputation as one the finest producers of leather goods for horses — crafting all things equestrian from saddles to bags, boots and hats. His son Charles-Émile later moved the HERMÈS flagship shop to 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in 1880, where it remains to this day.

By the 1900s, under the founder’s grandson Émile-Maurice, HERMÈS became the official saddler for the Czar of Russia and the first brand to introduce the zipper on leather goods in France. After producing golf garments for the Prince of Wales in 1918, HERMÈS began its first foray into leather

handbags in 1922. Haute couture followed, along with an expansion into jewellery, watches, porcelain goods and scarves.

The History of the HERMÈS Birkin & Kelly Bags

Formerly the Sac à Dépêches, the Kelly bag was first introduced in 1935.

Actress-turned-princess Grace Kelly fell in love with the HERMÈS design after filming it in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘To Catch a Thief’.

However, it was her effort to hide her baby bump with the bag in the mid-1950s that really garnered attention.

As pictures of the Princess of Monaco emerged in magazines the world over, the demand for the HERMÈS bag grew exponentially.

Although it instantly became known as the

Kelly bag, HERMÈS officially renamed it in 1977.

The story of the Birkin goes a little differently. In 1984, somewhere above the English Channel on an Air France flight from Paris to London, the idea of the Birkin bag was born.

As actress Jane Birkin — star of ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Blowup’ — stuffed her trademark wicker basket bag into the overhead compartment, the contents spilt out onto the seat and aisle below.

As if by fate (and a chance upgrade to First Class), Birkin found herself sitting next to the executive chairman of HERMÈS at the time, Jean-Louis Dumas.

After a lengthy discussion about her ideal design and Dumas’ recommendation of pockets, the English actress scribbled out a sketch of what would become the iconic Birkin.

Her request? Bigger than the Kelly bag but smaller than Serge Gainsbourg’s suitcase (also HERMÈS, naturally).

Birkin Bags

Which Birkin size is better?

“Classic Birkin bags come in four different sizes: 25, 30, 35 and 40, which basically means there’s a Birkin bag for every occasion. Each number stands for the bag’s width in centimetres.”

What are the differences between the leathers of the HERMÈS Birkin bags?

”They really are so important, as the unique leathers together with exquisite colours are what makes each bag special. There are around 30 different types of leather that HERMÈS does and that is probably the most a brand can offer.

Different leathers differ in softness, texture, and sturdiness, and can even affect the overall shape of the bag.”

Epsom and Togo are probably the two most popular ones — and also the most different — as Epsom tends to be more rigid, whereas Togo is softer.

Togo bags are often stitched inside, and Epsom outside, which are respectively known as Retourne and Sellier types of stitching.

The Sellier stitching is on the outside which gives the bag a more structured shape, while Retourne stitching is on the inside giving the bag a more rounded shape.

Kelly Bags Review

What are the different sizes of Kelly bags? And what are the differences between each size?

“Kelly is a little bit more versatile, as the name Kelly is used also for pieces that contain the famous Kelly clasp. The most standard Kelly sizes are 25, 28, 32 and 35. However, there is also a Mini Kelly II and a Kelly Pochette.”

What are the main differences between a Birkin and Kelly bag?

“The Kelly bags have a shoulder strap and a closure over the top, whereas the Birkin has two top handles and is more of a tote bag.

Their shape is their main difference though, while the Birkin is rectangular, Kelly is more of a trapeze shape.”

MALLORCA MALLORCA

STOCKHOLM STOCKHOLM

MONACO MONACO

BY CONCIERGE.SE