– I thought it was crazy, and I refused to join in sitting out for a week just for a bottle of wine. But my boyfriend explained to me what was going on, and then I joined. That’s what Lauren from California tells news. Together with her boyfriend Thomas, she has spent the night in a tent outside the Maxi shopping center in Sandnes for a week. Exclusive wine from the wine region of Burgundy in France will be available at a selection of Vinmonopol on Thursday. Wine enthusiasts all over the country have long since set up tents to secure precious drops. The most expensive bottle costs over NOK 60,000. – If you get hold of it, you can sell it on for NOK 260,000, says wine journalist in Dagens Næringsliv, Merete Bø. Thomas from Stavanger persuaded his American girlfriend Lauren to join the Burgundy drop: – We haven’t figured out what to do with the bottles yet. We will probably keep some and sell a few, says Thomas. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news Ringed fox in Polkø Bjørn Håvard Larsen is described as a ringed fox in Vinmonopolkøen at Aker brygge. – There are many ringed foxes in the queue, a whole fox farm in fact. Apart from the pandemic, every year since 2007 he has lined up to secure some of the precious wine. This year he was six days ahead of the Burgundy release. Bjørn Håvard Larsen well dressed and in familiar surroundings. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news Never before has he been out so late, and has to make do with queue number 12. One wonders why so many people want to lie in a tent outside in the February cold, year after year, to get wine. – I buy them to ripen them. Then I’ll drink every bloody drop, says a committed Larsen. But more and more people are making a profit from the wine purchase. You can earn over NOK 200,000 for reselling a bottle of Burgundy wine. Henrik Malme and Bjørn Håvard Larsen. Malme has been queuing three weeks before the release: – This year, a completely new group has come forward that no one has seen before. It’s nice that we have new blood in the queue, says Ringrev Larsen. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news – The only criterion is that you have to freeze Odd Jarle Nygård is store manager for Vinmonopolet at the Maxi Sandnes shopping centre. – It is very funny that people are so interested in what we do, and not least that they understand the importance of what we do. The first person in the queue gets to choose the wine first. That is why large queues with tents and sleeping bags form outside the 12 Vinmonopoles in Norway that sell the wine. The store manager has a sense for that. – We have the opportunity to sell wines that are otherwise never seen available in the rest of the world, to the first person in line. The only criterion is that you have to lie outside and freeze, he says. Store manager Odd Jarle Nygård together with the first person in the queue in Sandnes, Petter Nyhus. Nyhus has a list with him where he has crossed off the wines he needs to get hold of. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news The store manager of Vinmonopolet in Sandefjord, Tone Weum Elnan, is also excited about the tent village that appears outside the store once a year. – It’s good that someone is so dedicated to their hobby. I think they have a good time too. There are rumors about yatzy and games, she says. Tone Weum Elnan went through the last preparations before the Burgundy release on Wednesday. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news Using money saved from shares and funds Outside Maxi in Sandnes, news meets a student who set up a tent 12 days before the Burgundy release. – For me, this is my first and last opportunity to get Burgundy wine. There are very few bottles to be had. The economics student has taken out savings from shares and funds to afford the expensive drops. The plan is to drink most of the bottles himself, but he is also thinking of selling some of them. Ole pitched a tent outside Vinmonopolet in Sandefjord 89 hours before the release. He says the wine is sought after. – There are canon wines, and there are fewer and fewer of them. It is absolutely worth sleeping outside. It is not many years before you see that these wines become almost impossible to get hold of. Ole in Sandefjord thinks the queue is worth it. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news He is camping with a friend. They play games, listen to music, talk and discuss to pass the time. – It is fine. It is the light at the end of the tunnel that drives us. Ole does not want to come forward with his full name for fear of theft. Wine enthusiasts and bottle flippers No one in the queue in Bergen wants to go out with their name and picture on news. Some of them plan to sell some of their bottles on. It is not popular in the wine community. Bjørn Håvard Larsen says there is always the occasional “bottle flipper” in the queue. – Those of us who are looking to get hold of wine that is almost impossible to get hold of, call ourselves wine enthusiasts. Then you have the bottle flippers who want to make a few kroner. Bottle flippers are a bit frowned upon among us drinkers. Larsen is also a whiskey enthusiast. He talks about Springbank, a distillery that labels the bottles with the name of the customers on the label. – If you sell it at auction, it is clear who has sold their soul for a few pounds. There is also a Belgian brewery in a monastery, where you have to sign that your soul will go to hell if you resell. We should almost have a clause like that, he says. news also met Larsen during the Burgundy release in 2019. Then he was the very first in the queue: Acting store manager for Vinmonopolet in Valkendorfsgaten in Bergen, Eirik Njøs Storvik, says he has not heard of writing names on the bottles to be sold. – It is very exciting. I don’t remember that we have discussed anything like that in Vinmonopolet. In Bergen, several have long since set up tents to secure the precious drops. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Fears the end of Burgundy releases Wine journalist Merete Bø in Dagens Næringsliv believes these bottle flippers could destroy the possibility of future Burgundy releases. – I understand that they do it, but I think it could mean the end of these releases, she says. She says that the wine suppliers are very concerned that their wines do not enter the secondary market. – I imagine that they will stop releasing their wines on the pole. It’s a huge shame, because then this wine will no longer be available to ordinary people. Those who resell Burgundy wine are kicking themselves a little. Wine journalist in DN, Merete Bø. Photo: Siri Vålberg Saugstad / news
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Several tents outside the Vinmonopolet to buy expensive wine during the Burgundy release – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
