Ästad Vingård

ÄNG — Swedish for "meadow" — stands as a glass solitaire alone in the field. A path winds across the gently undulating meadow up to the waiting glass house, and there the first scene of a roughly four-and-a-half-hour tasting experience begins, leading guests through several rooms — and below the earth's layers. The interior is by Copenhagen's Norm Architects and the Japanese-Scandinavian Karimoku Case Study.

Executive Chef Filip Gemzell cooks from Halland outward: ingredients sourced as close as possible, joined by techniques and ideas from kitchens around the world. Cellar Master Emma Ziemann has built a cellar of top European wines alongside the house cuvées from next door — the vineyard. ÄNG has held a Michelin star since 2021 and the green star for its rigorous sustainability. Those who wish stay the night and return for the Avsmakningsfrukost — a tasting breakfast, the ÄNG way.

Ästad's newest rooms sit in the middle of the vineyard, around a large natural pool: Sjöparken, the "lake park." Twenty-eight rooms, designed by Norm Architects and arranged in seven villas of four suites each, built off-site as modules and assembled in place to disturb guests as little as possible.

Each Sjöparken room is 35 m², with its own bathing jetty and outdoor shower, a private sauna and a lounge area behind generous windows. The design is minimalist, with Nordic and Japanese notes — warm timber, muted tones, plenty of light. The real luxury is just outside the door: the plunge into the natural pool before the day has even begun.

A vineyard this far north, a glass Michelin restaurant in the meadow, a spa built from the scents of the nature reserves — all of it is held together by a handful of people. Winemaker Claes Bartoldsson tends the vines and the cellar. In ÄNG's kitchen stand Executive Chef Filip Gemzell and, on the wine, Cellar Master Emma Ziemann. Edvin Elghag runs the hotel, Veronica Carlsson the hospitality.

It is led by Daniel Carlsson, CEO and co-owner, who helped finance and build ÄNG. His ambition is a simple one: a place where everything — wine, spa, kitchen, rooms — speaks of the same landscape.