"It's great to be here in [insert name of town]"

Why it's important to know which is Sweden's "least attractive city" if you're selling wine there.

What connects the Argentine wine brand “Tilia”, the Hungarian grape variety Hárslevelű, and the Swedish town of Lindesberg?

I have to admit, I was impressed when someone got this. Admittedly, we were actually in the Swedish town of Lindesberg. The answer is that they’re all named after Linden or Lime trees¹. The person who knew the answer even pointed one out for me in the garden of the venue. If they’re not the local pub quiz champion already, they should be.

This - admittedly niche - local knowledge is not unconnected with my current work. Which is a 40 date wine tasting “tour” of Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Three or four nights a week I take the train to a town, pour wine, talk about it, and taste with a group of wine lovers.

But rather than reading Viz while I’m on the train there, I spend the journey discovering a lot of trivia about the town I’m going to. As a result I can tell you where you’ll find the world’s largest wooden statue of a bear², the second largest metal statue of an elk³, the world’s biggest Christmas goat⁴, which is Sweden’s “least attractive” city⁵, and why you can no longer walk inside the world’s largest preserved blue whale⁶.