My name is Steen Öhman – I was born in Denmark in the awful wine year 1965. The name Öhman originates from Finland, where my father came from, and where a large part of my family still live. So 50% Danish, and 40% Finnish … and 10% Burgundian.
Before I began to expand Winehog I worked with advertising and research, but always have had a very strong passion for wine and food.
This passion began back in the late 1980s with Bordeaux. The first inspiration came from David Peppercorns book “Bordeaux” and since then a lot of good and great wines have been tasted.
The focus is now on Burgundy – and I am now the man in the cellars of Burgundy having moved to Nuits-Saint-Georges.
I am local in Nuits-Saint-Georges
I have now choosen to place the Winehog office in the center of Nuits-Saint-Georges just in the very core of Côte de Nuits.
This allow me to follow the work and progress in the vineyards and in the cellars. And this will – when the world opens again – give me the chance to meet the Winehog readers and subscribers when you visit Burgundy.
Wine is for sharing and the interest for Burgundian wine is universal.
A bit of history
In the mid-90s I began to taste wine professionally, when I joined the tasting panel of the Danish magazine Penge & Privat Ökonomi. I’m no longer a part of this tasting panel, but this was the start of my wine tasting “career”.
I try to taste a broad range of wines in different contexts, and am currently a member of several tasting groups in Denmark. So far my wine interest has brought me as far as Singapore, where I attended the 80 years birthday of wine collector NK Yong – see picture below.
NK Yong 80 years celebration in 2007: Alessia Antinori (left), Steen Öhman (background left) Katharina Prum (right)
Independent ratings and articles
I don’t have any commercial interest in the wine business, and the work is financed mainly by revenue from subscribtions and some from consulting – writing content for magazines and merchands and a bit from the ads on the site.
My taste and palate
I have a preference towards elegant and transparent wines with finesse and a strong terroir. I really don’t like heavy wines with high alcohol level. Energy and Freshness are the keywords – wines without a crisp and vibrant fruit are uninspiring and more or less a waste of time!
Quite a lot of people think my ratings are pretty hard, but it’s my firm opinion that the ratings should be consistent, and a great terrior is necessary if a wine should achieve a top rating (legendary or extraordinary). The result of these principles is very few wines with top ratings, and quite a lot of wines in the 88 – 94pts range. I know many collectors only go for top ratings, but in my view a wine with a 88pts rating can be both very enjoyable and collectable. Wines rated as good can be very drinkable wines … for those who enjoy wine and not labels and points.
Please contact me
The site is constantly changing as I get feedback from friends and followers from all over the world. Please contact me if you have comments to the site, my reviews – I really need all the feedback I can get.
If you have a wine for reviewing, then please contact me via phone or email.
Contact details
Steen Öhman
Email: thewinehog@gmail.com