So what inspired you to make that transition?

Well, really, when I grew up, I normally define my upbringing because sometimes when I'm in Bordeaux with wine producers, they ask me, oh, your parents had a big wine cellar.

I really represent the average Joe from Sweden growing up in the 70s and 80s.

My parents, I mean, they were not drinking alcohol, but wine was just something, perhaps a bottle for the weekend.

It was not something that was on the table every day.

And early on, I developed my passion for gastronomy.

My grandmother's cooking.

Did you have the inner confidence that, wow, I can actually win this thing, you know, this contest? I did because,

[laughs]

...

I confess.

And- and since then, you know, the '90s I worked as a chef, I worked in the kitchen, but I wasn't really ambitious about it because my big, uh, passion was actually music and I wanted to focus more on that.

So I actually considered the- the job being just a job.

Uh, and when I came to that conclusion, I said either you do something well or you- you quit.

So I quit and I took my sabbatical at the end of the '90s and I went to, uh, started sommelier school because by then my- my passion for wine had- had grown.

Like, there's not good people on the floor, and then they come on the stage and they are good actors.