Taste the story
Founder Kari Brovall is a marketer and a bonafide storyteller. His love of wine has steered him in the direction of helping wineries bring their wines and stories to the fullest potential. He has been nominated by Wine Travel Awards in the category Food & Wine Influencer / Expert opinion in 2024 and 2025. He is also recognized by Vinoinfluencers World Awards.
Kari has worked for first class wineries, brands, people and for first class organizations. In the early 90´s he was in the house of the legendary Fondberg. The company grew from 32 million SEK to 1.2 billion SEK during his four years with the focus on sales and business development. He drove commercial strategy and served as a sales spokesman for a range of the worlds most admired wineries and global spirit brands including Miguel Torres, Taittinger Champagne, La Rioja Alta, Labouré-Roi, Bombay Sapphire Gin, JB Whisky, Jim Beam, Dalmore Whisky, Miller Genuine Draft and Stolichnaya Vodka.
Kari Brovall was appointed by Miguel Torres in the late 90s to set up the first Miguel Torres wine company in Scandinavia with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Together with colleagues the team succeeded both in sales volumes as in brand repositioning in the market while keeping its identity intact.
Prior to his own setup Kari contributed and participated in the elite e-commerce team in Copenhagen to help establish a new distribution channel which subsequently developed into the fastest growing digital and customer engagement wine platforms in Europe. The entire team participated in the nomination of Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2021 in the start-up/scale up category by Ernst & Young.
Sip the science
Madeleine Boode Nylander is a sommelier who leads with passion, purpose, and an uncompromising focus on taste and quality. She is responsible for all aspects of the purchase and taste. If you´ve ever browsed Astronaut Vinhandel shelves of bottles, two things should be abundantly clear. One, we leave no detail unconsidered. And two, we do so with a touch of eccentricity.
As Astronaut Vinhandels sommelier she oversees all wine selections and is also a member of the Astronaut Vinhandel leadership team.
For several years she has been a part of the important Swedish gastronomic center at Örebro University, the Grythyttan School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts & Meal Science. The scientific approach at Grythyttan is multidisciplinary and collaboration with other disciplines is essential, such as ethnology, sociology, sensory science, education, business, nutrition, food science and domestic science, subjects re-searching the meal from different perspectives.
Pour the bottle
As Astronaut Vinhandels People officer, Maria Krafft oversees all financial and commercial operations across the global network and serves as a member of parent company leadership team. She is a distinguished human leader, renowned for her deep understanding of the evolving HORECA landscape and unwavering focus on client value. Maria is a sommelier and a champion of borderless creativity and ideas . To be a sommelier takes dedicated practice.
There are books to read and memorize, wines to taste and bottles to count. Anyone can be a wine lover, but not a sommelier. A sommelier means that you are serving wine to the public and counting inventory at the end of each month. It is a job firmly rooted in the costumer service industry.
Pick the grape
Fisherman and chef Niklas Krafft helps marshal our commercial projects from the heavy fishing boat to our harbour lodge and is an anchor on our lobster adventures far out in the archipelago. Niklas is living by a simple mantra. There's no perfect time, plan, or conditions. Start with what you have. Action creates momentum, and momentum leads to results. Niklas leads with a rare mix of commercial insight and creative passion.
He drives the idea that a small team of people, about as many as can fit in a taxi cab, should drive every piece of business. By doing so, we remain nimble and with a highly collaborative and customized experience to our customers and friends.