The Women Born to Drink Wine: A Conversation with Avec
Blood may be thicker than water, but for this friendship group, wine trumps all. Meet Diana, Isolde, Ronja, Elly and Martina – the five best friends behind Avec, a Vasastan wine bar on the thoroughfare of Sankt Eriksgatan. Turning the ‘work-life balance’ archetype on its head, this group of friends never quite clocks off from work, or from each other.
It can feel impossible to separate the friends from Avec the business, and that’s because they’re one and the same. Likening the bar to their own living room, Avec has become a place for play, passion and profession. What started as a casual service job soon became a business opportunity, when the couple who originally bought the bar, entrusted the women working there to run it. Now, the proof is in the pudding. Shaped into something else entirely, the wine bar has entered a new era – one grounded in good wine and seasonal appetisers.
I visit Avec in late April, on the first proper good day of spring. The clouds are sparse and the temperature has climbed into double digits. The energy in the city is palpable. There’s an eagerness to enjoy the first uteservering of the season (a Swedish term that translates to ‘outdoor serving’).
I am set to meet three of the five women: Martina is currently living in Berlin, and Elly has relocated to Gotland. I arrive a little early and spot Ronja setting up the tables outside, taking a step back to assess her work. “Never have I ever seen a set table look so good,” I call out. She turns and laughs, immediately paying me a compliment on my outfit and enveloping me into a hug. At the door, I’m greeted by Diana and Isolde, both with a bashful politeness and charismatic reception. They tell me they’ve just been at the pub next door, going over their answers and drinking a beer to calm their nerves. I’m immediately endeared to them.
Unlike when a realtor calls something “cosy” and it really means small, this bar proclaims the opposite. It’s intimate, not stuffy. Sophisticated, not pretentious. There are maroon tables, olive seating, soft light fixtures, and quirky artwork by Swedish cartoonist Magda Lundberg, framed on the walls. Wine bottles are dotted throughout the space, filled with candles that overspill with wax. Behind the elongated countertop, shelves are lined with the bar’s most prized possessions. I’m drawn to the most obscure ones first, with abstract labels of colour, illustration and text, and sorbet-hued insides. With the weather too good to waste, we pluck a few from the shelf and take a seat outside.
Katey: Let’s start with a little introduction. Tell me who you are and what your role is at Avec.
Isolde: My name is Isolde and I’m 25. My role is a bit fluid. My main focus is on service – pouring the wines and talking to the guests. I also love cooking, so I prep the food, bake the bread and make the pasta. I also help decide which wines we should have.
Diana: My name's Diana, or Dani, depending on who's talking to me. I’m 29. Together with Isolde, I do most of the opening hours. During service, I’m the chef. I make Martina’s vision come to life on the plate. I also manage our finances.
K: Oh, so you have to do all the boring stuff, like the taxes?
D: Yeah, I do. But it has been super fun learning everything – it also takes us a step forward to owning something ourselves. But, for sure, it’s the most boring part.
Ronja: I’m Ronja and I’m 26, soon to be 27. I’m the social media manager and content creator. Social media is kind of a shared responsibility, with everyone pitching in, but I’m the main one making the plans and scheduling content. I’ve also been working in service, on and off. When Isolde can’t work, I jump in.
K: Like the understudy?
R: Exactly like that!
K: And what about the other two?
R: Elly is 31 and she’s the graphic designer. She was actually the first to start working here. Martina is 26 – turning 27 this year – and she’s the food gal: the creator of our menus.
K: So, how did you all meet? Give me the origin story.
D: Martina, Elly and I met seven or eight years ago, working in an interior shop together. We became best friends and, since then, we’ve always tried to keep working together. About four years ago, Elly moved jobs, where she met Ronja.
R: We instantly became friends. She was the one who introduced me to natural wine. She was like, “Let’s grab an AW. I always order something funky,” and I was like, “What the fuck is funky?” All I remember is us drinking pét-nat in Nytorget. Then she said, “You have to meet my two best friends,” which was Diana and Martina. Avec had just opened and Elly had started working here some nights, and that’s kind of how it all started.
D: Elly was the first one. Soon after, she texted me saying, “You should apply and work here too.”
I: Wait, so then, Ronja, you came next? You were the third one in?
R: Yes! Okay, so Elly got pregnant, so she stepped back a bit. I was unemployed at the time, so Diana called me to step in.
D: We were a group of three, but naturally Ronja became our fourth.
I: And Martina, was she already here?
D: No, then it was you.
K: Wait, okay. Isolde, tell me about when you became the fifth member of the group.
R: It sounds like we’re a band!
I: I was out at a bar with my other friends when I met them. They told me about Avec, which I happened to live around the corner from. I started coming here in my free time. One day, they needed some extra help and asked if I could cook something. I was like, “Of course, I can cook something.” I became officially employed, and then I just never left.
R: One time I came in and Isolde was unloading the dishwasher. I was like “Diana, you can’t ask our guests to do this,” and she was like, “No, she works here now!”.
K: It’s cool that you all met going out to bars, and now you run your own together.
R: Guess you could say it’s our common interest.
“Most of the time, with natural wines, it’s smaller batches and they’re family-owned, so it’s a beautiful hantverk.”
K: What has been the most surprising thing you’ve learnt about running a wine bar?
I: Almost everything. None of us had any experience in this line of work. When I started, I thought there was just white wine and red wine, and that was it. Then my interest in natural wine started to grow.
R: Social media was something I could contribute, as I’d done it before. But everything else, from wine to food, I’ve learned here. We learn a lot from each other, actually.
I: That’s the fun part for me. Just by having an interest in it, you can do so much. Two years ago, I never would have thought I’d be part of running a business. It’s obviously very time-consuming and very hard, but now I feel confident doing it.
D: When we started, we wanted to say yes to everything, like the catering –
I: We did say yes to everything!
D: Yeah, we did. It took us quite a while to learn how to manage our time. Because if you do say yes to everything? Forget sleeping, forget your family, forget having a private life. We had to define our main focus and decide what was most worth our time. We still offer catering, but we’ve cut back.
R: We also know our abilities now. We know how we work together. I think, in the beginning, we were overreaching. The first catering job we did was for over 100 people at a party, and we were like, “How are we going to store everything?” It was a scramble. And then someone suggested, “We should do savoury cannoli...” – and no one had done a fucking cannolo before. So, there we were, doing hundreds of them the night before...
I: But they were so beautiful!
R: They were! And we did it. Everything we’ve set out to do, we actually do, which is super fun.
K: By the way, what does Avec mean? Is there a story behind it?
R: People think we’re French, and we’re not. But the word means ‘with’. So, we interpret it as being together.
K: What is your vision for the future of Avec? Where do you want to steer it?
D: For me, it’s about improving our knowledge and understanding more about the process behind the wines. I also want to learn more about each individual wine producer. Most of the time, with natural wines, it’s smaller batches and they’re family-owned, so it’s a beautiful hantverk (craft).
I: Exactly. We want to be able to talk about that with our guests.
D: We are such a small place, so we have the time to really bond with them over it.
I: It’s nice to talk to our guests in a way they understand. I don’t have a big sommelier background, but I think that helps me talk about the wine at almost the same level as the guests. I like that it doesn’t have to be –
D: Pretentious.
I: Exactly, that’s the word I was looking for. To be able to smell it, taste it and describe what you feel, knowing that everyone at the table will experience something different. I feel like it’s almost an art form.
K: What’s your favourite wine at the moment?
D: I love very light, juicy reds. Almost like rosé, but it shouldn’t be labelled a rosé. It should just be a super, super light red.
I: What’s the term we learnt for that? Blouge!
D: We heard it from one person...don’t quote us on that.
R: I love a spritzy red with a bubbly vibe, similar to a lambrusco. I also love a dry, volcanic white where you can taste the minerals – it’s almost salty.
I: My taste has changed a lot since working here. I used to be all about lighter red wines – the funkier, the better. But now, I think I’m more into heavier, classic reds that are a bit smoky. Like a grandpa wine.
K: Let’s talk about the food. What influences your menu?
R: I can speak for Martina and say that we work a lot with what’s in season. Beets, zucchini, etc. We always try to have something vegetarian on the menu.
D: I would say we do more vegetarian than meat options.
R: Yeah. And we love beans.
I: We love beans!
D: Yeah, we love beans. They’re usually on the menu.
K: How often do you change the menu?
D: We change the menu pretty often. If we run out of a dish, we’ll adjust it in some way.
I: Like a small tweak or twist.
D: I’d say you can't really expect the same dish twice.
R: You’ll just have to come in every week to see!
K: Have you started to see a lot of regulars coming into the bar?
D: Yeah, we have. You get to bond with them and talk about the good days and the bad ones.
I: We’re here every day, so it’s impossible to miss us. We love our regulars.
R: If we’re not working, we’re drinking wine next door at the pizzeria or across the street. The people that live here are so lovely. Some have been coming since the beginning, and others are newcomers.
I: You learn their tastes, so you know what they like. You can recognise when something new might suit them. I also like being able to challenge them with new things.
K: What’s your favourite thing about working here?
I: Working with each other.
D & R: Aww.
R: It’s funny, because even when we’re not working, we’re together anyway. When someone asks, “What do you do for work?” and you explain, “Oh, I work with my four best friends,” you’re reminded how great that is. It doesn’t feel like work when you’re here, and that’s the most important thing. I get so excited to come in. One of my favourite things is coming in to help Martina prep food – I get to chop onions and drink wine. It’s great.
I: It’s like our living room, where we get to meet every day. We have a common goal, so it’s nice working towards it together.
D: Same. Since we work together, it’s a guaranteed ‘hang’. It’s getting to do all the things we like doing, but together. It really is such a dream.
“Obviously, there are going to be bad days and good days, but then we just send each other a meme and we’re fine again.”
K: When you’re not working or drinking here, what are you doing?
D: Drinking and hanging out somewhere else.
R: We go to each other’s houses, have dinner and watch a movie. It’s very effortless.
I: We live our lives so closely together.
D: Everyone knows that if you invite one of us, the others are coming too.
I: We’re connected in all aspects. It’s really nice.
K: It’s impressive that you can sustain a good friendship, even when you’re living in each other’s pockets.
R: The bad days are harder with your friends, because the one you want to talk to is your friend. But, we always get over it. We just want to make things better, together.
D: We’re good at separating our work lives from our personal lives. Obviously, there are going to be bad days and good days, but then we just send each other a meme and we’re fine again.
K: Tell me your perfect mysigt day.
R: My day is so divided. The morning is for self-care – because, you know, I work out sometimes.
K: I saw you did a 10k run the other day!
R: Oh my god, the secret’s out. I did a 10k yesterday, yes, it’s true. I do the Pilates thing as well. My best days are the ones that start like that. Then, in the afternoon, I meet up with my friends, and we go from bar to bar. We sit in the sun, drink a glass of wine and play cards. We cook dinner at Isolde’s a lot – she also has the best sofa – and we watch scary movies. That’s one of my perfect days.
I: I don’t like being alone, so my perfect day involves meeting up. I like to extend the day for as long as I can – going home, cooking dinner, watching a movie. Just doing things together.
D: If I were to dream a day, it would be raining. I love the rain, with a window to the balcony cracked open so you can smell it. I love watching movies – I could watch movies for a full day.
K: Oh, like a soffpotatis?
D: Yes, I’m the definition of a soffpotatis. A full day of drinking wine, watching movies and eating good food – preferably take out. Or if someone wants to cook for me (points at Isolde) like you, you love cooking!
I: You prefer takeout, okay! I will never cook for you again!
D: I prefer your company on the couch! Anyway, a day off for me is all about maximum chilling.
K: What about your favourite local spots? If someone was coming to Stockholm for the first time, where would you tell them to go?
I: Avec.
D: Yes, but we have to shout out our neighbours too. The bar 20hundra5 does great cocktails.
R: We’re there a lot. We also like places that aren’t the finest. We really appreciate a shitty pub because it’s just so cosy.
I: We love Stringfellows, the local pub.
R: Yeah, and our favourite place around Odenplan is L’Antico. It’s a very cute gem.
I: They are so lovely there. The service is amazing!
K: Would you ever take on a sixth member?
R: I don’t think we could say never.
D: I mean, we will need some more employees as we expand.
R: The group started as three, then I came in and Elly said, “I didn’t think we’d be four.” Then Isolde came in and now we’re five. So, it could end up being ten – we don’t know. But as time goes on, we meet new friends all the time, so who knows.
AVEC
@avec.vasastan
Sankt Eriksgatan 100, 113 31 Stockholm