13Arctic Sparkle is a non-alcoholic sparkling wine product of the family business Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi (Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi Oy) based on Finnish cloudberries. The small but fine company was founded in 2004 and since then has been producing a variety of products. What all products have in common is that the raw materials used in their production come from Finnish nature.

Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi is located in Savonlinna in the middle of Finland’s fantastic lake district, about one and a half hours east of Mikkeli. In addition to Arctic Sparkle, the extensive portfolio of the family business includes all conceivable Finnish berries, an excellent fruit sauce from cloudberries, jams, wild mushrooms, purees, juices and very tasty lemonades of cranberries, for example. In addition, Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi offers a catering service as well as a beverage and delivery service.

It is important to mention that at Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi all drinks are made from wild berries. Cultivated berries are not used and no flavours or colours are added – all flavours and colours come from real berries.

With Arctic Sparkle – which unfortunately is not yet available on the company’s website – Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi has launched a very interesting product. The cloudberry or swamp blackberry used for this product is a landmark of Lapland and is mainly found in the northernmost regions of the world. It is not only healthy and rich in vitamins and trace elements, but also tastes deliciously fruity and invigorating.

Arctic Sparkle is an ideal drink for celebrations where toasts are required but alcohol cannot or should not be drunk. Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi therefore calls it a “sparkling celebratory drink” on the fancy bottles. Arctic Sparkle is not too sweet and has a very fine bubble – almost like champagne. The fragrance has a fruity note, which is also found in the taste of this drink.

From my point of view, Arctic Sparkle is a really tasty thing to drink not only on celebration days.

As far as shelf life is concerned, Arctic Sparklee is added potassium sorbate as a preservative, Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi has chosen to use it because this substance is already present in the berries in its natural form. Personally, I am not a fan of preservatives and if so, only of those such as sugar, citric acid or similar natural substances – but here I am not expert enough, I just have my own opinion.

Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi let me know that the issue of sustainability is playing an increasingly important role for them. In Finland, the recycling rate of metal packaging parts is over 80%, which is why they deliberately chose metal foil as the material for the bottle neck of Arctic Sparkle.

Last but not least to the web presence of Saimaan Marjamarkkinointi, this is actual only available in Finnish, English and German.