Jaure water from Vilhelmina is drawn from a deep spring located in the granite massif near Lake Vojmsjön, in Lapland, Sweden. Today, the product has just won a gold medal at an international competition.
Jaure, the bottled water from Vilhelmina, was awarded a gold medal last Friday during a water tasting competition in Atlanta, USA — competing against 100 other brands from 30 countries.
“It was fantastic,” says Katarina Paulson, co-founder of the family-owned company Jaure.
The “Taste & Design Awards 2025” event, organized by the Fine Water Society, was a major success for the family-run company from Vilhelmina.
A jury made up of water sommeliers from various countries awarded Jaure the gold medal in the main category, “sparkling,” dedicated to lightly carbonated waters.
“Jaure won the competition completely unexpectedly. It was so much fun and truly exciting. We are members of the Fine Water Society – an international organization that brings together producers, experts, and enthusiasts of premium water from all over the world,” explains Katarina Paulson.
Their goal is to promote knowledge, emphasize the importance of quality, and highlight natural mineral and spring water as essential to life. “That’s why they organize educational seminars, competitions, and professional networking events in this field,” she adds.
In addition to the prestige, Jaure will now be able to add a label to its bottles indicating that it has won gold for the quality of its water.
“We are a family business, and it’s especially rewarding that two of my sons really worked hard to achieve what we call ‘soft sparkling’ — that is, lightly carbonated water, not too fizzy,” she explains.
Her sons, Gustaf and Verner, experimented to achieve the perfect softness in the drink.
“We received incredible feedback about it: some people said it was like drinking champagne… but it was water. They found the bubbles beautiful and asked questions about our process. It was fantastic to hear — and it was my sons who made it happen,” Paulson says proudly.
Katarina Paulson describes the work of her twin sons as developing a true recipe, and notes that achieving the “perfect balance” is more complex than one might think.
“Many may think it’s just about adding carbonation. But it’s not that simple. It’s about calculating how many hours the water should stay in the tank, and the exact amount of CO₂ to add before bottling, to create what we call ‘soft sparkling’. And we succeeded — that was a great joy,” she says.
Jaure also won bronze for the design of its bottles, created by the eldest son, Hagbard.
“The Jaure company is made up of me, my husband, our three sons, and my mother Anita. She also plays a special role — she helps us with mail and other small things,” she says with a smile.
In addition to this success internationally, the company has recently been appointed official water supplier to two royal households.
“I can’t say which ones, but it’s quite something that water from Vilhelmina is now being served in two royal palaces around the world,” concludes Paulson.
