Vineyards Breda and surroundings - Netherlands

Grapes have been cultivated in the Netherlands since Roman times, but vineyards around Maastricht were only documented around 968. In the Middle Ages, viticulture spread to other parts of the Netherlands, leading to widespread wine consumption. This was due to the relatively warm climate of the time. Everything changed in the 16th century when beer was discovered and the climate in the Netherlands changed, making it too cold for viticulture. After the Eighty Years' War, Napoleon made grape cultivation impossible in the Netherlands, and the phylloxera, by 1946, there were no vineyards left.

Around 1970, many positive changes occurred in the Dutch wine industry. Several entrepreneurs began planting new vineyards, primarily in Limburg and North Brabant. Since then, there has been a steady but accelerating growth in wine production in the Netherlands. There are currently approximately 170 commercial vineyards in the Netherlands.

Vineyard De Linie - Made

One of those vineyards, established in 1977, is De Linie. Marius van Stokkum embarked on a considerable quest to find the right grape variety to make the best wine in Made. The improbability of Dutch wine motivated him to make the best wine possible, regardless of the effort involved. To achieve this, he exchanged experiences with many winemakers in Europe's classic wine regions.

He selected 40 classic grape varieties from a study of 400. For ten years, he experimented in the vineyard on climate resilience, quality, and fresh fruitiness.

Seven varieties remained, including Gewürztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir.

At present, the vineyard of over one hectare contains more than 4,000 plants.

In the wine you can find many influences from Alsace and Germany.

When I visited the Stokkum family last year, I was given a wonderful tour and wine tasting of Marius's wines. He told me a lot about the long journey he's taken to achieve the perfect wine, and with great success. He was so proud that De Linie was the first Dutch wine served at KLM. He has won several national awards for his wines and won a gold medal for his 2018 red wine at The Continental Taste Challenge. This competition, in which wines are judged by a jury of renowned European wine experts, is held internationally and is highly regarded in the wine industry. This was the ultimate recognition of his work and the hard work he had put in. Last year, he reached retirement age and wanted to pass the baton to another passionate winemaker. He mentioned that he had found a successor in Rudy and Quirien Schellekens. He will never completely take his hands off his wine estate; after all, he built it, which is why you can still find him regularly in the vineyard.

Vineyard Dassemus - Chaam

Owner Ron Langeveld started with many different grape varieties and concluded that some of them would only survive if they were sprayed against various fungi. Because he wanted to make wine with as much respect as possible for nature, these grape varieties were removed over the years, because even a little spraying is not organic . These are choices that can take years before the vineyard can be planted and harvested again. Patience is a virtue in the vineyard!

Ron has selected 13 different grape varieties, including Solaris, Souvignier gris, Muscaris, and Johanniter (all white) and Rondo, Cabernet Cortis, Baron, and Monarch (blue). These varieties were specifically developed for resistance to mold. An added advantage of the new varieties is that they ripen several weeks earlier than the classic varieties. By keeping yields relatively low and leaf surface area large, they can still obtain ripe grapes with sufficient sugar content in the Netherlands.

The grapes are processed immediately after harvesting in the winery's own cellar. Bottling and labeling are also handled entirely in-house.

They produce only organic wines, and in addition to regular organic wine, they also produce organic natural wines, also known as wild wines. The difference is that no yeast is added to natural wine. The yeasts naturally present in the vineyard initiate the fermentation process. These wines are unfiltered. A minimal amount of sulfites may be added during bottling.

The wines are wonderfully fresh and fruity with a lovely pure character.

St. Catherinedal Vineyard - Oosterhout

Living tendrils connected to each other.

For centuries, the sisters of the Sint-Catharinadal convent have used their fields for grazing cows and growing crops such as corn. Now the land has been made suitable for viticulture. A vineyard connected to the convent, a beautiful biblical metaphor: "I am the Vine, My Father the Vinedresser"!

The Catharina estate's vineyard covers 7.5 hectares (about the size of ten football fields). Now that the vineyard has reached full maturity, an average harvest amounts to forty thousand bottles of wine.

The grape varieties planted are Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Auxerrois, and Gamay. These grapes are primarily used to make white wines, such as a crisp white wine and oak-aged Chardonnay. Pinot Noir and Gamay are used for a light-colored rosé, as in Provence.

The people of MidZuid maintain the vineyard alongside volunteers. They prune and care for the grapevines year-round. Harvesting in the fall is done manually, with the grape bunches picked under expert guidance. At the Sint-Catharinadal winery, the grapes are pressed, and the fermentation process begins in oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. During the winemaking and bottling process, the sisters received further assistance from South African winemaker Andries Burger of the renowned Paul Cluver winery in Elgin. I first met Andries in Oosterhout during my WSET3 training. It was great to see him again on my wine tour of South Africa.

Despite the vineyard's young age, it's already producing a beautiful wine. The oak-aged Chardonnay is especially noteworthy. A beautifully structured, round wine with a lingering finish that pairs wonderfully with a hearty dinner.

The wine from Sint-Catharinadal is sold through the monastery shop.