Best Belgian Wines - Wijnkasteel Vandeurzen

Belgium is known for its beer, but wine? Well, if you think about it - Belgium & France are neighbours and the climate conditions are not too different. So it shouldn't too surprising to understand that Belgian wine is a thing! 

The control for the manufacture, quality & certification of wines in Belgium is similar to that of France. One of the 5 places of origin for the Belgian wines is Hageland, the eastern part of Flemish Brabant - Hagelandse wijn. While most of the wine produced in this region is white wine, red wine and sparkling wine are also produced here. There are quite a few vineyards in this region. Many can be visited for wine tasting as well as tours. There is a dedicated vineyard walking trail as well as cycling trail. Visiting a vineyard and tasting local wines is one of the top things to do in Flemish Brabant.

Wine cycle route begins at Horst Castle and is 44km long.  Vineyard Walking trail is 7.5km which begins at Wezemaal at the Hageland Wine Visitors' Centre which gives an overview about Hageland wines including a Wijngaardberg region (vineyard hills region). Wine tasting sessions also happen here. Some of the wineries and vineyards in this region include Winery Kluisberg, Winery Petrushoeve, Winery Chartreuzenberg, Winery Vandeurzen and many more.

Nearest railway station: Wezemaal

How to reach Hageland Wine Visitors' Centre: Trains run from Leuven to Wezemaal every 20 mins and the journey time is about 7 mins. Bezoekerscentrum van de Hagelandse wijn is located 1.2km from Wezemaal railway station. While it can be walked, one excellent option is to hire a cycle in Leuven and take it by train till Wezemaal and go on the Wine Cycle Route.

Hageland Wine Visitors' Centre Opening Hours: Tue-Fri: 1:00PM to 5:00PM; Sat-Sun: 2:00PM to 6:00PM; Closed on Mondays

One of the wineries of Flemish Brabant is in Linden and is called the Wijnkasteel Vandeurzen founded by Mr. Urbain Vandeurzen. When he spotted this little, pristine white castle of Linden (Lubbeek) called Castle de Beauffort, he bought it along with the surrounding 11 hectares of land for cultivation.  Linden Castle has its origins from the 12th C CE. However the current structure belongs to 1661 CE. Its renovation with Neo Classic architecture style happened in 1870 CE. He restored the castle and its gardens which covers an area of 40 acres and today it is his private home & office. He wanted to make something here that could employ the locals and thus was born, Wijnkasteel Vandeurzen along with the de Victorie restaurant and wijnbistro in 2013.

Both red wines and white wines are produced here in Vandeurzen Wijnkasteel. One of their major white wines is Chardonnay. It was with Chardonnay grapes that they started cultivation here. Today they have 10,000 Chardonnay plants and normally these full grown plants can produce 1 bottle of wine per plant. 

The unusual thing about Vandeurzen Wijnkasteel is that they cultivate some unusual varieties of grapes that are not cultivated in any other Belgian vineyards thanks to, Mr.Urbain Vandeurzen who is a risk-taker! Looking at the climatic conditions & soil conditions here, he decided to bring unusual grape varieties from elsewhere in Europe, which were traditionally never grown in Belgium. Initially it was seen as a craziness and risk, but now these unusual grape varieties are Vandeurzen's specialty wines!

For eg., Grüner Veltliner, a white wine grape variety from Austria, is a specialty here. No one else in Belgium cultivates it. The Veltliner grapes are so luscious that they can produce 3.5 bottles of wine per plant! This is a bit citrusy & spicy.

Another unique variety of grapes cultivated here is the Spanish variety called Albarino used to produce Vandeurzen Pure White Albarino. This has such a thick skin which results in very less flesh, so there is not a lot of juice. Albarino produces just half a bottle of wine per plant making it a super-specialty wines of Belgium and one of the best white wines of Belgium! In the first year of cultivation, with 1700 plants only 20 lt of wine was produced and in the 2nd year, only 199 bottles were produced. In the last couple of years the production has been around 1500-2000 bottles. So you can imagine, how much of a limited edition this automatically becomes! It is indeed one of the most expensive wines of Belgium that costs €25 per bottle! It is a dry wine with a fruity, apple taste. This is the wine that can give Champagne a run for its money! You need to taste it to believe it. No wonder, Vandeurzen Pure White Albarino has been selected as the Best Wine of Belgium for 2 years in a row. 

Their best red wine of Belgium that Vandeurzen manufactures is Pure Red Tempranillo Prestige which is again one of the most expensive wines of Belgium that also costs €25 per bottle. The Tempranillo is also a Spanish grape variety. Tempranillo grapes are big and luscious and each bunch weighs as much as 2 to 2.5kgs!

When the grapes are perfect to be cultivated, very many locals are hired on the job. Ideally the entire harvest must be done within 3 days, otherwise the weather can have effects on the the taste of the wine. Till date hand-picking of the grapes is given preference over machine picking.  Ofcourse the winery is located right here, overlooking the vineyard with both steel & wooden barrels. 

As I mentioned earlier, the node-to-node cycling network, makes cycling in Flanders, a super easy task. On fine day we decided to hire a cycle from Leuven and ride all the way upto Horst Castle via Arenberg Castle, Park Abbey and ofcourse Wijnkasteel Vandeurzen. This 21km (one-way) route follows the nodepoints - 10-74-75-73-11-33-80-5-83-29-99-98-65.

Our first stop was Arenberg Castle and next was Park Abbey. After having some snacks at Brasserie de Abdijmolen we headed to Vandeurzen Wijnkasteel. After that we stopped briefly at Castle of Cleerbeek and finally headed to Horst Castle to spend the evening. It was a long day and a long ride, but totally worth it.

How to reach Arenberg Castle: 3.5km from Leuven station. Delijn buses (15 mins ride) are regularly available. 

How to reach Park Abbey:  3.5km from Leuven station. Delijn buses (15 mins ride) are regularly available.