Three Dutch wines, interestingly enough from the North, South and the East, have all won gold medals in Berlin at the Berlinale Wein Trophy, according to one of the winners, Marius van Stokkom of vineyard De Linie in Brabant.

Van Stokkom from the town of Made won for his extra dry white wine De Linie (2007), Rudolf and Yvon Jonker from Venhuizen of vineyard Westfriesland in De Swanenplaats were crowned for their dry white wine Auxerrois (2007) and Frederik Verhoeven from Groesbeek of vineyard De Colonjes won for his dry white wine Cabernet Blanc 2007.

And yes, there are tons of vineyards in the Netherlands, but the wine that is produced is either too expensive (we’re used to acceptable table wine for 5 euro, paying 30 euro is not going to happen), only available very locally (a tour around the vineyard is fun for the whole family, methinks) and let’s face it, not that great… yet.

One of the most famous Dutch winemakers is Ilya Gort of vineyard La Tulipe in France whom I saw give a presentation last fall in Amsterdam. Of all the blowing your own horn and drinking he did on stage – his wine is the perfect table wine for 5 euro so to speak – he made some excellent points that changed my attitude towards everyday wine drinking:

– Look at the wine.
Take a few seconds to actually look at the colour of what you’re drinking. Someone worked very hard to get it that way.

– Smell the wine.
You smell your food before you eat it, give your wine the same courtesy.

– Respect the wine and use a proper glass.
I almost can’t drink from my tumbler glasses anymore, it doesn’t taste the same.

Yes, drink the cheap stuff this way too and you will see the difference when you drink a better bottle.

And I can’t resist posting this film with Ilya Gort (in English with some French, subtitled)

(Link: missethoreca.nl, Photo: De Linie)