Do’s Wijn Club – Not your Ordinary Wine Tasting.
A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit the first event of Do’s Wijn Club hosted at restaurant Hemel & Aarde, a fabulous location in the city center of Utrecht.
Dominique is a young and exciting entrepreneur. He started in the wine business by importing wines, mainly for restaurants, but he is now taking these beautiful wines to the public. Doos Wijn wants to bridge the gap between supermarket wine-fans and wine snobs. How? By organizing events where you can taste and learn about new wines, without making it too complicated.
Doos Wijn generally works with small producers that make extraordinary wines. The selection changes with the seasons. This ‘Primeur’ event was the launch of the summer selection with a variety of wines from famous regions like Alsace, Bordeaux and Tuscany, but also lesser-known wine countries such as the Czech Republic.
Tasting in the Restaurant
Entering the beautiful tasting room, you were provided a tasting glass and a booklet with all the wines available at the event. But with over 60 wines to try, where do you start? The main room was divided into various tasting areas, all with a certain style of wine. You could start with some sparkling wines, then try some fresher and lighter style wines before moving up to the more bold and powerful bottles.
Every tasting table displayed the wines and some of their characteristics and technical information to help you decide. Or you could just ask the person pouring the wine to help you pick something based on what you normally like (or try something completely different!).
Sipping in the Bar
For those not in the mood for a large tasting, you could also enjoy a glass of wine and some accompanying bites in the bar area. And for the attendees that were new to wine, a mini seminar was organized in the bar teaching the basics of wine tasting. This quick and easy to understand 10-minute seminar discussed the three steps of any tasting technique: what do you see, smell and taste? And most importantly, do you like it or not? Learning about what you like or dislike in a wine, and why, helps you understand you own taste which makes deciding on a wine much easier!
Learning in the Cellar
If a quick tasting lesson was not enough for you, there were also two seminars you could sign up to. Both seminars were hosted in the generously filled wine cellar of the restaurant. A little peak into the selection was enough to make any wine enthusiast jealous (and thirsty).
Piedmont – Natalia Fabrizzi
Natalia Fabrizzi represents the wines of Italian winemaker Piero Rossi Cairo from two wineries located in the hills of Piedmont in northern Italy: Tenuta La Raia and Cucco.
Tenuta La Raia is located in the Gavi hills and has 45 hectares of vineyards that follow the biodynamic farming principles. The Tenuta has been a certified organic farm since 2018 and produces both white and red wine from grapes native to Piedmont, such as Gavi DOCG, made from the (white) Cortese grape and Piemonte DOC from the (blue) Barbera grape. Cortese is known for its freshness and high acidity, with aromas of pear, peach, citrus and jasmine. Barbera also shows a high level of acidity, with medium tannins and fruit forward aromas of red and black cherries and blueberries and notes of black pepper and laurel.
Tenuta Cucco is located just 20 minutes from the city of Alba. The 12,5 hectares of vineyards are spread out of various sub-areas producing the most renowned wines of Piedmont: Barolo, Dolcetto d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera d’Alba and Langhe Chardonnay.
Fresh and Fruity Alternatives for Sauvignon Blanc – Chantal de Jong
Our own Chantal dove deeper into the popularity of the Sauvignon Blanc grape. After Airén and Chardonnay, this is the third most widely planted white wine grape in the world. The grape can be found in most wine countries, but it always needs a cooler climate, ocean influences or higher altitudes to retain its acidity and freshness that the wine is known for. With all these different origins, sauvignon blanc wines can vary in style, such as a crisp, green and citrus style from the Loire in France, to a more expressive, tropical fruit driven style from Marlborough in New Zealand.
Almost every restaurant or bar has a Sauvignon Blanc on the wine list, but there are many beautiful alternatives to try out. Chanti shared some of her favorites in this fresh and fruity style of wine, such as a Blanc de Noir Spätburgunder from the Ahr in Germany, a Verdejo from Rueda in Spain and a Friulano from Friuli Venezia Giulia in northeast Italy.
About Do’s Wijn Club
Dominique wants to bring together wine enthusiasts by regularly hosting tasting events and workshops such as this one. Premium members not only get discounts on tickets but also receive 10% discount on all wines all the time. You can check out the selection at Doos Wijn. Do you want to try the wines yourself? The next edition of Do’s Wijn Club –The Grand Tasting – is on 1 October 2023 and tickets are available here.
This article is written by our own Chanti de Jong. Picture credits Sylvana Jesterhoudt.
