🗺️ Dutch wine

Dutch wine is the wine of a country in north-west Europe. It is a young and small wine industry that few people know about. The country belongs to the wines of Europe, but sits at the very edge, where grapes grow with difficulty. Vineyards lie in several provinces: Limburg, Gelderland, North Brabant, Zeeland, Utrecht, Drenthe and others. The largest are in the south, in Limburg, where there are hills and it is warmer. The climate is cool and damp, so growers choose varieties that ripen early and resist disease. In recent decades winemaking has been developing fast. Small farms are growing, often combining wine with tourism: tastings and walks between the rows. The wines are fresh and light, and whites and sparkling wines do better than reds. Dutch wine is hardly exported because there is little of it. Most stays in the country itself and is bought at the vineyards and in nearby shops. For the Dutch it is a local product they are proud of.