The days when Wilco Venhuizen of Wijngaard Bilderhof produced twenty bottles of wine a year are long gone. From the last harvest he had a mobile bottling plant in front of his door bottling as many as eight thousand bottles in one day. The latest addition to the wine assortment, the Dordtsche Bubbels, became an immediate success and sold out in no time; fortunately, the new vintage has already been bottled.
In total, the various locations produced eleven thousand bottles of wine last season.
Will it be beautiful wine year?
Whether this year will also be a great vintage, we'll have to wait and see. "Because of the cold spring, it all got off to a somewhat slow start," explains Wilco Venhuizen. "Grapes don't like that. Fortunately, the weather is now very growth-friendly: rain, sun, rain sun... In this way, we have already made up some of the growth deficit. The real ripening takes place in August-September, so it might just be a nice vintage. But we won't know for sure until September."
Dordrecht Bubbles
While Wilco was once the only winemaker on Dordt soil, there are now several vineyards. "United in the Taste of Bilderhof," Wilco says. "We are still working on it, but on the open day the large winery and vineyard on the grounds of the Van Driel family, on Zuidendijk, should be ready for the open day. We now only make the red wines at home. Last year I created a sparkling wine for the first time. We have long been producing the Johanniter, a white Riesling wine, and I was looking for a grape that would pair nicely with it. It became the Muscaris, a Muscat grape with an intense and floral aroma. This one really adds something. We had the wine bubbled in Germany and it became an instant success! It's the first wine I've really been able to put my own stamp on. The next thing we want to do is make a champagne-like wine. The difference with the 'Bubbles' is the slow fermentation; the second fermentation takes place ín the bottle."
Taste the Taste of Bilderhof
Take a tour with tasting and discover what goes on at a winery. Go into the vineyard together, a fun and educational outing with family, friends or colleagues. Here they will tell you about how grapes are grown such as guiding and pruning to get the most beautiful and tasty grapes. Check out the website for more information and to make an appointment.
Not only do more and more Dordentheans love the wines of the Taste of Bilderhof, they are catching on far beyond the Dordrecht area. Wilco: "Our wines are now also sold in businesses in Rotterdam and The Hague. And soon they will be on the shelf at a business on the Damrak in Amsterdam!" You can find the wines in Dordrecht at, among others: Jumbo Sterrenburg - Plus Damplein - Plus Valkzicht - In de Boogaard - Cave Michel - Van den Hoogen - Van Pelt - Rutte - Wijnhuis 167 - GrandCru wines.
