Tomorrowland now also has its own class wines from Australian hills, with an Antwerp link: “It can mature for a long time, although I fear that few people will be able to wait long” (Food and drinks)

Artevino from Zoersel has been providing an exquisite wine selection in the MESA Garden during Tomorrowland for years. That is why the wine distributor was the logical partner to roll out the new wine project for Tomorrowland. The goal: to develop a wine that combined the worldly character of the festival with top quality. That search took them to the lush vineyards of winemaker Anvers in Australia.

“In the Adelaide Hills, the grapes grow on steep, rocky slopes, surrounded by mist and cooling breezes from the valley. It is Australia’s highest, southernmost and coolest wine region. We ended up with the Australian winemaker Wayne Keoghan. He is married to Myriam Morré from Antwerp and he named his winery Anvers after her hometown,” says Steven Coppens of Artevino, who, as cousin of Matthias and Staf and brother of Dieter, is also a descendant of the well-known Coppens family.

READ ALSO. The Australian wine called Anvers: “I am proud of the city where I met my wife” (2019)

The result is wines with intense flavors in three varieties. A chardonnay (32.50 euros) matured in wooden barrels, with a creamy texture and fresh acidity, a fruity rosé (21.95 euros) and a red, exclusive clapper made from shiraz (59.50 euros). “The quality of the wines is determined by the actions of the winemakers, not by the words. Hence: Acta Non Verba. Only a few thousand bottles of each variant were made,” Steven explains.

“Both the white and the red are perfectly suitable for further maturing for many years. Although I fear that many people will not be able to keep their hands off this first edition for that long. “I am very happy with the result,” he says.

Side project

The world-famous festival is getting an additional side project. “Why are we now also making wine with Tomorrowland? Everyone knows us as a festival. But we have been working with wine for some time. We have been selling Solo Vida since 2020, a sparkling wine that we make in collaboration with the Catalan winery Vallformosa. Now we are going one step further with a series of new wines from Australia,” says Tomorrowland spokeswoman Debby Wilmsen.

By the way, wine is a passion of Michiel Beers, the owner of Tomorrowland. His dream is to turn Tomorrowland into a broader entertainment brand. “Anything hospitality may qualify for this. From a nice glass of wine to hotels and restaurants, or even your own furniture or tableware that are in the pipeline. Organizing festivals will always remain the most important thing and we are certainly not going to open dozens of hotels and restaurants. But we do want to be present in the right places with Tomorrowland, so that we can receive our People of Tomorrow in a fun way,” he said.

Acta Non Verba will soon be available for purchase at www.actanonverba.com and will also be served at all Tomorrowland festivals and events. In addition, the wine will be available in selected catering establishments and wine specialty stores in Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. While supplies last, of course.