More and more Belgian wine growers: ‘Belgium now has a more or less ideal climate for growing wine’

Last year, 3.5 million liters of wine were produced in our country, 13 percent more than in the record year 2022. Notable trends: more rosé sparkling wine and the rise of orange wine.

There are more and more wine growers in our country, and the number of hectares on which wine is grown is also increasing, the Federal Public Service Economy reported on Thursday. Last year, 31 new winegrowers were added – most of them from Flanders – so that Belgium now has 290 winegrowers. The wine growing area grew from 801 hectares in 2022 to 891 hectares last year.

This growth means that the increasing trend in Belgian wine production continues. 2022 was already considered an exceptionally good wine year, with a production of approximately 3 million liters of wine. Last year, another 13 percent more Belgian wine was produced, amounting to almost 3.5 million liters.

“There is enormous growth going on and that can only be welcomed,” says Jeanette Van Der Steen of the Château Bon Baron wine estate on the banks of the Maas. She has been active for more than twenty years and fully experienced the difficult early years of Belgian wine growing. “People have long had a prejudice and did not see Belgium as a wine country,” she says. ‘But they don’t realize that climate change is happening and that we now have more or less the right climate in Belgium to grow wine.’

Wallonia overtook Flanders last year as the largest wine region. Currently, 53.5 percent of Belgian wine is produced in Wallonia, compared to 46.5 percent in Flanders. Of the provinces, Hainaut and Limburg are the leaders, followed at some distance by Liège, West Flanders and Namur.

Van Der Steen is in an ideal wine location in the Maas Valley. The presence of the Meuse guarantees that the grapes are less threatened by drought stress and spring frost and that they ripen faster due to the ultraviolet reflection on the water. However, more caution is needed elsewhere, she warns. ‘You have to keep an eye on how a soil behaves for several years before you buy it. Grapes do not like wet feet. Fortunately, there are now professionals, training courses and consultancy firms that can help you choose a good land.’

Last summer’s bad weather led to a lot less red wine being produced in Belgium last year (-33%), because the grapes ripened less well. However, the winegrowers were able to compensate for this by using those grapes in rosé sparkling wine. The production of rosé sparkling wine grew by no less than 54 percent last year. White sparkling wine (+19%), white wine (+17%) and rosé (9.5%) also did well.

Moreover, orange wine is now also on the rise in Belgium, says the FPS Economy. This wine, which is also called amber wine due to its orange color, is made like red wine, but with grapes for white wine, resulting in a complex taste palette. Last year, 325 liters of orange wine were produced in Flanders and 28 liters in Wallonia.

Van Der Steen is also experimenting with the new trend. “I always make a small quantity, because I notice that the general public is not yet fully familiar with such a cloudier wine,” she says. ‘Most people still prefer a pure, clear wine, with a brilliant sparkle in the glass.’