Werner (55), Els (55), Céline (27) and Florence (25) Helsen opened Avenue d’Apéro a year ago, a vibrant aperitif bar where the most delicious sparkling wines are central. For their birthday, they want to put Belgian sparkling wines in the spotlight for three days from May 9 to 11. Their bar is located in the shadow of the cathedral at Haarstraat 14.
“A Belgian sparkling wine is a product to be proud of, we are no longer inferior to French champagne,” says Jonas Van de Voorde (25). He is a wine grower and accompanies the family during their festive weekend to share their shared passion for wines with the bar guests.
Because of the family trips to the Champagne region and the tastings that the four of them enjoyed attending, the idea grew to share their knowledge in the form of an aperitif bar.
The concept of their bar is based on the possibility of tasting different glasses side by side.
“Since December, customers can also taste three sparkling wines side by side,” explains Florence. “It’s nice to be able to teach diverse customers a lot about sparkling wines. Here you have connoisseurs who go to the Champagne region every year and also people who just like to drink a bubble. Using this accessible formula, they get to know their taste even better.”
Passion
They put their heads together for two months to come up with the ideal card for the festive weekend. Jonas was also present at the tastings. Even during his training as an agricultural engineer, he tried to integrate his passion for wines. He also gives courses about the trade and on Thursdays and Fridays he passes on his knowledge to customers.
“The more we learned about the wines, the more difficult our choice became. At Belgian Wines, the wine bar on Theaterplein, we ultimately had the opportunity to taste many things side by side and put together our final selection,” Céline explains.
“In order not to have to do the Tour de la Belgique and to maintain that short chain, we also order the wines from them,” Werner adds.
Wines were ultimately chosen per province and placed next to each other in a nice order in two tasting formulas.
As a surprise, they also come up with a unique product that only two wine growers in Flanders are experimenting with: a red sparkling wine. “Monteberg and Vandersteene each make a red sparkling wine from German Pinot Noir. We want to surprise customers with this wine from Vandersteene. It is nicely balanced, but a little more on the sweet side: ideal for dessert or cheese. Yet it is still fresh and sparkling,” Jonas explains juicily.
Challenge
It has been an exciting year for the family that started this adventure a year ago with passion, but as newcomers in the catering world.
“My daughters, Jason, our flexis, they are all doing so well. Without them we would not have been able to experience this first year so successfully. Of course we strive for even better. We try to create a cozy and charming environment here, now we just hope that even more people discover us,” says Werner.
