You must try this Zeeland wine

Have you always wanted to taste the quality of business class? With the wines from Wijnhoeve De Kleine Schorre you can drink at home what is served in KLM World Business Class. These fresh white wines from the salty Zeeland soil have now been selected by our national airline for the ninth year in a row. Not bad for a Dutch winemaker.

Zeeland’s Salty Delicacies
Wijnhoeve De Kleine Schorre has been making wine on Zeeland clay since 2001. On the island—as they call it themselves—Schouwen-D®uiveland. Only from white grapes, by the way, because those do best on Dutch soil. Grape varieties such as pinot gris, auxerrois, rivaner and pinot blanc ripen perfectly under the Zeeland sun.

That sun was not the main reason to start making wine, by the way, says winemaker Johan van de Velde. No, it was the need for a perfect wine to accompany the ‘Zeeland Salty Delicacies’. All those delicious Oosterschelde lobsters, oysters and mussels. French Muscadet or Chablis works too, but good wine from local soil is of course much more exciting.

Not flat airplane wine
KLM apparently thought so too, because nowadays no fewer than three Zeeland wines are served on board. And that is quite an achievement, because good airplane wine is remarkably difficult. Once high in the air, wine tastes completely different. This is due to the lack of humidity, much lower air pressure and apparently even the background noise.

Because of the dry cabin air, we produce less saliva. Wine then quickly becomes flat and boring—just like food, incidentally. Wine at high altitude therefore needs much more flavor than it does on the ground. Fruitier, fresher and more intense. At the same time, tannins and oak flavors need to remain limited, because they dry out the mouth.

The Auxerrois, Rivaner and Pinot Blanc from De Kleine Schorre can effortlessly meet this challenge thanks to their fruity yet salty character. Fortunately, they are also worthy of business class on the ground. As is the softer—not KLM-selected—Pinot Gris, incidentally, whose refinement may not fully come through on board. But with your feet safely on solid ground and local lobster and fresh asparagus alongside, it is particularly beautiful.

Lots of shells and sunshine
Today, van de Velde and his girlfriend make six different wines: a sparkling wine, an oak-aged wine and four regular whites. Each with its own character, but all equally pure and fresh. Slightly sparkling, with plenty of fruit and the characteristic salty acidity.

With the most hours of sunshine in the Netherlands and a thick layer of shells in the soil, they have the conditions on their side. Yet this quality is impressive for a wine made in the Netherlands. Well-made, delicious, and as fresh as a Zeeland breeze.

Curious? Click here for points of sale (both restaurants and shops).
Or watch this video on RTLZ with Nicolaas Klei about Wijnhoeve De Kleine Schorre.

Image: Romy Kooij