I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the fifth and final day … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 5: Friuli Aquileia
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the fourth day of our … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 4: Friuli Colli Orientali
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the third day of our … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 3: Brda (Slovenia)
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the second day of our … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 2: Collio
I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. Last year the trip to Campania was … Continue reading Friuli Wine Tour Part 1: Grave
Spectrum is the two Michelin star restaurant in the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Amsterdam by chef Sidney Schutte and restaurant manager Cas Kratz. This dinner was planned long in advance to celebrate my friend Martijn’s birthday, so it was a … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Spectrum** (2025)
After two years it was time to return to Ciel Bleu, the two Michelin star restaurant at the 23rd floor of the Okura hotel by chef Arjan Speelman with a wonderful view of Amsterdam. My previous visit was in 2023 … Continue reading Dining in Amsterdam: Ciel Bleu** (2025)
The Lafite Laureate is a wine tasting competition for individuals in the Netherlands. It is organized by the Verenigde Vinologen Nederland (Dutch Association of Vinologists). “Vinologist” is a Dutch title for someone who has passed the Dutch wine knowledge SDEN … Continue reading Lafite Laureate (Vinoloog van het Jaar) 2025
Deventer is a historic town in the east of the Netherlands, on the banks of the IJssel river. This is not a part of the country that we visit often, and we had never been to Deventer before. I knew … Continue reading Dining in the Netherlands: Bouwkunde
We are on holiday and therefore I wasn’t planning on doing a profile on a winery or wine region, even though we have been to some very nice cellar doors in the different regions we visited to stock up on … Continue reading Singlefile Great Southern Wines
This was a very special wine lunch at In Den Rustwat (IDRW) in Rotterdam, organized by Fred Nijhuis. Fred is a wine writer who specializes in Italy and was the guide for the wine trips to Lombardia, Piemonte, and Campania. For this wine dinner … Continue reading Lunch with Very Old Wines at In Den Rustwat
Signum is the restaurant of chef Martina Caruso in the Signum Hotel on Salina, one of the Aeolian islands between Sicily and Naples, which has held a Michelin star from 2016. The restaurant and hotel are only open in the … Continue reading Dining in Italy: Signum*
This is the third and final part of the tour to Campania that I organized as a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). After a day of getting to know the wines of Sannio, we continued … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 3: Irpinia
This is the second part of the tour that I organized as a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). After a day of getting to know the wines of Sannio, we continued our exploration of Campanian … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 2: Costa d’Amalfi
I am a member of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland) and after the great wine trips with the association to Piemonte, Lombardia, and Australia, I have now organized a trip to Campania in Italy as a member … Continue reading Campania Wine Tour Part 1: Sannio
On the final day of the wine tour, we visited two wineries in Southern Tassie. The first one was Pooley Wines. This family business was started in 1985. They have their own winery and two vineyards, apart from producing wine … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 13: Southern Tasmania
We got up early today to do hike at Cataract Gorge before wine tasting. Today we visited three wineries at the east coast of Tasmania. The first one was Milton Vineyard, which originally was a farm with sheep and crops. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 12: Eastern Tasmania
The final state of Australia we visited on our tour is Tasmania. After a flight from Melbourne in a small aeroplane we got on our tour bus and drove to Ghost Rock, where we were welcomed by owner Justin Arnold. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 11: Northern Tasmania
The final wine region we visited in Victoria is Geelong. In the 1860s Geelong was the largest exporting region of wine in Australia. However, it was infected with phylloxera in 1875, which led to the downfall at that time. Only … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 10: Geelong
The Mornington Peninsula has a cool maritime climate because it is surrounded by water on three sides. There are around 60 wineries, mostly family owned. The area specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Although there were vines in the 1800s, … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 9: Mornington Peninsula
Today we flew from Adelaide to Melbourne, so we only had time to finish one winery in the Yarra Valley. That winery was Coldstream Hills Vineyards of James Halliday. James (1938) was partner in a law firm until 1988, and … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 8: James Halliday
The Barossa valley is one of the most famous wine regions of Australia, known for its big and bold wines. After an unplanned detour we arrived at Penfolds Magill Estate, where we were welcomed by Jamie Sach, Penfolds Global Ambassador. … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 7: Barossa Valley
Today we ventured into McLaren Vale. In terms of climate this is between Adelaide Hills (cooler) and Barossa Valley (warmer). This was one of the first wine regions in Australia to be planted. The percentage of surface area planted with … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 6: McLaren Vale
Today we visited Adelaide Hills, the coolest wine region in South Australia because of the high elevation (about 400 meters above sea level). Shaw + Smith is a winery founded by Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith. Their first vintage … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 5: Adelaide Hills
Before I start with the report of today’s tour, a brief explanation about the tasting notes in these reports. First of all, tasting notes are always personal. There are 18 experienced wine tasters in our group and we usually all … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 4: Canberra District, continued
The Canberra district has a cool climate thanks to the high altitude (700 meters above sea level) and a cooling breeze from the nearby ocean. It had been a wine growing region from the first settlement of Australia in the … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 3: Canberra District
This is the second day of the Aussie Wine Tour of the Association of Dutch Vinologists. Click here for the previous day. On the way from Sydney to Canberra we made a stop at Centennial Vineyards, the only vineyard in … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 2: Centennial and Rebel Rebel
This is the first installment of my chronicles of the 13-day Aussie Tour 2023 of the Verenigde Vinologen Nederland (Dutch association of wine connoisseurs), with Master of Wine Cees van Casteren as our guide. We started with an overview tasting … Continue reading Australian Wine Tour Day 1: Sydney
This was a very special wine dinner at Restaurant Karel 5 in Utrecht, organized by Fred Nijhuis. Fred is a wine writer who specializes in Italy and was the guide for the wine trips to Lombardia and Piemonte. For this … Continue reading A Dinner at Karel 5* With Very Old Wines
This is the third and final part of a short series about the wine trip I made with a group of the Dutch association of Vinologists (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). The first part was about our tour of Oltrepò Pavese and … Continue reading Wine trip to Lombardia: Valtellina and Valcalepio
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 