Liège wine: when vines take root again in Belgium
Bijgewerkt op: 2 dagen geleden
Did you know that in the Middle Ages, the slopes of the Meuse were covered in vineyards?
Today, that seems almost as strange as imagining Brussels without beer.
Yet the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries were the golden age of Liège’s vineyards. In 1438, Liège’s winegrowers even had their own guild, one of the city’s ‘Bons Métiers’.
And the vineyards have left their mark on the city: Petit Bourgogne, Rue des Coteaux, Rue des Bonnes Vignes, and also Rue des Mauvaises Vignes (Bad Vines street), Vivegnis… Names that tell a story we have almost forgotten.
Then the climate grew colder. Vineyards became more difficult to cultivate in our part of the world, whilst wines from the south became more readily available. Little by little, Liège’s vineyards disappeared from the landscape.
It wasn’t until the 21st century that a handful of enthusiasts asked themselves a rather crazy question:
What if vines could return to Liège?
An idea that took shape in the hills above Liège
The modern history of Vin de Liège began in 2009 with a feasibility study arising from the activities of La Bourrache, a work-based training organisation operating in the hills above Liège.
In 2010, the idea developed into a fully-fledged social enterprise.
The early years were devoted to trials, technical decisions and securing funding. An experimental vineyard was established in Liège, prior to the first plantings at Eben-Emael and Heure-le-Romain, in the heart of the Lower Meuse region.
Then, in 2014, came the first harvest.
25,000 bottles.
The Liège vineyard is no longer just a memory: it is producing wine once again.
In 2015, the first wines went on sale.
18 hectares and 90,000 vines later…
What started as a small project has grown into a fully-fledged estate.
Vin de Liège currently cultivates just over 18 hectares, spread across several sites in Eben-Emael, Bassenge and Heure-le-Romain. The terroir is by no means haphazard: limestone soils, loamy and stony ground, sloping and well-exposed plots… The Lower Meuse region offers significant advantages for wine-growing.
But the right vines still had to be chosen.
Johanniter, Solaris, Muscaris… why these names?
At first glance, Johanniter, Solaris, Muscaris, Souvignier gris, Cabernet Cortis and Pinotin sound more like characters from an old Germanic legend than items on a wine list.
Yet these are the grape varieties chosen by Vin de Liège.
The estate works exclusively with interspecific grape varieties, resulting from cross-breeding that combines flavour qualities, adaptation to the terroir and greater resistance to disease.
This distinctive feature is central to the estate’s philosophy: these vines require very little treatment, and Vin de Liège has been certified organic since 2017.
In other words, to revive wine-growing in Liège, it was not enough simply to replant the old vines.
It was also necessary to create the 21st-century Liège vineyard.
The wine before the wine
But perhaps one of the most astonishing things about this story lies elsewhere: in the people who decided to believe in it.
Vin de Liège is a co-operative. Thousands of members are part of this adventure.
It’s a different way of thinking about wine: instead of waiting for a bottle to appear on a shelf, you can be part of the estate’s story long before you uncork it.
This collective aspect is part of the project’s DNA, as is its commitment to creating jobs, promoting social and professional integration, and contributing to the economic and tourism-led revitalisation of the Liège region.
Wine thus becomes much more than just a product.
Why we love this story at De Ultieme Hallucinatie
That is precisely what inspired us to get involved ourselves.
At De Ultieme Hallucinatie, we love Belgian products that tell a story: a region, a craft, a history, but also the men and women who have chosen to bring that story to life.
We are members of Vin de Liège and also act as the estate’s wine merchants for Brussels.
We therefore serve several of his wines to our guests, either at the table or during our events, and we also offer a selection of bottles to take away.
Because Vin de Liège embodies everything we believe in: a Belgian product that is innovative, socially conscious, deeply human and … a regular award-winner.
And besides, there’s something rather amusing about seeing a wine born on the slopes of the Meuse make its way to our home in Brussels.
One bottle, several centuries of history
The next time you spot a bottle of Vin de Liège on our wine list, do bear this in mind.
Behind the label lies an almost forgotten winemaking tradition, a co-operative founded in 2010, thousands of people who decided to believe in it, 18 hectares of vineyards and an ambition that might have seemed a little crazy at first.
To revive a Belgian vineyard where it had almost disappeared.
A story that was interrupted … Then began again.
And today, when we open a bottle of Vin de Liège in Brussels, perhaps a little piece of that story returns to the table.
Enjoy here… or take away.
After all, some stories are even better
when you can tell them at home.
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