Top 100 red wines of Netherlands

Discover the top 100 best red wines of Netherlands as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Netherlands and the best vintages to taste in this region.

Discovering the wine region of Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country in Northern Europe, often referred to as "Holland". The latter is the name of the former county in the western Netherlands where the key cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague are located. Holland is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which includes Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, its overseas island territories in the Caribbean. To complicate matters further, the demonym for the Netherlands is "Dutch".

The country is bordered by Belgium to the South, Germany to the east and the Nordzee (North Sea) to the north and west. Historically, the Dutch produced very little wine - the conditions were simply too cool and wet. A few pioneers established vineyards in the 1970s, and were generally regarded as eccentrics, both at home and abroad. But viticulture has become increasingly viable due to Climate change.

The hot summer of 2018 produced the best wines produced to date, with record yields. Today, the wines are gaining recognition at international wine shows. The most successful estates, such as Apostelhoeve in Limburg (one of the pioneers), are selling their wines rapidly. The sector benefits from a strong demand for cool climate wines.

Discover the grape variety: Cabernet franc

Cabernet Franc is one of the oldest red grape varieties in Bordeaux. The Libourne region is its terroir where it develops best. The terroirs of Saint-Emilion and Fronsac allow it to mature and develop its best range of aromas. It is also the majority in many blends. The very famous Château Cheval Blanc, for example, uses 60% Cabernet Franc. The wines produced with Cabernet Franc are medium in colour with fine tannins and subtle aromas of small red fruits and spices. When blended with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, it brings complexity and a bouquet of aromas to the wine. It produces fruity wines that can be drunk quite quickly, but whose great vintages can be kept for a long time. It is an earlier grape variety than Cabernet Sauvignon, which means that it is planted as far north as the Loire Valley. In Anjou, it is also used to make sweet rosé wines. Cabernet Franc is now used in some twenty countries in Europe and throughout the world.

Food and wine pairing with a red wine of Netherlands

red wines from the region of Netherlands go well with generally quite well with dishes of veal, pork or game (deer, venison) such as recipes of home-made coq au vin, beef bourguignon with cookéo or wild boar leg of 7 hours.

Organoleptic analysis of red wine of Netherlands

On the nose in the region of Netherlands often reveals types of flavors of non oak, oak or spices and sometimes also flavors of red fruit, earth or black fruit.