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.
Müller-Thurgau shows the character of its noble origins. This Swiss white grape variety is a cross between the royal madeleine and the riesling. The idea that the latter was crossed with the sylvaner is irrelevant. The variety can be recognized by its vigorous character and its semi-erect habit. Preferring rich soils and short prunings, the plant sees its buds open quite early. The buds are cottony and soft green in color. The slightly embossed and tormented blade, with 5 to 7 lobes, makes it possible to distinguish the adult leaves. The clusters appear compact, pyramidal or cylindrical in shape and small to medium in size. The flavour of the Müller-Turgau berries is reminiscent of Muscat. The juicy and crunchy pulp is revealed under a greyish skin. When ripe, the fruit has a mottled shell on a golden yellow background. Switzerland prefers to extract the juice from this variety. The wine made from it is rather heavy and does not keep well.
white wines from the region of Netherlands go well with generally quite well with dishes of spicy food, sweet desserts or pork such as recipes of chicken in sauce, birthday cake or stuffed peppers.
On the nose in the region of Netherlands often reveals types of flavors of vegetal, tree fruit or citrus fruit.
