Vineyard

The vineyard
The vineyard forms the heart of The Amsteltuin. On just over one hectare, we grow more than 3,500 grapevines of five different varieties: Solaris, Johanniter, Souvignier Gris, Pinotin, and Cabernet Cortis. These are not traditional but hybrid grape varieties that ripen well even with less sun. They are also more resistant to downy mildew.

Favorable terroir
Terroir is the French word for the characteristics of the soil and environment in which the grapevine grows. Poor soil forces the grapevine to search for nutrients and minerals. The location of our vineyard was intentionally chosen by our predecessors. Contrary to what the name Amstelveen might suggest, the soil consists of gravel, a mix of clay and sand. This is a favorable terroir for our vines and, thus, for the aroma, taste, and colour of our wines.

Throughout the year
Vineyard care requires attention year-round. The character of the wine is determined in the vineyard. Tying, pruning, leaf removal, topping, mowing. We achieve this with a dedicated team of volunteers.

We produce ourselves
We harvest by hand; picking takes about five to six days, spread over roughly two months. After crushing, the process for white wine, red wine, and rosé differs, but we do almost everything ourselves! Pressing, fermentation, aging, filtering—you name it. Only the bottling of white and red wines happens at Wijngaard St. Martinus; rosé is bottled in Germany.