After his retirement, Freek Verhoeven turned his love for
wine into a serious hobby. As an amateur winemaker he planted a first hectare
of vines in 2001 and soon got his brother involved as well. Not being
youngsters anymore they realized soon they needed some help.
Adam Dijkstra was at the right place at the right moment.
His intention was to follow a winemaking study in South Africa. While his bags
were already packed, he decided to make a different choice and follow a
viticulture education in Germany instead. The opportunity to help continue this
winery was one that you do not get every day.
Wijnhoeve De Colonjes is now one of the largest wineries in
the Netherlands. The vineyards are situated in three locations around
Groesbeek. From the beginning Freek’s mission was to work as sustainable as
possible.
The obvious choice was to plant hybrid grape varieties like
Johanniter, Solaris, Muscaris, Helios and Cabernet Blanc to produce white
wines. They even had the honor to name a new hybrid after their vineyard, the
Cabernet Colonjes. Red wines are produced from Regent, Pinotin and Cabernet
Cortis. What started merely as a hobby
in 2001 has now become a 13 hectares winery.
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