Terroir Wine Safari: Optimbulles Vineyard

Every year, the quality of their products improved and that did not go unnoticed. Several sommeliers asked them to sell a number of bottles. That's how the ball started rolling and soon the bottles were on the wine list in a number of top restaurants in Belgium under the name Champinnot, including; The Hof van Cleve, the Carmelite and Jardin Tropical.

The demand for, and the drive in, making their wines became ever greater. Because of this, the three friends decided to expand their vineyard even more. In 2009, they decided to set up a private limited liability company. Since the domestic cellars became too small to produce their products, they decided to move their production to a farm in Jesseren.

In the summer of 2008, a heavy hailstorm damaged most of the vineyard. The harvests of 2008 and 2009 were less than 1/3 of the normal yield. In order not to sit still, they started again with the vinification of standard apples, a forgotten regional product. Dozens of different 'forgotten' apple varieties were supplied by Natuurpunt vzw, which manages the standard orchards. By fermenting the apple wine in the same way as sparkling wine, a very fresh sparkling aperitif was obtained. To date, better known as 'Apples and Pearls'.

In the following years, the vineyard expanded gradually and the name changed from Champinnot to Optimbulles under pressure from the CIVC. In 2011, an investment was made to have the entire production process in our own hands.

Since 2010 I, Maxim son of Guido Geunis, have also been involved in the story. From birth I was immersed in the world of wine and my passion for winemaking started to flare up when I was 15. In the meantime, I am working very intensively in the story and I was recently appointed as co-manager.

Taste here: Apples & Pearls - Trilogy

Terroir-Wijnsafari