Behind the vine

Kathleen Van den Berghe - Chateau de Miniere & Chateau de Suronde - Loire Valley, France

When do you think you fell in love with wine, enough to make a career of it?

That happened in 2009-2010, I was looking for a change in career where I could make something and host people, but I didn’t consider wine at that point. It was only when a wine estate came on my path that I considered it and when I arrived in Chateau de Miniere I decided to make it a new career.

The estate is a combination of all my passions: wine, nature, art, events. I make wine in all styles and colors (white, rosé, red, still, sparkling, dry, and sweet). We make organic wine with biodynamic practices and focus on the nature around us with beehives, bird reserve, rainwater recuperation. I have an artist residence in Chateau de Suronde, and the wine labels are artworks of Belgian contemporary artists who work on the estate. I love to host people, so we are open every day, and people can rent the estates for holidays, events.

What story does your wine tell?

My wines are an image of myself. They are linear, authentic, pure, elegant, an image of the place they come from, of the grape they are made of, and of the winemaker who has made them (myself). They are also the story of an entrepreneurial journey - starting from scratch, building up everything, the vineyard, the wines, and the estate itself.

My signature wine is a red sparkling wine, Bulles de Miniere rouge It is completely different from all red sparkling wines on the market, it is fresh and fruity, pure and light, and bright red with red fruit aromas, with some structure but not sweet at all. It is my own development and I am very proud of it (now I need to conquer the world with it)!

What misconceptions about wine do you think people should forget?

That winemaking is pure bliss and that I wander all day in the vineyard and that the wine makes itself.

People always aaahhh and ooooohhh when I talk about my job. I am used to that, and I have learned to “sell the dream” in a bottle, but the reality of life on a wine estate is a lot harder than what people imagine. All aspects of it can be challenging. From the vineyard, dealing with the climate, winemaking, and all the hazards that go along with it. You can lose a whole lot of wine, and there are many commercial challenges (even outside of Covid).

What great things about wine do you think people should remember?

I think the most important is the experience that lives inside the bottle of wine. The combination of the story around the wine, the people who made it, the place it is coming from, and the place you drank it in. All that is the memory of the wine that you carry with you and that you can re-live when you taste the wine again, like a madeleine de Proust.

What is a piece of advice you would give to a woman interested in breaking into the wine world?

Follow your passion and focus on the fun.

The wine world is very competitive, many people are passionate about wine and therefore many are willing to work for free or below cost (or sell wine below full cost). So, it is not very easy to make a decent living in wine, but you have to find your niche, tell your story,
and find your tribe.

The wine world is a nice world to work in, the people are generally nice, the ambiance is typically good. People are happy and smiling most of the time, there are worse industries to work in I think, but it is hard work to earn money.

Women have a big role to play, they are very good tasters, they have a good feeling for good people, and they can combine the wine with the packaging and the story.

Who is a woman that inspired you?

There are so many…

Heidi Schrock is one woman I admire, in Burgenland Austria, making sweet wines near in Rust, near the Neusiedlersee. I don’t know her very well and she will definitely not know about me, but I still remember vividly the visit and tasting we did at her place during the Master of Wine trip in Year 1 in Rust. She is very passionate, very committed, and makes and promotes sweet wines despite the international trend of reducing sales of sweet wines. I make sweet wines myself (and dry wines) and I often think of her.

I also have a lot of respect for the woman who started Caudalie, and made it into such a success. I like people who develop new business models, new ideas, new brands. I have a lot of respect, they are real role models.

Where can women find your wine?

I have an online shop, and on the estate of course: the Loire is a wonderful wine region that deserves more attention for its wines, its history, its Unesco world heritage status and as the ideal family destination (after this covid situation of course…;-)) there is something for everybody. We look forward to welcoming visitors!

There are a few other retailers - in Belgium at Start2Taste, UK at Wanderlust Wines and US at Winevip.

I am very interested to extend my export network, so if people are interested in my story and my wine, I am very happy to hear from them!