Dear all,

Autumn has truly begun; most winemakers have finished their harvest, and positive reports are coming in from various regions. Everything suggests that 2025 will be a remarkable wine year. As the days grow shorter and the air gets chillier outside, our space is buzzing with news. This month, we proudly welcome the wines of Domaine de L’Octavin (Alice Bouvot) as the latest addition to our portfolio, and are celebrating their arrival with a special evening together with the Choux team at Café De Linden. More about this event can be found later in this mail.

We’ve also received new vintages and wines from Léo Dirringer and the long-awaited new wines from Bencze Birtok in Hungary have finally arrived. At the end of September, we received the fresh fleet from Podere Pradarolo. Additionally, we’d like to highlight the wines of the Muster, family once again, as we’ll be delivering their complete range this month. Finally, invitations have gone out for our annual collection tasting in the first weekend of November, where we’ll be joined by Léo Dirringer, Martin Wörner of Marto Wines, Eduard Tscheppe of Gut Oggau and Catherine Hannoun of Domaine de La Loue, and we’ll be opening around 100+ bottles.

Read on below for all the latest wine news, and click the green button at the bottom of this mail to visit our brand-new webshop!

JURA: A WARM WELCOME FOR DOMAINE DE L’OCTAVIN!

The wines of Alice Bouvot from Domaine de l’Octavin, with their iconic gnome labels, immediately evoke fond memories for many natural wine lovers. For about twenty years, Alice has been the grande dame of natural wine in the Jura, and she was early to embrace making wines without sulfur, crafting wines from grapes sourced in various regions (and combining them), and experimenting with new-wave winemaking techniques (like soaking whole bunches in directly pressed juice). Unfortunately, Alice’s wines have been hard to find in the Netherlands during recent years, with the latest (Jura) vintages not helping matters. Many Jura domains have limited availability after poor harvests in 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2024—but Alice’s portfolio was always supplemented with wines made from grapes she harvests herself from befriended growers in Alsace, Ardèche, Languedoc, and the Loire. Today, Domaine de l’Octavin is not only a leading, very pure Jura estate, but also a prominent négociant in the French natural wine world.

As for current availability, we still don’t have much, but from this month onward, we will be able to offer some of her négoce wines. We also received a few cases of her estate wines such as Corvée de Trousseau, Elle Aime, Cherubin(!) and Arces Macéré, but have decided to grant those wines a little extra aging and start with a release of the négoce collection.

The Hip Hip J... Poulsard 2023 is made from 100% Poulsard grapes from Arbois, with some fermented as whole clusters and some destemmed, followed by a year of barrel aging. This yields an extremely pure, spicy wine with Octavin’s signature energy. Charlot 2023 is a surprising blend of Merlot, Muscat, Syrah, Grenache, Carignan, and the rare Molette; Alice combines whole clusters with juice from different grape varieties and colors, a technique she’s been using for years—long before it became ‘trendy,’ but now among the most popular methods to create complex yet drinkable wines.

For orange wine fans, we have the green gnome, Cigogne Verte 2022, made from Alsatian grapes by the Humbrecht family. This wine combines 60% Gewürztraminer and 40% Pinot Gris, offering aromas of quince and lychee, supported by fine tannins and fresh acidity—a truly irresistible combination. Muscattt 2023 (with one of the best labels…) is made from 100% Muscat d’Alexandrie, and it’s just as it should be: delicious and easy-drinking thanks to juicy tropical fruit like passionfruit and pineapple, rose petals, and eucalyptus. The rosé called Synin 2022 is an energetic wine based on Syrah and Chenin, packed with character.

To celebrate the arrival of these wines, we are organizing an evening at Café de Linden on October 16th, where we will taste and pour all the wines by the glass for the first time together. Read below for further details.

INVITATION: “AN EVENING WITH MERIJN (CHOUX) & OCTAVIN BY-THE-GLASS”

Thursday evening 16th of October 2025 (from 18:00, until sold out)

• You are warmly invited to come and enjoy the wines of Domaine de l’Octavin together with us at our local favorite, Café de Linden in the Jordaan district.

• Merijn van Berlo, chef at Restaurant Choux, will serve a selection of classic Choux dishes in café style, and we expect lots of conviviality, warmth, mushrooms, and a little potion magique...

• Alongside the new wines from Domaine de l’Octavin, there will be some aged estate wines available in limited quantities, such as Elle Aime and Corvée de Trousseau.

• On Thursday, October 16th, food orders can be placed from 6 PM onwards, and dishes will be served until the (limited) supply is sold out. Both food and drinks will be generously priced.

• There is no need to reserve, but as always: first come, first served. We look forward to seeing you there!

SMALL RE-STOCK OF JURA MICRO DOMAINE…

We are also pleased to announce that the new vintage of wines from the micro-domaine Cabaret des Oiseaux by Lucile and Jude Spaety, located near Poligny, is finally available with us. These include beautiful white wines and breathtaking Trousseau, with excellent aging potential, there’s really nothing more to say... Quantities are very limited, so please feel free to contact us if interested or drop by the shop.

ELZAS: NEW VINTAGES OF LÉO DIRRINGER

Following the release of La Ferme des 9 Chemins, we recently received fantastic new wines from Alsace, and we are pleased to announce that starting this week, five fresh cuvées from Léo Dirringer are available.

Alongside the new vintage of Léo’s evergreen Pur Jus, we have in stock his pét-nat Les Bulles 2023, a sparkling blend of Muscat, Riesling, and Sylvaner—as well as the crowd-favorite Grain de Sable 2023, a 100% Riesling that aged for 20 months in large foudres and comes from sandstone and granite soils, guaranteeing minerality and energy. Also available is the wonderfully soft and aromatic orange wine Virose 2024, which has a slightly shorter maceration than last year, making it even easier to drink. Finally, Breitstein 2022 is available, from one of Léo’s finest parcels, made from Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir and also aged 20 months in foudres. This wine is light and juicy, with an approachable rhubarb-like freshness that is typical of natural ‘red’ Pinot Gris.

Léo usually waits to release his wines until they are truly ready, and the new vintages once again prove this with calm, quality, stability, and outstanding drinkability. The pricing is another reason not to miss out!

In addition to Léo’s new wines, we also have small quantities of Granit’iK and his Grand Cru Frankstein in stock.

P.S. Léo, together with his partner Alison and their newborn daughter Lucile, will be in Amsterdam for our collection tasting during the first weekend of November. Click here for more info and to taste the new wines with Léo himself.

BALATON, HUNGARY: NEW WINES FROM BENCZE BIRTOK

István and Klaudia Bencze of Bencze Birtok have quickly become one of the most innovative and leading winemakers in the (Eastern) European natural wine scene. The wines from the volcanic basalt soils on the northern shore of Lake Balaton and from the slopes of the Szent György-Hegy mountain consistently surprise with their fresh yet complex character, showing high levels of minerality and drinkability. After releasing their first wines this summer, the second (small) batch is now available.

While our friends Paul and Auke from Glouglou Amsterdam poured the brilliantly delicious Autochton White by the glass in September, we received here among others the Pétillant Rosé 2022, a refreshing sparkling wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Blauburger, Zervin, and Chenin Blanc. It was matured according to the traditional ancestral method in the bottle, and offers abundant minerality, savory notes, and aromas of hibiscus and freshly pressed pomegranate juice.

We also received two of Bencze’s red Pinot Noirs. The ‘regular’ Pinot Noir 2022 is fresh and aromatic, with flavors of small red forest fruits, rhubarb, and raspberry, and at 11% alcohol, it’s pleasantly light and airy. The bigger sibling, Atlas 2022, comes from a higher-altitude vineyard and was aged both in amphorae and old wooden barrels, giving it more complexity and depth without losing the distinctive Bencze drinkability. Additionally, there are still some bottles left of the Autochton Red 2022 (tasting like bottled volcanic energy) and the Kékfrankos 2022 (showing salty blackberry, mint, and blueberry juice)—both bearing the recognizable intensity of the Szent György-Hegy terroir.

We also received the very limited cuvées Kek II and Kadarka, both tasted at Karakterre in June. Both wines come from old bush vines on the volcanic slopes of Szent György-Hegy. Kek II, a blend of various vintages of Kék Bakator, is feather-light with striking acidity and a smoky undertone. Kadarka 2023, from the indigenous Kadarka grape variety, shows fresh red fruit, rosehip, wild cherry, minerality, and lively acidity; it falls exactly between rosé and red in style. These wines are produced in such limited quantities that they are not available online, but some individual bottles may still be found in the shop.

STEIERMARK: NEW OPOK WINES OF MARIA & SEPP MUSTER

Elsewhere in the rolling hills of Central Europe lies the enchanting estate of Maria & Sepp Muster, nestled among the steep slopes of Südsteiermark. In May, we visited them and tasted an impressive overview of their Opok wines from vintages 2021 through 2023. The Musters work purely and minimally, without additives, so their wines repeatedly reflect the terroir and the climatic nuances of each year. During a walk through the vineyards around the estate, it quickly became clear why: healthy, living soils lead to vital vines, and ultimately to wines bursting with energy and minerality, featuring the distinctive uplifting aromas of Opok.

We got a small preview of the wines from Elias Muster, and it promised great things! He chooses to let his wines age a little longer, and we expect them to arrive in the Netherlands sometime next year. From Sepp’s Opok line, we have ample stock of Opok Weiss 2022, and we just received two vintages each of Gelber Muskateller and Sauvignon Blanc vom Opok (2022 and 2023). The 2022 and 2023 vintages are extremely aromatic and floral, with lush expression, yet still retain the tight, crisp structure so characteristic of the Opok soil. The 2022 tastes a bit wilder with some volatile notes, while the 2023 versions show the same kind of fruit but stay a bit more within the lines. From the Rosé vom Opok, we were still able to order the 2021 vintage, which offers pure fruit, fine acidity, and depth that provides countless gastronomic possibilities, beautifully reflecting the region’s character.

The wines with the brown labels come from the steepest slopes and oldest vines. Here, both Graf Morillon and Graf Sauvignon 2021 reveal themselves as true masterpieces. The 2021 versions show how savory, elegant, and rich these wines can be, and why we have often said that in many cases we prefer white wines from Styria over the often top-heavy, bombastic wines from the Jura. For those who love structure and terroir, the 2021s offer endless length and depth to get lost in. Furthermore, we received the crown jewel Sgaminegg 2022, from the highest and steepest vineyards near Elias’s grandmother’s house; this is white wine beyond comparison—compact yet generous, bursting with energy. If someone had a child born in 2022, we would say this is a box to keep until their 18th birthday…

The orange wines from the family also come from the higher parts of the vineyards, and we understand well why serious orange wine lovers are already looking forward to Gräfin and Erde 2022. Gräfin is a skin-contact Sauvignon with a subtly wild edge, a fine structure, and many intoxicating dried fruit and allspice aromas. Erde is darker and more savory, with notes of balsamic, herbs, and dried fruit, and in 2022 beautifully complex and soft.

On the red side, we received both the Zweigelt vom Opok and the Graf Zweigelt vintage 2021. Both wines are enormously elegant, Burgundian in style we dare to say, with plenty of refreshing acidity, fresh forest fruit, and a lovely chalky structure. Perfect to accustom the autumn season. All will soon be available in the webshop!

THE ART OF MACERATION: PODERE PRADAROLO, EMILIA-ROMAGNA

The wines from Podere Pradarolo are primarily made using maceration techniques. Ex Alba is a lighter (orange) wine made from Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, with about one and a half months of skin contact. As always, it’s low in alcohol, fresher and softer than the ‘big’ orange wine Vej, but definitely complex: spiciness and structure frame a light, energetic core.

The 2023 vintage of Podere Pradarolo’s Vej Malvasia di Candia Aromatica had a shorter skin maceration period of 180 days, compared to the 240 days of the previous vintage, reflecting the winemaker Alberto Carretti’s decision to adjust maceration length based on vintage conditions. This adjustment is typical for natural winemakers like the Carretti’s, who use science and intuition to adapt their low-intervention methods to the specific qualities of each harvest. While many other winemakers fear that such long macerations might lead to coarseness and bitterness, Alberto and Claudia master this process with great finesse. This allows the polymerization of tannins (the binding and growing of molecules) to occur in a controlled manner, resulting in softer and rounder tannins without losing layered structure. The result is a complex, harmonious wine that exemplifies how long macerations can also be subtle and elegant.

The third orange wine from the Pradarolos is Ex Plana, again made from Spergola. For the new vintage, the wine had about twelve days of skin contact (compared to thirty days previously), which makes it slightly lighter and apparently spicier, and to us it evokes the essence of Emilia’s macerated orange wines without being overly showy. It is almost like a small time travel to old Italy: spicy, peppery, with a hint of tobacco, tropical fruit, and citrus, all wrapped in the complex character that the Caretti family effortlessly imparts to their wines.

The Caretti’s also master the delicate process of making sparkling wines: the orange bubble Indocilis Bianco, made from the indigenous Spergola grape, is back on the shelves, as is its pink sister Indocilis Rosato, which nowadays certainly deserves recognition for its price-quality ratio.

In addition to making long maceration wines, Alberto also enjoys crafting sweet, oxidative wines, and as such, we can once again offer Il Canto del Cio . This is Pradarolo’s passito made from the Termarina grape, produced in a solera style using vintages from 2007 through 2021. It is ideal with autumn desserts and cheese platters: intense and deep, yet with the freshness of younger fruit.

The wines from Pradarolo have long been widely popular public favorites and consistently fly out of the cellar, which means that despite our efforts, stock sometimes runs low. Fortunately, we can announce that the new vintages and restocks of this natural wine powerhouse from Emilia are now once again fully available!

INFORMATION PORTFOLIO TASTING 2025 (1 & 2 NOVEMBER)

• On Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 November 2025, we will host our annual portfolio tasting! The following domaines will be presenting their wines: , Gut Oggau, Léo Dirringer, Domaine de la Loue, Domaine de Majas, Vinos Ambiz, Vigna Flor, and Marto Wines.

• The tasting will be held at (the 3rd floor of) Restaurant Choux, on De Ruijterkade 128 in Amsterdam, and there will be 100+ wines open to taste from the Zuiver portfolio.

• During the weekend, there will be lectures held by a number of the producers present. The lecture schedule will be released in October on the event page and via Instagram.

• Both days, the tasting will be accessible from 11:00 for professional clients, and from 13:00 onwards for private clients, and the tasting will last until 17:00.

• Admission is €15 for our private clients and includes a Zuiver-tasting glass which may be taken home afterwards.

Buy tickets here!

BRAND NEW WEBSHOP AND AUTUMN WINE-PACKAGE

Some of you may have noticed that we have also been working on an improvement of the Zuivere website recently. The speed and user-friendliness should have increased compared to the previous version. If you have any comments or suggestions in the meantime, we would love to hear them!

To kick off this new season, we have put the wine package “Zuivere Herfst” online. Six delicious wines at a nice price, perfect to enjoy after a walk in the woods.

Click here for our webshop!

That was it again for this month. We hope this selection of beautiful wines gives you plenty of inspiration to open a nice bottle while the rain taps against the windows. If you have any questions about the above, please feel free to email us or drop by the shop; we are happy to tell you more. Above all, we look forward to meeting you all at our collection tasting the first weekend of November. See you then!

Kind regards,
Dana, Dick, Figo, Job, Merijn & Olivier