Dear all,

How time flies! The birds are chirping happily in the mornings, the sun lingers longer in the sky, and daylight saving time is here. Spring has truly arrived, which at Zuiver, as usual, means the arrival of new vintages, fresh cuvées, and the return of some of our favorite sunny wines. In line with our craving for sunny wines, we spent last month tasting all of Miha & Tom’s 2024s from L’Absurde Génie des Fleurs at Café De Linden, Restaurant Lux, and Restaurant Choux, which we’ll briefly reflect on in this newsletter.

Furthermore, we are happily looking forward to a number of nice arrivals and new vintages lined up for the coming month. For instance, as of this month, the new vintages from Valli Unite are available online, including a very affordable 100% Nebbiolo cuvée. Also, Vinyes Tortuga has sent us their new vintage, including a number of cuvées which sailed under the Fruita Analógica-flag before, but which are now grouped under the Tortuga banner, as all (!) fruit now comes from their own vines. On top of that, they lowered the price level across the board, which we can only be excited about.

Additionally, we’ve received new wines from our favorite smiling Alsatian, Léo Dirringer, and have finally actually started sending out Gut Oggau’s alcohol-free drink and their new, well-priced Maskerade’s, after a long delay.

Finally, we briefly share developments regarding the Zuiver Headquarters and Zuiver Tasting Room, are slowly preparing wines for Kingday, and look ahead to what will be arriving this and next month, including Zuiver’s second ‘Burgundy’ domaine…

Read on below for all the wine-, Kingsday-, and relocation-related news!

RECAP L’ABSURDE GÉNIE DES FLEURS TOUR

Like stated above, we celebrated the arrival of spring big time and in style, with none other than Miha and Tom from L’Absurde Génie des Fleurs. To increase the revelry, their 2024s are officially available from this month onwards.

Besides celebrating spring, Miha and Tom also celebrate the fact that this year marks their 10th year of winemaking on their 7,5 hectares of old vines high in the rugged hills of the Hérault, in the valley of the Orb River. They learned lots about winemaking and grape growing from mentors such as Axel Prüfer, who specializes in harvesting the same vineyard at multiple stages of ripeness. For many cuvées, Miha and Tom do the same, and harvest several times, combining grapes at different ripeness levels into wines that are always perfumed, aromatic, well-balanced in acidity, and brimming with minerality. Short macerations and whole-cluster soaking in directly pressed juice enhance freshness, while the vine age and extremely low yields, achieved through limited pruning and never plowing, preserve complexity. Masters such as Pat Desplats, Jérôme Saurigny, Babass, Alain Castex, and Bernard Bellahsen have been instrumental in shaping the way Miha and Tom see the world and the subject of wine, and the duo now confidently are producing wines with the qualities, depth and tension that is characteristic for the work of these mentors.

The duo’s range now includes sixteen cuvées, from lightly orange to rosé and the full spectrum of reds, some made in Georgian qvevri buried outside their new cellar in Clairac. Each cuvée is produced in just a few hundred bottles per year, and the total production in a good year is about 15.000 bottles (but only 7.000 in difficult years). Each year, they paints new labels, making the bottles and cuvées always feel new and fresh, but they aim to have the wines align with their new labels, and the identity of every wine can be recognized even in big millésime-differences.

In relation to Zuiver, the 2024 vintage was a special one: Dick & Olivier participated in the harvest of the Zmeurica cuvée, the pressing of cuvée Adiere, and the ‘méthode bouquet’ grape selection for Dor, so to celebrate the release of this vintage together with Miha and Tom in The Netherlands was even more special. On Sunday the 22nd of March, we opened and tasted about ten wines together with the duo at Café De Linden in Amsterdam, including the blood-orange rosé/orange-hued Tutti Frutti 2024 (a blend from small bits of press juice from all their plots), the fantastic deep rosé Ploum 2024 (100% Cinsault from a single plot) served from magnum, and the rich yet very soft and fine Apus Qvevri 2024 (100% Carignan from a very old vineyard with southern exposition). All wines were superb from the bottle, and Emily & Mattis’ pissaladière and fish soup aligned with the wines deliciously. Miha and Tom were, as expected, wonderful company: engaging, introspective, and curious about the questions and observations of Amsterdam wine drinkers.

The celebration continued on Monday with a dinner at Restaurant Lux in Rotterdam, prepared by our good friend Milan Gataric, featuring fritto misto, ‘pizza giardino,’ and tiramisu. Highlights among the wines included the hypnotic Dor 2024 cuvée (carbonic maceration made with grapes individually clipped off their stems but left intact — their self-devised, painstakingly laborious ‘méthode bouquet’), the new rosé Adiere, and L’Absurde’s famous Arc, made from Cinsault from three different plots. The uplift in energy was very palpable…

Tuesday concluded with a walk-in tasting at our new headquarters on De Ruyterkade 143 in Amsterdam, where Miha & Tom had ample time to present ten wines in detail. We tasted the perfumed orange Ciulin 2024 (Terret Blanc and Gris) and the saline Delta 2024 (made from Chardonnay and directly pressed Aramon and Cinsault) side by side — the orange wines have never been this delicious. The new dark rosé Curcubeu 2024, made from a large field blend of a tiny vineyard planted in 1912, was also outstanding, demonstrating the power of L’Absurde’s wines: light in color, easy to drink, yet immensely complex and uplifting. Curcubeu means ‘rainbow’ in Romanian, and the wine is made from more than 15 different varieties, all of them pressed collectively in their small basket press, which runs continuously for 24 hours of pressing, creating a fruit-driven wine with ripeness and remarkable focus.

As said before, with L’Absurde’s wines it’s not just about the wine — these are wines that are about how they make us feel: they make us feel high and uplifted rather than drunk, which is a substantial difference in our book. Also, not only the names, labels and wines have a certain poetic-ness to them, but also how Miha & Tom speak about all matters of life, whether it’s about the seasons, the paysan way of life, experimental music, cooking and nurturing, the ‘East’ and ‘West’, historic tendencies or leftist politics. The afternoons and evenings at De Linden, Restaurant Lux and at our new HQ on De Ruyterkade 143 were filled with grins, smiles and laughter, but also with careful listeners and wine-enjoyers who were feeling out the fine-grained frequencies of the wines.

All L’Absurde Génie des Fleurs wines are now available for the trade, and a selection is also listed on the website. Given the small quantities and high demand, we recommend ordering early or expressing interest in advance so we can reserve bottles to secure your drinking pleasure!

NEW PIEMONTESE SPRING WINES BY VALLI UNITE

Not only France brings the sun, as we received new spring wines from the dear Piemontese cooperative Valli Unite. As one of the oldest organic co-ops in northern Italy, Valli Unite has long been one of our favorite sources for well-priced, approachable paesano-wines. The newest wines are perfect wines for Dutch spring, although their wines generally fare well in all seasons…

Alongside the always fantastic sparkling cuvées Brut & Beast and Rosé & Beast, we’ve received new vintages of several springtime releases, including Ciapé (100% Cortese, offering mineral-driven, soft white fruit with beautiful structure), Rosatea (raspberry-colored rosé from white and red grapes), and the elegant, lightly aromatic orange Terragno (Favorita and Cortese). The juicy, dark-fruited Gaitu (100% Barbera) also returns in a new vintage, and we are excited to welcome a brand-new cuvée: Nebbia.

We tasted Nebbia last November together with the full Valli Unite team at the estate, and when we asked about the price, we could hardly believe it. Made from organic Nebbiolo grapes sourced from a befriended grower in western Piemonte, who had just enough Nebbiolo in the 2024 vintage to sell some to Valli Unite, this mono-cépage Nebbiolo is a first for the cooperative, and is exactly the wine we’d all been waiting for. Nebbia shows everything that makes Nebbiolo so special, without being overshadowed by heavy oak, as it was aged solely in tank and cement. Soft, rosy-floral, juicy, with subtle structure — it does exactly what it should, at an incredibly friendly price. Benvenuto!

FRUITA ANALOGICA & VINYES TORTUGA BECOME ONE

In February, we spent the entire Loire fair weekend with Jurriaan from Vinyes Tortuga, who brought us up to speed on the latest plans and developments in Rabós, located in one of Catalonia’s most beautiful corners: the Alt Empordà. Jur and his partner Dido have planted many new vineyards over the past few years, as they wanted to grow almost all the fruit they work with themselves. In 2025, fruit from these new parcels — affectionately called Fruita Park — was used for the first time, marking the end of the Fruita Analógica négoce project, as they now can make all wines from their own fruit.

Because of that, the Fruita wines haven’t disappeared: all cuvées are still produced, but now simply under the Vinyes Tortuga label. Many new vintages are already on their way, including the bestseller Little Fluffy Clouds 2025, a blend of Macabeu and Muscat with just three days of skin contact. This new ‘LFC’ is slightly lighter than previous years, making it more of an aromatic white than an orange wine, while retaining its vibrancy, floral-white expression, and hints of cardamom and white pepper. As always, Little Fluffy Clouds is available both by the bottle and in 20L KeyKeg, for anyone in the trade reading…

As LFC now isn’t fully orange anymore but Dido & Jur still want to offer an affordable orange cuvée, the new cuvée aptly named Orange Crush 2025 is on the way. As it comes from their own, super healthy biodynamically farmed vines and is a wild, fruity blend of Garnacha Blanca and Roja (‘Gris’), Muscat d’Alexandria, and Cariñena Blanca, it’s packed with energy and bursts of Valencia orange blossom aromas. Also Orange Crush is available in both bottle and in Kegs.

Furthermore, the last bottles of Stop Making Sense, a blend of seven white and red grapes (including Merlot, Viognier, and Rousanne) that drinks somewhere between rosé and orange, are on their way. Also in the pink-to-light-red-realm, the new vintage of Comfortably Numb (‘Comfy’) is expected soon, which is one of our favorites reminiscent of Matassa’s super juicy and fluid Olla Rouge. Comfy is made from Garnacha Blanca, Roja (‘Gris’), and Tinta (‘Noir’), with the Tinta left on skins for three days and the Blanca and Roja for a week. The grapes are then pressed together and aged in tank, producing a mineral-rich, fresh, elegant wine with juicy red fruit and balanced acidity. And again, both Stop Making Sense and Comfortably Numb are available by the bottle and in 20L KeyKegs for the thirsty amongst us.

Finally, we secured a healthy supply of the elegant red cuvée named Magnolias, known formerly as Sugar Magnolia. This used to be one of Tortuga’s most chique and sophisticated cuvées, but because they wanted to lower the price points of their wines, they decided that the Cabernet Sauvignon of this cuvée now would be blended with a part of their Barbera to make a purplish, sapid wine that would be more suited for everyday drinking. The blend is a full-bodied red without being sticky or oak-dominated — it has juicy, smoky red fruit, with a broad, long finish. We also tested its stability: it will easily survive a night in the fridge, perfect for that Wednesday Evening Glass we all love so dearly…

With the new pricing and the end of the négoce project in sight, Dido & Jur also decided that the labels for the wines will get a small aesthetic touch-up. Therefore, the wines will arrive in the Netherlands dressed slightly differently, and the distinction between their two ‘lines’ will be more clear. Tortuga’s range is now divided into Essential Cuvées (LFC, Orange Crush, Comfortably Numb, Magnolias) and Single Vineyard Cuvées (Libertango, Pana-Vision, Doolittle Oxy Rosé, and Brutal Blanc), each with their own recognizable labels. Soon to be available in the (digital) shelves as well as in the order portal.

FRESH ALSATIAN VINTAGE BY LÉO DIRRINGER

We continue the happy spring news: from Alsace, we have the new vintages by Léo Dirringer available now! The wines of Léo and his partner Alison were a highlight during our portfolio tasting in November, and the joy they put into winemaking is palpable when you meet them, and the positive outlook and can-do attitude is turned into energy in the wines themselves.

Besides the second bottling of Pur Jus 2024 (longer aging in foudres for the same price!) and the salty Grain de Sable 2023 made of 100% Riesling, now also the ever-popular aromatic Les Bulles 2023 is back in ample supply. Among the new releases, Virose 2024 stands out this year: a phenomenal Gewurztraminer that showcases the grape’s rich profile without feeling heavy or overly alcoholic, but just perfectly tuned, refreshing and tropical at the same time. Lastly, one of the highlights on Les Anonymes was Léo’s 2024 of Terre à Boire, made of mainly Pinot Noir with a small percentage of Pinot Gris, creating a poised, rhubarb-and-raspberry-like shrubby spring wine full of salinity and energy. Spring is here!

KINGSDAY WINES IN BAG-IN-BOX, PET-BOTTLE AND KEGS

Although it might not feel like it yet, Kingsday is just around the corner! At the Zuiver HQ, Kingsday is one of Figo’s favorite days of the year — surprisingly so —, and in preparation we always make sure there’s plenty of wines that have a certain out-and-about-in-the-street-utility.

For instance, Lori Haon of Domaine du Petit Oratoire has just shipped us fresh stock of 5L white bag-in-boxes (Jajatoés 2025) and 3L orange (Blanc de Macération 2025), with unbeatable price per liter and value for money. For anyone who is planning a big party and wields a ‘partypump’, there’s are also lightly red, super juicy 20L Copains 2024 KeyKegs, ideal for speed of service and big quantities. Also from southern France, we have plenty of 3L bag-in-boxen and handy 1,5L-pouches, so called ‘bagnums’, from Grapehunters, filled with lush Grenache — practical, since carrying glass around on a day like this isn’t just awkward, it’s also prohibited in some municipalities.

In addition to our usual KeyKeg stock from Fruita Analógica / Vinyes Tortuga, Domaine de Majas, and Domaine du Petit Oratoire, we also have a selection from Meinklang available in convenient packaging. This includes 20L KeyKegs of their fantastic orange Weißer Mulatschak and the refreshing white Grüner Veltliner (that also is available in 3L bag-in-boxes), and this year the Weißer Mulatschak is again available in PET bottles. Last year the PET bottles were a huge hit for anyone wanting to sell bottles for take-away (and then the obliged deposit scheme) purposes, so this year they’ll be just as easy to throw around happily during the King’s celebration.

Beyond the wines above, we usually have more than 130 orange cuvées available online and many of them also available on our physical shop shelves. Check availability here, or contact us if your favorite isn’t currently online or on the list — we always have some hidden leftovers. Furthermore, we have plenty of wines available on magnum, and even though Kingsday is a day of indulgence, it doesn’t mean you have to drink badly. We’ll probably see you somewhere out on the street, glass of orange in hand!

SNEAK PREVIEW: BOURGOGNE, STROHMEIER, ROUSSILLON, SLOBODNÉ

As this is the season for bringing in new vintages, we also thought it’d be nice to take a brief moment to look ahead at what’s on the way.

• From the Roussillon, we’ll soon receive shipments of Chardonnay 2025, Orange 2025, and the lightly red Cortado 2025 from Domaine de Majas — all as sharply priced as usual. Sweet wines from Marc Barriot’s Clot de L’Origine are also on their way, including Maury Rouge and the full-bodied white Quilles Libres, and Matassa’s new vintage most likely will follow somewhere in May… Only good things here!

• Speaking of sweet wines, we expect a sizable delivery of Carussin’s Moscato d’Asti, Filari Corti, which will be bottled on the 8th of April, and transported soon after. These bottles were delayed as bottling wasn’t finished, but they’re now ready to accompany spring desserts with strawberries and rhubarb — blissful match!

• Speaking of rhubarb: Franz & Simon Strohmeier will also be sending their latest shipment soon, including the ultimate rhubarb fizz, Schiller Frizzante 2025. Next to the Schillers, there’s more beauty on the way, and getting new Strohmeier wines is always a good reason for celebration.

• From the Loire, we’ll receive a selection of Olivier Cousin’s final wines before he and his wife Claire set off on a world tour aboard the sailboat Calypso, which they picked up in Hindeloopen, of all places. In February, we tasted Pur Breton 2024, Le Franc 2024, Au-Déla 2023, and the genius light-red Enfin Du Vin 2024 from old vines at their dinner table, and we’re very excited for those to come in. More details soon!

• From Portugal, Humus will be sending new releases, including white and rosé bubbles, lighter and more robust orange wines, and fresh stock of the apple and pear cider Garota. Prices remain remarkably sharp, and it always feels like inflationary tendencies don’t get to Portugal so easily. Happy drinking!

• On the other side of Europe, in Nitrianska, Slovakia, the Slobodné team is preparing pallets of well-priced Slovakian treasures for the Netherlands — white, plenty of orange, and even some alcohol-free options (which were precisely the drinks that kept us waking up fresh-ish in during the Loire salon weekend in February…).

• Speaking of alcohol-free beverages, Gut Oggau’s Gut Feeling is now in stock and flying off the shelves, as expected due to it’s incredible tastiness. Gut Feeling is made from a variety of aromatic vineyard herbs, it has been receiving excellent feedback. Furthermore, the new Maskerade Weiss and Rosé are just as impressive, although these do contain alcohol…

• Finally, this month we’ll receive a pallet from a Burgundy producer whose wines we’ve long admired, enjoyed, and served, which now will become available via Zuiver for the first time. The wines were a highlight at La Dive in February, and while the Mâcon identity may spark debate amongst Burgundy-drinkers, there’s no question we’ll have full-bodied, energetic and pure white Chardonnay arriving very soon. To be continued!

  

OUR MOVE TO DE RUYTERKADE 143 (AMSTERDAM)

It’s been on the horizon for a while, but the first phase of renovations is now almost complete, and our move to De Ruyterkade 143 is becoming a reality.

The new location offers more space for storage, allowing us to manage a larger part of our stock ourselves, helping us with the busy website and broaden the online availability, and moreover, having more stock on location will allow us to be able to deliver more orders personally ourselves to our B2B customers across the city. Additionally, the new site has a small office, so we won’t be in the way of our beloved colleagues at Restaurant Choux anymore, and there will be an actual bigger shop as well.

For now, the move of the shop area is scheduled for Monday, April 13. In the days after, we hope to welcome you as usual in the shop, and service for our horeca clients will continue unchanged; however, we foresee some minor delays with webshop orders around this date, though we will do our best to keep this to a minimum.

Besides the shop, office and warehouse, the most exciting part of the new location will, of course, be the bar. The bar will take a little longer before it’s open, but we can now reveal it will be open three days a week, from Thursday, to Saturday. As soon as it’s ready, we’ll make sure to announce it and invite you to the opening party, of course. To keep up with the updates on number 143, we’ve also quietly started a new Instagram account under the working name @143.amsterdam, where we’ll share updates.

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As mentioned, we’ve started the month full of energy after the wonderful three-day L’Absurde Génie tasting events, and we’re eagerly looking forward to the spring season ahead. As always, we’re available for all questions by email, by phone, and in person at our new location. We look forward to welcoming you there in the coming weeks. See you soon!

Met vriendelijke groeten,
Zuiver Wijnen