Fine wine between art deco and innovation

From midday, wine consultant Christophe Le Berre welcomes his customers to the wine refuge "Le Repaire du Sommelier", which is located in the heart of the city on Rue de Flandre. The sommelier has been running his shop-wine bar since 2013, after around 15 years in high-end gastronomy. The wine is accompanied by vinyl music from the turntable, tastings and cheese from "Catherine", one of the oldest cheese shops in the city. "I know the story of every winemaker in my European wine range personally," says the man from Bordeaux, who has focussed on indigenous grapes. When it comes to Belgian wines, he appreciates the freshness of Belgian "boules" (sparkling wines). As the country's neo-vignerons are producing ever better quality, Le Berre also offers a selection of Belgian wines.

When Gontran Buyse gives a tour of the wine cellar beneath the top restaurant "Comme Chez Soi", founded in 1926, even connoisseurs occasionally get goosebumps. He has been working as a sommelier for 25 years, and the cellars are home to countless Bordeaux classics such as Pétrus and rare Burgundies, for example from Romanée-Conti and Armand Rousseau. The prices for these wines range from 60 to 20,000 euros per bottle. The sommelier has been with the owner family for three of the five generations and emphasises the historical value of the 16,000 or so bottles in storage. The restaurant is known for its Art Nouveau interior and offers an almost 100-year-old signature dish: sole in Riesling with grey North Sea prawns and mousseline sauce. Host couple Laurence and head chef Lionel Rigolet are the fifth generation to run the restaurant: their 26-year-old son Loïc already works in the kitchen, but also as a wine consultant in the restaurant. in the future he wants to expand the exquisite wine list to include natural wines and experimental wines.

Thierry Lejeune and his "Gudule Winery" are located in the "Greenbizz", an agglomeration for greentech companies in the Laeken district. As an "Artisan Vinificateur", he has been producing his organic-certified "Custom-Made in Brussels" wine collection in an urban winery since 2018. Originally from the printing industry, Lejeune learnt the art of winemaking on his own. Annual production currently reaches 30,000 bottles. The central component of his innovative approach is the reversal of traditional production: instead of growing grapes locally, he imports them from various regions in Europe. To this end, he has a transport system with special crates and integrated cooling, in which he brings almost 50,000 tonnes of grapes to Brussels undamaged every year. The 15 imported varieties include grape varieties such as Grenache, Syrah, Petit Manseng, Sangiovese and Grüner Veltliner. The resulting wines are only available in Brussels.

For a few years now, young natural wine fans or former sommeliers have been opening their own wine bars in the neighbouring municipalities of Brussels, often in a combination of restaurant, bar and shop. The highest density of wine bars can be found in districts such as Saint-Gilles, the multicultural student neighbourhood of Ixelles or in Schaerbeek, the birthplace of Jacques Brel. Ixelles is home to both minimalist and cosy natural wine temples with names such as "Rebel" or "Antidotes". The very hip "Le Bain des Dames", named after a beach overlooking the harbour of Marseille and run by young people from the south of France, is also located there. Two merchants specialising in natural wine imports, "Titulus" and "Cave Coop", are also based there. In Saint-Gilles near the south railway station, we also recommend "Badi" or "Calmos" as well as "Tortue" in a typical brick corner house in the leafy outskirts of Uccle. Almost all of them offer a selection of "grignotines" (snacks) as well as small, delicious tasting menus. You can also buy a good bottle at the bar.