Beekborne

 Domaine beekborne is a Belgian niche winery fully dedicated to natural wine making under hard cool climate conditions. Their specialty? “stubborn white wine with its own story and raison d’être” says Patrick Carmans.

Identifying himself as a Dutch-speaking Walloon, he’s not your typical winemaker. A computer scientist with a passion for IT, he combined both jobs during the first few years: Viticulture early morning before jumping into a meeting at 9 o'clock.

When he discovers that the weeds are growing faster than he can keep up with, he finally decides to call for help in the vineyard. Now he runs the domain together with his wife katrien vanderschot and a few helpers.

The natural wine calling came when reading the book 'Le gout des pesticides dans le vin'. He decides that there is only one way of working: without it. That means a lot of work in the vineyard. His winemaking style is characterized by minimum intervention at the cellar. Here the wines arise on their own. The grape juice ferments spontaneously from the first harvest so that only natural yeasts nest in the cellar. Malolactic fermentation follows naturally. Patrick also investigates the effect of Belgian oak barrels.

As to why he decided to embark on such an adventure, he simply answers: why only enjoy wine when you can make it yourself?