Exploring the vineyards
Every couple of months Koen and his friends have a Boys’ Weekend. This time Koen was the host, so I was very happy to escape the boys and stay with Hannah in Leuven for the weekend. We had beautiful, sunny weather and decided to explore the Belgian vineyards of Hageland.
We visited the heart of the Hagelandse wines – Wezemaal (Rotselaaar). They have a visitors center in a 19th century neo-gothic building where you can learn about the Hagelandse landscape and watch a video of the winemakers themselves sharing their passion. We didn’t realized you needed to make an appointment and were lucky we were able to join another group!
What really convinced us to head to Wezemaal were the walks in the vineyards. With such beautiful weather, we wanted to spend the day outside. Since we were walking we luckily thought to wear sneakers. What we expected to be a leisurely walk turned out to be an intense hike! So many hills and small paths! It was worth it for the beautiful scenery!
Arriving in Wezemaal
Welcome Center
Wine cellar
Sampling Hagelandse wines with one of the wine makers
Time for lunch in the center of Wezemaal
Brasserie Boeres for lunch
Hagelandse wine, of course
Traditional Belgian meal: meatballs with sour cherries (krieken) and white (milk) and black (blood) sausages with apples
And our walk, or rather hike, begins
De ‘wijnmuur’ (wine wall) or de ‘stenenmuur’ (stone wall) was built in 1814 of iron sandstone and is 1546 meters long. The wall protects the delicate vines from the Northern winds and animals.
The last of the apple blossoms on the apple trees
The end of our walk
After our walk, we headed to Horst to have a drink at a cafe with the view of the city’s 17th century castle
An American in Antwerp 