Wijngaard Hof van Twente

The Netherlands

"I always wanted to become a farmer so now I am a Dutch winemaker."

From city boy to Dutch winemaker 

Winery Wijngaard Hof van Twente is located on the outskirts of the small village of Bentelo in the province of Overijssel. We met up with winemaker Roelof Visscher who already knew as a child that he wanted to be a farmer even though he came from a large city.

He followed his passion and managed to reach his goal. Nowadays he is a successful ‘grape farmer’, winemaker and owner of one of the largest wineries in the Netherlands.

New grape varieties for cooler climates

The first vines went into the ground in 2000, and later on the wine cellar, winery and tasting room were built. The vineyards now cover 6,5 hectares planted with mostly new grape varieties suitable to a moist climate with less sunshine.

Grape varieties like Johanniter, Solaris, Souvignier Gris and Riesèl are used for making white wines. Regent and Pinotin varieties are used to make red and rosé wines. Recently also some rows of Pinot Noir were added. ‘Grape farmers’ throughout the region have discovered that Ilse and Roelof Visscher know how to make wine and therefor have their grapes made into wine at Hof van Twente.

Producing vegetable wines

Roelof likes a challenge and producing wine in a difficult environment doesn’t scare him. In 2014 his company also started a vineyard on the island of Curaçao in the southern Caribbean Sea.

Back home in the Netherlands he started a new innovative project producing wines made out of tomatoes and peppers. In 2015 he started selling his vegetable wines under the name ViniVega. There’s certainly never a dull moment here!

Hof van Twente

Literally “The Garden of Twente” is a municipality in the eastern part of the Netherlands near the German border. It’s an agricultural area with great possibilities for walking or riding your bike. In the countryside you find a number of beautiful small castles, country houses and estates that date back to the 14th century.

Before you take a tour and wine tasting at Wijngaard Hof van Twente you might want to consider popping by Twickel Castle and Estate. It’s located near the historic small city of Delden, and most definitely worth a visit.