Belgium makes more wine than it can reasonably drink, in more styles than any single guide can carry. This almanac is our reading of it. 8 regions, ranked the way we'd visit them; the houses our critics keep returning to; and a short list of restaurants where we'd spend the evening.
Belgium
Belgium
8
172
1,772
The country, in numbers and adjectives.
The terroirs, by hand.
8 regions worth the trip first — chosen by the Femente desk for the houses we’d open with, the variety of styles within each, and the cooking that grew up around them.
Flandre
The limestone hills of Flanders yield crisp whites and brut sparkling wines that taste of chalk and green apple—a northern restraint that…
Wallonie
Wallonie's cool-climate vineyards yield wines of mineral precision and surprising depth—whites with lime and slate, reds that favor…
Wine of Belgium
Belgium's cool northern latitude forces its winemakers into a singular pursuit: extracting ripeness from marginal conditions, which…
Hagelandse Wijn
Hagelandse winemakers push cool-climate whites and lean reds from sandy soils, where restraint and mineral tension define the glass.
Haspengouwse Wijn
Haspengouw's limestone soils yield crisp white wines and methodical sparkling cuvées that challenge the notion of quality tied to climate…
Heuvellandse Wijn
Chalk-driven hillsides near the Dutch border yield crisp whites and delicate sparkling wines that taste of chalk dust and orchard fruit,…
Côtes de Sambre et Meuse
The Sambre and Meuse valleys produce wines caught between two identities: restless sparkling wines that fizz with green-apple snap, and…
Crémant de Wallonie
The Walloon sparkling houses favor brut dosages and high acidity, building wines that cut rather than caress—a style born from cool…
The country’s house grammar.
The 8 styles Belgium makes most of, ranked by bottle count on Femente. The bar beneath each cell shows that style’s share of belgium’s production.
2
Hungarian White — the country’s most numerous bottle.
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Where to spend the evening.
12 rooms across Belgium our editors keep coming back to — chosen for the cooking and the wine list, in that order.
Zilte | Viki Geunes
Seafood · Fine Dining · European — Antwerp
100
BOURY
European · Modern — Roeselare
100
Restaurant Ralf Berendsen **
Traditional · European — Lanaken
97
Le Chalet de la Forêt
Fine Dining · French Style — Uccle - Ukkel
96
KAREN TOROSYAN
European — Brussels
96
Sir Kwinten
European — Sint-Kwintens-Lennik
96
La Table de Maxime
Fine Dining · French Style — Our
96
Cuchara
European · Traditional — Lommel
96
Air du temps**
European · Traditional — Éghezée
96
Restaurant Slagmolen
Pasta · Dessert · European — Opglabbeek
96
MAISON COLETTE
Pastry · French Style — Brussels
96
Hertog Jan at Botanic Antwerp
Modern · European — Antwerp
96
Add Belgium to your cellar journal — or pick a region and start walking.
A short note in your inbox when we add a new region, find a winery worth crossing town for, or open a tasting we’d send you to. No noise. Just the ones we’d book ourselves.