Winemaker:  Johan van de Velde
Growing:  Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Rivaner, Auxerrois
Established:  2001
Bottles:  60,000
Region:  Zeeland, Netherlands

You might recognize De Kleine Schorre if you’ve had the chance to fly KLM World Business Class, where it’s been served for nearly 15 years.

Premium air travel aside, these grapes come from Zeeland. No, not the wine-producing Pacific island nation, but the old Dutch maritime province.

Winemaker Johan van de Velde spent three years learning winemaking at Domaine Cep d’Or in Luxembourg.

Since 2001, they’ve gotten terrific results with classic, early ripening grape varieties. Given the location, the wines' flavors will remind you of the sea with surfacing minerality and oyster-shell flavors.

Fun fact:  President Barack Obama drank from a bottle of De Kleine Schorre Auxerrois at the Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague in 2014.

*Photo Copyright: Benelux Wine, Wijnhoeve de Kleine Schorre, Largo