A piece of France at the vineyard in Groningen

During a road trip in a vintage Volkswagen van through Groningen, I had the opportunity to visit Elma at Groot Maarslag. In addition to her beautiful farm, she has established a vineyard with which she produces and sells a few thousand bottles a year. Upon arrival in our volkswagen van, it immediately felt like a different part of the Netherlands. A beautiful farm, awesome bushes with insane flowers and a view over the hills of Groningen.

As a wine lover, it is very interesting to take a tour through a Dutch vineyard and it proves once again that we do not have to go abroad for many things. So at Wijngaard Hof 't Hogeland, you imagine yourself in a little piece of France on Dutch soil. The height differences on her land give this an extra push, as at the highest point of the land you look over the entire vineyard.

The reason for this vineyard lies in the earthquakes in Groningen. Unfortunately, she lives on the line where many earthquakes occur, causing her farm to suffer a lot of damage. To compensate for this damage and the cost, she decided to plant the vineyard. It is a wonderful addition to the land and for the area. It deserves more name recognition, because the local people I spoke to during the days in Groningen were not all familiar with the local vineyard they can find just a few kilometres away!

Before we started the tour of the vineyard, we chatted in the Groningen sunshine. She told us about the earthquakes and the beginning of the vineyard, her own grown vegetables and fruits, and her farm animals. In fact, besides the vineyard, she also has a number of pigs, chickens and horses. These animals enjoy freedom here and have an incredibly nice life.

She also grows her own fruit and vegetables (partly in a greenhouse) on her land and it is admirable how many different kinds of fruit and vegetables grow on her land. You can put a delicious meal on the table from everything found on her land without any problems.

The vineyard is bigger than it looks and you forget the world around you when you walk between the trees. You can't miss the bunches of grapes hanging from them and some are even bigger than others. Impressive as you walk through them, as is the view over the vineyard and countryside. This is a view that deserves to be named twice, because it is truly beautiful.

So it's quite a vineyard, from which Elma extracts thousands of bottles of wine a year. During our visit, we had the opportunity to taste a 2019 wine and of course we didn't say no to that. In one of her barns, which has an authentic charm, Elma has set up a wooden table with stools. This is a place where you can have a wine tasting with friends and family, while enjoying the view and the cats that will shoot past your leg here and there. Here, in the grounds of Elma's vineyard, life pauses for a moment and allows you to enjoy the freedom and outdoors.

From my own experience, I can say that the wine is delicious and if you dine in the area, there is just a chance that you will be drinking a wine from Elma's vineyard! In fact, her wine is sold in several restaurants, including steakhouse André Dokter, where we dined the night before. It's definitely worth checking if there's a local wine among them when picking one. That way, you support local entrepreneurs like Elma! And how nice is it to drink a Dutch wine!

It was a highlight during our road trip through Groningen in a VW van, but apart from the fact that the vineyard is beautiful and the wine incredibly tasty, it was especially Elma who made the experience that much more special. With great candour and passion, she talks about her life in Groningen, her beloved farm animals and the passion for the vineyard that brings her great pleasure (and good wine). To be honest, that is always my favourite part of an activity like this, as you often hear the most impressive stories.