Wine from the Netherlands? Adam Dijkstra and a Nordic dish for a northern white.

A winemaker who could not leave home

Adam Dijkstra suffers from homesickness, so making wine in his own country is a blessing. He has no family wine tradition at all: his mother does not drink and his father has a few beers a year. The spark came on a hiking holiday with his father through the vineyards of Alsace, where he felt complete happiness and knew he had to become a winemaker. Now he jokes that it is his duty to start a wine family.

Building a winery without a reputation means selling an experience as well as a bottle. Visitors, local pride and a growing fan base are how De Colonjes has grown.

Why the north can make wine now

Climate change plays a part, Adam says, but it is not the main reason wine is spreading north. The key is new grape varieties. Helios, a crossing from Germany, ripens faster and can build more sugar with lower sun intensity. Northern summers have weaker sun, but long days, so the total amount of light is similar or greater, while lower temperatures keep acidity higher.

The vineyard behind this wine was planted in 2006 with Helios and Riesèl, chosen for the climate and soil. Adam likes Helios because it is not strongly aromatic, letting the soil come through. The wine is bone dry, with tension between acidity and minerality rather than acidity and sugar. Young wine countries need time, he adds: as vines age, wines improve.

Andreas adds that wine is now made almost everywhere, from Denmark and southern Sweden to tropical places with several harvests a year. With more than 10,000 grape varieties in the world, Adam says, every climate can find a suitable grape and rootstock.

Veal in dill sauce, the Swedish way

Andreas cooks a Swedish classic, kalv i dillsås. Veal brisket simmers for about an hour with salt, bay leaf and an onion studded with cloves. Spring carrots, scallions and asparagus are then cooked in the broth, and the sauce combines a reduction of white wine, white wine vinegar and dill stems with cream and plenty of fresh dill.

Adam notes that dill also helps in the vineyard, where dill, fennel and carrots support biodiversity and soil life. On the plate, the mild meat, creamy sauce and sweet and sour, herbal notes are tailor made for a crisp, herbal white. It fits like a glove.

A sulfite-free experiment

Adam also brings a Cabernet Sauvignon from Valencia grapes, part of a European research project. Instead of sulfites it is stabilized with a natural replacement, and he says De Colonjes is the first winery licensed to work with it. His reason is practical: rules on sulfites are tightening, so the industry needs alternatives before it is too late. Andreas finds the wine pure, open and fresh, without the funky notes some unsulfured wines show.

A blind sparkling wine and fish without chips

The surprise bottle has bubbles, because Adam believes we should all drink more sparkling wine. Andreas finds lime, lemongrass, ripe grape, pineapple and a creamy palate. From the fridge come small sole fillets, sauerkraut, apple and cucumber, and the answer is fish and chips without the chips: sole in a batter made with the sparkling wine itself, a sauerkraut and apple slaw and quick pickled cucumber.

It is the carbon dioxide, Andreas explains, not the beer, that makes a batter light. Watch to see whether he can place the wine, and stay for the memory game.

Adam once worked as a chef, and both agree that chefs and sommeliers need to care about each other's craft. Andreas calls sparkling wine underrated at the table: the bubbles cleanse the palate, and a Champagne dinner can run from start to finish, though he draws the line at dry Champagne with a sweet dessert.