A Dutch sparkler with the nerve to share a table with Champagne. Domein Holset Novo 2022, made on the southern tip of Limburg, leads with an unusual but logical assemblage: 85% Souvignier Gris, 15% Johanniter. No Pinot, no Chardonnay; PIWIs that simply fit this climate better.
Why Souvignier Gris and Johanniter
Both varieties were bred for cool, damp climates and carry natural fungus resistance. That makes minimum-intervention work both philosophically appealing and practically possible. Meta van den Boomen, co-owner, calls Souvignier Gris “beautiful in the vineyard, easy to grow, with grey-purple-pink berries but still white flesh”. Johanniter has been on the estate since 2009 and is related to Riesling: sharp acidity, lemon-apple lift.
Limburg terroir
Not Champagne chalk. Sandstone and marl, with the estate moving towards full organic and Demeter (biodynamic) certification. German Sekt consultants called the base wines “technically perfectly suited for sparkling production”; a sober compliment, rare in this corner.
In the cellar
Winemaker Kirsten Abels works traditional method with her own twist on the base:
- 70% stainless steel (purity)
- 20% Burgundian oak (complexity)
- 10% ceramic (texture)
- Full malolactic during 10 months of tank ageing
- 24 months on lees, dosage 3 g/l → Extra Brut
Riddling and disgorgement currently happen in Germany. In-house equipment is on the way, targeting 2026; from then on the bottle can carry the protected BGA Mergelland designation.
Tasting note
The nose is wider than most sparklers dare: wild peach, lemon zest and spring blossom, with brioche and toast in the background from the long lees ageing. The palate is taut, apple and citrus, fine persistent bead, a mineral tail that hangs around. Extra Brut, but the malo keeps it off the hard edge.
Brilliant as an apéritif; with food it shines next to fresh seafood or a charred goat-cheese salad. Too forward for sashimi-level delicacy.
What it signals
Visitors from Belgium and Germany now describe Holset as “able to measure up to Champagne”. Praise these neighbours rarely hand out. As climate change pushes Champagne summers warmer, the optimal-acidity window slides slowly north. Limburg sits in it.
Novo 2022 is less a news item than a preview.
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