Harold Hamersma: The Man Behind the Numbers on Your Wine Bottle

A “8.5” or “9” sticker on a Dutch supermarket shelf, and the bottle lands in the basket. Those numbers steer millions of wine purchases in the Netherlands every year. Most buyers couldn’t tell you the name of the man behind them.

Harold Hamersma. This Amsterdam native has spent four decades quietly shaping how an entire country buys wine. In Sparks by VinoVonk episode 26 I sat down with him to talk about his rating system, his refusal to write demolition reviews, and the contradictions four decades of work tend to produce.

From Bag-in-Box to Bible

Hamersma’s wine story did not start in French châteaux. It started with cardboard cartons from an Albert Heijn supermarket in 1970s Amsterdam. He grew up in De Pijp, a working-class neighbourhood literally under the smoke of the Heineken brewery. His first wine was a budget brand sold in cartons: Pinar.

“Fifty years ago I was drinking wine out of boxes,” he laughs. “Now the whole world is chasing them.”

What began as teenage pushback against his father’s beer-crate Sundays grew into something else. At 13 Hamersma bought his first typewriter with money he made collecting old newspapers. He weighed 65 kilos, the typewriter weighed 65 kilos, and it cost 65 guilders. Writing came first. Wine pulled in alongside it.

He never did a vinology programme. Forty years self-taught, built on tasting and reading. His database now holds 50,000 to 60,000 wines, assembled one bottle at a time. No other Dutch wine archive comes close.

How an 8.5 actually gets built

The method is simple. Wines are graded on appearance, nose, palate and finish, and benchmarked against peers in the same price band. A €15 Albariño gets compared against other €15 Albariños, not against €30 bottles. Each verdict is then cross-checked against international reviewers (Atkin, Decanter, Jancis Robinson) so the panel knows it isn’t drifting.

When asked why he doesn’t issue low scores, Hamersma is direct: “Why would you go buy a wine I gave a 3? I have my hands full writing about good wine. That makes you a disaster tourist.”

It’s an honest answer with a flaw. The positive-only approach keeps the tone open and welcoming. It also means you get recommendations, not warnings. Which wines to skip, Hamersma won’t tell you. Whether that counts as criticism or as a buyer’s guide depends on what you came for.

He’s aimed at the right audience. Only three percent of Dutch wine buyers ever pay more than ten euros for a bottle. Hamersma knows his market.

Drinking less, drinking better

The conversation sharpens around trends. “We’re drinking less wine in the Netherlands, but better.” About time.

A bigger shift sits underneath. Dutch buyers are returning to European wine from Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Part environmental, part protectionist, part price-driven. The reflex of grabbing a New World bottle has cooled.

On alcohol-free wine he is sharp. The technology is improving, especially in white, rosé and sparkling. He still doesn’t leap out of his chair. He’s much more excited about drinks that don’t try to imitate wine, like Sparkling Tea Co (started by a Scandinavian sommelier). Not wine, fully gastronomic. For spirits he prefers Nona over Seedlip.

His own routine matches the moderation. Three dry days a week, three glasses maximum on the others. “We’re getting older. You need more time to process it. I don’t want to sweat at night or sleep badly.”

Watch or listen to the episode

The full conversation also covers Hubrecht Duijker as Harold’s first guide into wine writing, the apartment-building chat group that empties his sample bottles in fifteen minutes, the bocksbeutel that fits neither a wine rack nor a glass-recycling bin, and why he occasionally returns a bottle to a supermarket buyer with a note that reads “check the whole batch”.

The Hamersma Effect

Whether positive-only ratings can carry the full weight of wine criticism is fair to question. I do question it. What’s harder to question is his influence. His mission was never to impress sommeliers or serve the trade press. It was to help ordinary people drink better wine, without intimidation and without pretension.

That assignment is done. Whether his approach is the future of wine criticism or a Dutch peculiarity is a different conversation. Either way, the numbers on the supermarket shelves aren’t moving soon.

Sources

• Harold Hamersma — De Grote Hamersma Wine Guide: grotehamersma.nl