Since 2001 Antoin Peeters has read the 19:30 evening news at RTL. Since 2019 he has run Klare Wijn, an Instagram account that now reaches everyone from Dikke Donderdag enthusiasts to small-grower fans. Alongside that he hosts the Klare Wijn podcast with his friend Erens Jan. Over 55 episodes in.
For Sparks episode 18 Antoine joined to talk about six years of wine content, how Dikke Donderdag accidentally became a hit, and what he is not going to start. We closed the conversation with a glass of AY Unfiltered Riesling, which became the trigger for episode 19 with Ayleen Charlotte herself.
This episode was recorded in Dutch. Watch on YouTube with auto-translated subtitles via the link above.
Who is Antoin Peeters
Antoine started his career at regional broadcasters after the School for Journalism in Tilburg. Since 2001 he has been with RTL Nieuws. First as a long-running domestic affairs reporter, then as the royal correspondent during the years Willem-Alexander succeeded Beatrix on the Dutch throne. Since 2015/2016 he has been the regular anchor of the 19:30 evening news, the flagship bulletin. He also works as event chair at conferences.
Alongside that day job, he has been a wine lover for over thirty years. Not as a serious second career, but as a hobby that fully got away from him. Wine knowledge built up by going on the ground himself, visiting growers, and accumulating thirty years of experience. The theory side gets handled by his podcast partner Erens Jan. Antoine is on the practical side and the tasting.
How Klare Wijn started
In summer 2019 Antoine had a verified Instagram account through RTL where he occasionally posted about wine. Every wine post brought new followers, every news post lost some. On a quiet summer evening, just before the pandemic, he opened a second account dedicated to wine.
“Klare wijn schenken — speak clearly. It fits me, it fits my work, and I think it fits wine too.” — Antoin Peeters
Six years later the account is growing harder than ever, especially in the past year.
The Klare Wijn podcast
Two years after launching the account, Antoine started the Klare Wijn podcast with his friend Erens Jan from Dordrecht. The trigger came during the pandemic when they ran online tastings together for a wine merchant. People heard the chemistry and suggested they make more of it.
The dynamic on the podcast is clear:
- Antoine: practical side, tasting, thirty years of wine experience, his own visits to growers
- Erens Jan: theoretical depth, reads 500 sources for every episode, writes everything out
A typical podcast prep includes: find a guest (must really know the topic), assemble a tasting kit, do a pre-interview, build the script, find a date, only then record. Not a freewheeling chat podcast.
Now over 55 episodes deep. Topics range from full regions (Portugal, US) to focused themes (Oregon only, Pinot Noir only). A shortlist of around 30 topics is ready for episodes 56 through 100. New episodes often come with a tasting kit you can buy through importers or merchants to taste along at home.
Dikke Donderdag
Early 2025, Antoine sat down to think about growth. A professional Instagram influencer gave him two pieces of advice: invest more in video (photo-only is losing reach) and build a recurring feature.
At the same time he noticed something else. Iconic cult bottles got almost no airtime on Instagram. The feed was dominated by supermarket wine and bottles around €15. Globally there are absolute top wines that many followers do not even know exist.
The result: Dikke Donderdag (Big Thursday). Once a week, an unusually special bottle in the spotlight. Importers send sample bottles, not entire cellars. The feature took off. Almost entirely positive responses, with an occasional too-decadent push-back. Antoine now gets recognized just as often by younger viewers for Dikke Donderdag as for the 19:30 news.
Honest reviews in a small-village industry
The wine world is small and almost everyone has skin in the game somewhere. Importers, sommeliers, retail. Antoine tries to be honest, but does not actively trash wines that were sent to him. Wine not good? It just does not show up on the account. No public takedown for entertainment value.
He once posted a critical restaurant review and had to disable comments after followers got into fights with each other underneath. Since then he is more careful with public negative reviews, while emphasizing that being honest also means being allowed to occasionally not like something.
Plans for the future
Own vineyard? No. He has visited too many growers to know how hard the work is and how erratic the market behaves. A wine TV show? Maybe. But wine remains a niche market and RTL is a broad-audience network. Earlier wine programs failed, with Hubrecht Duijker (back when TV was still magic) and Ilja Gort (more travel show than wine show) as the exceptions. A Videoland or YouTube format is more realistic.
For now he holds the balance across three lives: news anchor, partner/parent, wine. Early September he flies to Cape Wine 2025 in South Africa with a group of major wine lovers. A week of producer visits, with the open question of how to capture all the content without a production crew.
Tasting the AY Unfiltered Riesling
At the end of the conversation Antoine opened the AY Unfiltered Riesling 2022 by Ayleen Charlotte. He had been following AY since the orange wine release a few years earlier, and this second release had reached his cellar too.
The nose lands on rich apricot, ripe apple, white blossom, a hint of oak, orange and a salty edge. The palate is round, dry, well-balanced between rich fruit and lively acid. Hazelnut on the finish. A mature biodynamic Alsace Riesling that does not push toward sweetness, which fits Antoine’s taste exactly (he is normally not an Alsace fan for that reason).
It made Sparks episode 19 the obvious next step: Ayleen Charlotte joined to tell the full story behind her wine label.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Antoin Peeters? Journalist and news anchor at RTL Nieuws since 2001. Regular host of the 19:30 evening news since 2015/2016. Founder of the Instagram account Klare Wijn (2019) and co-host of the Klare Wijn podcast with Erens Jan.
What is Dikke Donderdag? A weekly Instagram feature where Antoine puts a particularly special or iconic cult bottle in the spotlight. Designed to shift attention away from standard supermarket wine toward top wines that are made worldwide but get almost no social media visibility.
How often does the Klare Wijn podcast publish? No fixed cadence. Each episode demands serious prep: find the right guest, assemble a tasting kit, do the pre-interview, build the script. Over 55 episodes published; the goal is at least 100.
Where can I listen to the Klare Wijn podcast? On all major podcast platforms. The Instagram account @klarewijn carries the active links.
More about Klare Wijn
Follow @klarewijn on Instagram. Listen to the Klare Wijn podcast through your podcast app of choice. For the tasting kits sometimes paired with episodes, check the Instagram bio for the current importer.
For the story behind the AY Unfiltered Riesling we tasted in this episode, see Sparks episode 19 with Ayleen Charlotte.
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