In an earlier Sparks episode, Antoin Peeters of Klare Wijn opened the unfiltered Riesling from AY without much context for me. We were both immediately impressed. Ayleen Charlotte saw the clip and reached out: I want to tell the story. So now she is sitting in.
For Sparks episode 19 Ayleen Charlotte joined to taste the Riesling and walk through the full story behind her wine label AY. Not part of a corporate operation, a personal project that started with one glass of orange wine at an event.
This episode was recorded in Dutch. Watch on YouTube with auto-translated subtitles via the link above.
Who is Ayleen Charlotte
Ayleen worked for years in the luxury goods industry, including Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss and most recently in a leadership role at Hermès. She also became internationally known through the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, the story of her relationship with con artist Shimon Hayut. Since the release of the documentary she has been traveling the world as a speaker on fraud prevention, and she developed her own training program for first responders working with fraud victims.
Next to that core work she wanted one project that was purely for fun. Wine is that project. AY Wines launched in 2024 as the result.
How AY started
The label was built together with Roos (designer) and Diederik (wine educator) of Design en Wijn, who already had experience producing private-label cuvées. Ayleen initially imagined an accessible aperitif wine around €10. The journey changed her mind. With her luxury goods background, a more characterful and exclusive product made more sense, and she worked through several blind tastings with Diederik.
Each time she picked the unfiltered version. Three rounds in a row. That settled the direction.
“My story in the Netflix documentary is unfiltered, and I am unfiltered. So my wines have to be unfiltered too.” — Ayleen Charlotte
The name AY
AY is short for Ayleen, and at the same time the Turkish word for “moon”. The label uses circular shapes that nod to that moon, designed by Roos. An amber glow on the orange wine, a soft yellow on the Riesling. The print shifts subtly with the light, a detail Ayleen treats as essential after her years in luxury. The back of every bottle carries a personal story and a QR code linking to the webshop, so a guest in a restaurant can order it on the spot.
The two current bottles
AY Orange Wine (special edition)
The bottle that opened the label. At an event Roos poured a Dutch orange wine from a small producer into a plastic cup. First sip, immediate yes. Ayleen bought the whole inventory: 650 bottles. Sold exclusively through AY in a gift box with the founding story. €39.50.
AY Unfiltered Riesling 2022
Charles Frey, biodynamic estate in Alsace. The Riesling exists in his own range as a filtered version. For Ayleen, one batch was held back and bottled unfiltered exclusively for AY. A new experiment for Charles Frey, the headline wine for AY. €19.50.
France enforces strict rules for biodynamic certification. Charles Frey recently bought an adjacent parcel that cannot yet be sold as biodynamic. Pesticides have to fully leave the soil first, then the soil is double tested. AY Riesling comes only from the certified part of the estate.
Tasting the Riesling
The wine is striking for not being cloudy. Unfiltered does not have to be murky, and this bottle is unusually clear for its type. A deeper yellow-gold than a fresh young Riesling, since the 2022 bottle has a few years on the lees and in glass.
The nose lands on richness. A smoky undertone, stone fruit, peach, nectarine, a faint tropical edge that does not run away with the wine. The palate opens softly, no sharp acidity attack you might expect from Riesling, with a finish that slowly mellows. The wine shifts in your mouth as you drink it.
Ayleen experiments with serving temperature. Sometimes from the fridge, sometimes at room temperature, sometimes in between. The wine performs differently at every level and stays drinkable.
A mature biodynamic Alsace Riesling at €19.50 sits at the friendlier end of its category. Most younger vintages on the market are fresh; a wine with these shoulders usually carries a higher price.
What is next
A red wine as the third bottle, ideally an unfiltered Pinot Noir that can also be served cool. Not yet. Ayleen wants the current two cuvées to settle in first before she expands.
Wine and fraud prevention
Ayleen connects her fraud-prevention work to her wine label where it makes sense. At her Women Fight Fraud event in Amsterdam she pours AY Wines to bring women in fraud prevention together. Wine as a connector, not a side hobby.
She also references a Dutch consumer-watchdog investigation that found supermarket wines between €3 and €12 contain on average 24 different pesticides. For her personally a reason to set organic and biodynamic as the floor.
Frequently asked questions
What does unfiltered mean? Unfiltered wine has not been stripped of yeast residue and small particles before bottling. The result is more texture, more roundness and a richer mouthfeel. Sometimes visibly cloudy, sometimes (as with AY Riesling) surprisingly clear.
Where can I buy AY Wines? Direct via aylcharlotte.com and at Design en Wijn. Not in regular supermarkets or wine stores.
Who is Charles Frey? A biodynamic certified estate in Alsace that supplies the Riesling for AY Wines. The unfiltered version is bottled exclusively for AY.
Will more wines be added? Yes. An unfiltered Pinot Noir is on the wishlist, but only after the current two cuvées have established themselves.
The bottles
AY Unfiltered Riesling 2022. Charles Frey, Alsace, biodynamic certified. Rich nose of stone fruit and smoke, long soft finish, clear despite being unfiltered. €19.50.
AY Orange Wine (special edition). 650 bottles, Dutch producer, fully bought and released in a custom gift box. €39.50.
More about AY Wines
Visit aylcharlotte.com for the webshop and the story behind the label. Follow Ayleen on Instagram for both wine and fraud prevention. Both fall under the same mission: tell things unfiltered.
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