Music festivals are not really known for their premium wine lists, but Belgian's Tomorrowland is on an entirely different level. Yes, electronic dance music is at the core of this July festival, but during its two-weekend-run, the site also hosts pop-up fine-dining restaurants, exclusive bars and luxury accommodation.
And this year, the main table wine being sold at these venues (and at Tomorrowland’s online store) will come from South Australia’s very own Anvers Wines. Three drops are available in the Acta Non Verba (actions, not words) range, including the Shiraz, Chardonnay and Rosé.
Only 3000 bottles of the 2021 Shiraz were produced in total for Tomorrowland, with most grapes sourced from the Anvers Razorback Road vineyard in the southern Adelaide Hills. A small selection also came from old, low-cropping vines in the Langhorne Creek area.
The Acta Non Verba Rosé is a berry-forward expression.
These parcels spent 12 months maturing separately in new and one-year-old French oak barrels, before being blended and matured in barrel for a further eight months.
Almost 5000 bottles of the Chardonnay were made from fruit sourced entirely from the Anvers vineyard – handpicked and gently pressed before undergoing a natural fermentation in new and old French oak barrels. These then spent some time on lees in barrel and underwent malolactic fermentation over winter to build the wine's complexity.
Lastly, there’s the Rosé, made entirely with syrah from Anvers’ own vineyard on Razorback Road. Grapes were handpicked during a cool morning, gently whole-bunch-pressed, racked, and then left to undergo a long and cool fermentation process with the help of a little added yeast. A crisp and berry-forward rosé is the result of this work.
The Anvers cellar door looks out over the rolling vineyard where the Acta Non Verba grapes were handpicked.
And while the main purpose of this collaboration is to sell the wines at Tomorrowland festival this July, a decent selection is also available online — to European and Australian consumers.
When talking about how the collaboration came to be, Anvers Wines owner and managing director Wayne Keoghan shared, “I met my wife in Belgium and ‘Anvers’ is a nod to Myriam’s home of Antwerp, and since establishing our vineyard in 1998, we have had a growing legion of fans of our wines across Australia, Europe, Canada and Japan.
"So, when we were introduced to the amazing Belgian team of Tomorrowland and started talking about a cross-pollination of our wines at their events, it all just clicked.”
During the launch event on Thursday March 6, the team also noted how the Anvers style of wines just happened to align perfectly with the Tomorrowland owner’s own personal tastes – meaning all they had to do was stay true to what they love doing when making the new Acta Non Verba range.
The Acta Non Verba Chardonnay is still available for purchase online.
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