Known as “la bonne Baronne of Château Bon Baron”, with her husband Piotr Chaîne Professional member Jeanette Van Der Steen, a Dutch national living in Belgium, has put Belgium on the international map as a wine producing country. Jeanette followed her heart devoting herself to viticulture.

Who would have thought Belgium, given its reputation for beer, could produce excellent wines? In fact, 235 professional wine growers now work 700 hectares, although small-scale enterprises continue to invest and expand.

The challenge 20 years ago was how to create a new wine domaine. Belgian vineyards disappeared centuries ago with generations of knowledge and skills lost. The answer was to start from scratch.

In the early 2000s Jeanette and Piotr did exactly that buying a chateau in the Meuse valley. After much research and experimentation, the excellent terroir provided opportunities to plant classic “vitis vinifera” grape varieties.

Bon Baron has an incredible quest for ever better. Through passion and love for wine it’s possible to reach the wine world pinnacle.

Jeanette stated 10 years ago, “Making wine in itself is not that difficult, it is actually simplicity itself. It’s consistent attention! Cultivating wine is like cultivating your own life. Viticulture can best be compared to top-class sports; you can only cheer when you've crossed the finish line. On top of that, nature, the living environment of the vineyard with healthy berries played a very important role from the beginning.”

And “From the start we steered our domain towards responsible sustainable viticulture. Sustainability alone is not responsible for quality of grapes and wine. It certainly contributes to quality of life, quality of the soil, ultimately purity of the fruit. It gives each wine room for its own character!”

Inspired by gastronomic training, Jeanette has developed her wine domaine with the most number of different grape varieties in Belgium. Food pairing is an important topic giving added value for gastronomes and restaurateurs among us. Elegant white wines are made at Bon Baron. The domaine’s specialities though are classy reds!

According to Jeanette the secret of wine quality comes from the vineyards. This passionate, creative duo know how to get the best out of the vines by pushing limits, working at edge of the possibilities and to promote their wines quality.

Chateau Bon Baron wines are amongst Belgium’s best, of highest international standard and diverse. The range includes Chardonnay, Auxerrois, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Muscat, Müller Thurgau, Blanc de Noir, Acolon, Cabernet, Gamaret, Garanoir, Pinot Noir.

With a passion for tastes and scents, the combinations with food are an inexhaustible source of inspiration transferred by Jeanette to audiences during tastings.

A lady of class with enormous charm who exudes warm feeling respectfully acknowledging the people around her Jeanette says, “Winemaking on a large scale is not something you do alone, you depend on your team, people who share the same standards and concepts and hold them in high regard. Through shared passion, enthusiasm and sensitization, everyone understands that everything we do has as its goal the promotion of quality.”

We wish lots of ongoing success to Château Bon Baron!

Prepared from a detailed write-up by Échanson Dominique Crombé

Château Bon Baron
Rue de la Voie Cuivrée 41
5503 Dinant

Web: bonbaron.com
Tel: +32 (0)497 70 03 03