Slight rise in Dutch wine production

17/08/2018 16:05

In 2017, the Netherlands had 92 vineyards, four more than in the previous year. The total vineyard surface area increased slightly to 157 hectares. The province of Limburg is the leading producer of wine grapes, as shown by the latest regional agricultural figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

Wine producers in the Netherlands
Regio's	Gelderland	Limburg	Noord-Brabant	Other provinces
2003	2	7	4	17
2004	11	9	4	24
2005	10	10	9	29
2006	15	10	7	29
2007	17	14	6	31
2008	28	15	9	29
2009	27	16	8	36
2010	28	18	8	35
2011	29	18	8	40
2012	28	18	7	41
2013	25	21	9	42
2014	26	18	10	42
2015	33	22	14	27
2016	27	20	14	27
2017	24	22	17	29

Wine producers in the Netherlands
Regio's	Gelderland	Limburg	Noord-Brabant	Other provinces
2003	2	7	4	17
2004	11	9	4	24
2005	10	10	9	29
2006	15	10	7	29
2007	17	14	6	31
2008	28	15	9	29
2009	27	16	8	36
2010	28	18	8	35
2011	29	18	8	40
2012	28	18	7	41
2013	25	21	9	42
2014	26	18	10	42
2015	33	22	14	27
2016	27	20	14	27
2017	24	22	17	29

Slight increase in Dutch grape acreage

In 2017, wine grapes occupied 157 ha of Dutch agricultural land, 2 ha more than in 2016. Between 2003 and 2017, the grape acreage increased by an annual 9 ha on average. The vineyard surface area grew from 35 ha in 2003 to 165 ha in 2011, a record year. This was followed by a slight decline until 2015. At 4 ha, Limburg saw the largest expansion of wine grape acreage, followed by Noord-Brabant with 2 ha. The province of Gelderland saw a decline of 2 ha.

Winegrape cultivation, acreage
	Gelderland (ha)	Limburg (ha)	Noord-Brabant (ha)	Other provinces (ha)
2003	3	13	1	18
2004	13	12	2	27
2005	17	17	3	33
2006	24	18	2	38
2007	27	20	6	52
2008	58	30	7	47
2009	56	28	8	55
2010	56	40	8	54
2011	55	37	8	65
2012	48	43	5	63
2013	45	46	6	62
2014	50	45	6	58
2015	48	41	19	40
2016	38	46	19	52
2017	36	50	21	50

Winegrape cultivation, acreage
	Gelderland (ha)	Limburg (ha)	Noord-Brabant (ha)	Other provinces (ha)
2003	3	13	1	18
2004	13	12	2	27
2005	17	17	3	33
2006	24	18	2	38
2007	27	20	6	52
2008	58	30	7	47
2009	56	28	8	55
2010	56	40	8	54
2011	55	37	8	65
2012	48	43	5	63
2013	45	46	6	62
2014	50	45	6	58
2015	48	41	19	40
2016	38	46	19	52
2017	36	50	21	50

Wine production emerging in Noord-Brabant

Traditionally, Limburg and Gelderland are the most important provinces for winegrowing. A respective 32 and 23 percent of the total grape acreage was located in these two provinces last year. Noord-Brabant has been emerging as a wine province in recent years, already accounting for 13 percent of the total winegrape acreage in 2017. In 2011, Limburg covered 22 percent, Gelderland 34 percent and Noord-Brabant 5 percent of the total grape acreage. Meanwhile, Gelderland has been replaced by Limburg as the top wine producing province, mainly as a result of the 20-ha reduction in grape acreage in Gelderland as of 2010.

Largest wine producers in Zeeland province

In 2017, a Dutch winegrower had an average of 1.7 ha of farmland for grape cultivation. The average was still 1.2 ha per holding in 2003. The largest winegrowers are located in the province of Zeeland: this province counted an average of 3.1 ha of grape acreage per holding.