THE MOSAIC VINEYARD

The Mosaic Vineyard (Coop'ains cuvée)

Scattered across members' gardens in and around Wavre

Planted: 2017
Number of vines: 500
Grape varieties: Rondo — Souvignier Gris — Solaris — Muscat Bleu — Boskoop Glory, etc.

At the outset, the idea behind Les Pieds dans la Dyle was to create a participatory vineyard in Wavre, possibly in collaboration with the municipality, like other projects emerging across Belgium: Les Vins de Liège, Genval, Villers-la-Vigne, the Bois des Dames vineyard in La Hulpe and Clos des Zouaves in Thuin.

But finding a sufficiently large plot around Wavre seemed impossible. A discussion with Nathalie Évrard about the citizen initiatives of Wavre en Transition and the possibility of planting a few vines at her home in La Bilande sparked another idea: rather than wait for one large plot, why not persuade several owners to host a few vines each?

This is how the “Mosaic Vineyard” was born. Each person would plant as many vines as they could or wished to host: along a south-facing wall, on a well-positioned piece of land, against a fence, in an old greenhouse, beside a tennis court, or on any small patch receiving sunlight from morning to evening — whenever there is any.

In 2017 the project took root. A few years later, the first bunches allowed us to begin the collective vinification we had imagined: without added yeasts or sulphites, simply to do things differently, learn and enjoy ourselves.

The Mosaic Vineyard still exists and now produces a small collective cuvée from the different varieties grown there. It is called Coop'ains, also known as Belgik Invaders.

Meanwhile, some growers became so absorbed in the project that they decided to vinify their own grapes. The Mosaic Vineyard therefore gave rise to several small independent ventures. The story continues: the latest plot of this kind was planted in 2024 by Philippe Dofni in a small walled vineyard in Doiceau.

This cuvée embodies the original idea: growing different varieties together on several small pieces of land, sharing experiences and the harvest, vinifying without artifice, and showing that a vineyard can exist differently — scattered throughout the town, yet brought together in one bottle.