The theme around Wharton Europe this fall is wine, wine and more wine. Two weeks after a fantastic harvest adventure in the Loire Valley organized by the Wharton Club of Paris and a week before the Wharton Club of Germany ’s Rhineland wine weekend, the Belgian club had its first event in quite some time.

Aymeric De Hemptinne, G’11, WG’11 (middle) enjoys the company of fellow alumni at the Wharton Club of Belgium event.

Thanks to the efforts of three Belgian alumni—Joseph Sadis, WG’75, Aymeric  De Hemptinne, G’11,  WG’11, and David Detrilles, WG’11—the Wharton Club of Belgium recently relaunched with a very successful wine tasting led by sommelier Eric Merny, Aymeric’s business partner in their wine flash-sale site, Sacriana.

A group of approximately 30 alumni, residing all over Belgium and the Netherlands, attended the all-red wine tasting that included two wines each from the Vacqueyras region in the Cotes du Rhone, the Saint-Julien appellation in Bordeaux and the Corton appellation in Burgundy. In addition to the serious business of savoring these fine wines, I picked up a number of fun facts:

• In the southern villages, it is quite common to add white wine grapes to red wine, and in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, winemakers might mix in as many as six to seven white wine grapes.

• Austrians are starting to use glass corks (sounds quite stylish).

• The best artificial corks are made in Belgium.

• Tasting green paprika on wine is a sign the wine was harvested too early.

• Planting petit verdot can be a big risk as it isn’t harvested until early October and thus can be significantly impacted with an early frost.

• Bordeaux uses castles to name its appellations while Burgundy uses hills.

• Don’t let people tell you the 2012 vintage won’t be good. While it may not be great in Bordeaux and Burgundy, it will be fantastic in the Cotes de Rhone and, most importantly, Champagne.

The event lasted well into the night (our hosts at McKinsey turned off the lights on us at one point), as alumni based in Belgium and the Netherlands enjoyed the opportunity to meet as a group for the first time in many years.