LePlan-Vermeersch wins five medals in Berlin!

Dirk Vermeersch was a successful racing driver, with victories and podium finishes at the 24 Hours of Zolder and Spa-Francorchamps, Paris-Dakar, and the Belgian Rally Championship, until a serious accident in 1986 put an end to his career. He moved with his family to the Rhône Valley, where he opened a B&B and, as a self-taught winemaker, began producing his own wine. Before long, his wines were receiving high scores from influential wine critics such as Robert Parker. Starting with just five hundred bottles a year, today his winery LePlan-Vermeersch in Suze-la-Rousse sells half a million bottles annually in seventeen countries. At the prestigious Berliner Wine Trophy 2025, Vermeersch walked away with no less than four gold medals and one silver. The award-winning “gold” wines are GT Carignan 2023, GT Grenache 2023, GT Viognier 2024, GT-X Best of Red 2023, and “silver” for RS Suze 2022. The Berlin competition distinguishes itself from most other wine contests with a selective award system, where only one third of the submitted wines receive a medal.

Now 73 years old, Vermeersch handed over the management of his winery three years ago to his daughter Ann and her French husband. He returned to racing and taught himself how to brew beer. This year, he opened a brand-new microbrewery in Westmalle, just a few kilometers from the world-famous Trappist abbey. Awards soon followed: the beers of LePlan-Vermeersch have already won medals at the World Beer Awards and the Brussels Beer Challenge.