Chefs in het Bos expands its drinks program before its Amsterdam festival weekends

Chefs in het Bos, the outdoor food festival held in Amsterdamse Bos, has expanded its wine and beverage program ahead of its upcoming weekends, adding a broad group of Champagne houses, wineries, fortified wine producers, alcohol-free labels and beer partners to accompany its chef lineup.

The organizers announced the update in a promotional message sent Wednesday, presenting the drinks program as a central part of the event rather than a secondary feature. The festival is also promoting masterclasses and tastings focused on terroir, wine regions and food pairing, with sommeliers leading guided sessions for visitors.

The event is offering advance tickets at €23 instead of €28.50, according to the announcement. Organizers said the reduced price is intended to encourage early bookings as they complete the program.

Among the headline partners are two Champagne producers, Bollinger and Ayala. Bollinger, the family-owned house founded in 1829, is being positioned as the fuller-bodied option in the lineup, with an emphasis on Pinot Noir and oak aging. Ayala is presented as a drier and more mineral style, built around Grand Cru and Premier Cru fruit, low dosage and extended cellar aging.

For both festival weekends, the organizers said several themed bars will pour wines from different regions. A Provence bar will feature Ultimate Provence and Château de Berne, with a focus on rosé styles that can work at the table rather than only as aperitifs. An Andes bar will bring together wines from Chile’s Montes and Argentina’s Kaiken, highlighting mountain viticulture and high-altitude fruit. An Italy bar will showcase Mezzacorona from Trentino, where the producer works with 1,500 winegrowing families. A terroir-focused bar will include France’s Calmel & Joseph and Portugal’s Esporão. Graham’s will also appear with mixed port serves including Port & Tonic and Midnight Spritz built from its Blend Series.

The first weekend will include several exclusive participants. Ex.Cellar, a new platform linked to restaurant NOTK, is set to make its public debut at the festival. The project was founded by Thomas Traa and Lukas Wiegman, who was named Best Sommelier of the Netherlands for 2024-2025. Organizers said Ex.Cellar will focus on wines from smaller producers with strong identity and storytelling value. Another first-weekend feature, New Bunch, will present wines from Argentina and Chile alongside selections from Spain and Italy aimed at showing how younger producers are reworking traditional styles.

The second weekend will have a separate set of exclusive bars under Delta Wines. One bar will combine South African and U.S. wines, including Wines of South Africa selections as well as Boekenhoutskloof, Wildeberg and Perdeberg on one side, and California’s Bread & Butter on the other. New Zealand producer Misty Cove will pour Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir sourced from both Wairau Valley and Awatere Valley fruit. An Iberia bar will feature Menade from Rueda, Vicente Gandía from Valencia and Tawny Ports from Royal Oporto in the Douro Valley.

The second weekend will also include a “90+” bar dedicated to wines that have received high critic scores. Organizers named G.D. Vajra from Barolo, Zuccardi from Argentina and Dominio del Soto from Spain among the producers represented there. The same area will include alcohol-free wines from Kolonne Null.

A Discovery bar is planned as a broader look at newer directions in wine and nonalcoholic drinks. The lineup includes Aubert & Mathieu, Teliani Valley and other producers tied to organic farming, older winemaking traditions or lesser-known grape varieties. Alcohol-free options there are expected to include Oddbird and sparkling teas.

Outside wine, the festival is also adding Sea Water, a beverage brand that says it uses sustainably filtered seawater in production to reduce freshwater use, and Swinckels pilsner brewed by the Swinkels family with water from its own source and malt from its own malt house.

The expanded beverage program reflects a wider trend in European food festivals toward more structured pairing experiences and stronger representation for low- and no-alcohol drinks alongside traditional wine service. In this case, Chefs in het Bos is using themed bars and educational sessions to frame drinks as part of the culinary experience across both weekends in Amsterdam’s urban forest setting.