European Diary: They come in droves every weekend. Bus tours from Germany, private cars from Holland and even locals eager to get a taste of Belgium wine.
Better known for its beer and chocolate, Belgium is beginning to cash in on the boom in wine tourism that its neighbours France and Germany are already enjoying.
"More than 300 people take our tours every Saturday," says a guide at Belgium's biggest vineyard Genoels-Elderen, which nestles just a few kilometres from the Dutch border. "Most people can't believe you can grow such good wine here in Belgium."
Genoels-Elderen was planted in 1991 by the Van Rennes family, which acquired the estate and castle after selling part of their wine merchant business. It has grown quickly and sells 80,000 bottles of sparkling wine, whites and reds, per year.
"My father bought it when he was 56 and was planning to renovate the castle and retire," says his daughter, Joyce Kekko Van Rennes. "But then we found the cellars and looked back at the history of the estate and found out it used to be a big wine-making area. In fact, wine-making in Tongeren dates back to the Roman period."
However, the vineyards were destroyed by Napoleon following his conquest of the area in the 19th century. He did not want competition for French wine growers and the vineyards were not replanted, says Joyce, who studied wine-making in France and is now taking over the day-to-day job of managing the vineyard from her father.
The increase in global temperatures is also good news for Genoels-Elderen and the 50 or so other commercial Belgian vineyards that need strong sun to ripen their grapes.
"Through history you find that there is a lot of wine-making in places such as Belgium, Holland and Britain when the climate is warmer, then it pulls back when it gets colder," says Joyce. "Modern vines are also mush less susceptible to frost."
On a tour of the vineyards, the cellars and the production machinery, Joyce explains that the key to the vineyard's early success has been a relentless focus on quality. The use of oak barrels, a low production rate per hectare and purchase of the best vines from France (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) has established Genoels-Elderen at the top end of the market, where it commands prices of €15 to €22.50 per bottle.
Unfortunately, the success of Genoels-Elderen is not mirrored in many vineyards in some of the traditional wine-producing nations such as France, Spain and Italy.
With wine consumption in Europe falling by about 75 million litres per year, wine producers are finding it harder to sell at home or abroad, particularly as they face tough competition from new world wines from Argentina, Chile and South Africa.
The bottom end of the market is being hit hardest with cheap table wines - those which by law are not allowed to display their vintage - feeling the worst effect of changing consumer tastes and the influx of cheap new world varieties.
This is causing EU wine producers to fill huge wine lakes - equivalent of more than 20 million bottles of wine or 8 per cent of EU production - with unwanted stock. To support the livelihoods of wine growers that cannot sell their stock, the EU is spending about €500 million every year to help them turn their unwanted stock into ethanol for cars and factories.
Last week, farming commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel proposed a radical form of the wine industry. Under her plan the subventions for overproduction would be phased out, grants put in place for farmers to dig up unproductive vineyards, and a slew of prohibitive rules on labelling and producing wines reformed to help make EU wines more competitive against the new world, which enjoy less regulation.
"We are producing too much wine for which there is no market," warned Ms Boel, who emphasised the need for a "fundamental reform".
Struggling French and Spanish wine growers, who fear the loss of subsidies, are opposing the plan, while more competitive growers believe it could help them expand.
Back in Belgium, which is not recognised as a wine-producing nation and so its growers do not benefit from EU handouts, the new wine strategy has aroused only limited interest or debate.
Yet certain changes to the rules governing wine labelling may have an impact on the competitiveness of quality wines such as those of Genoels-Elderen.
"Under the plan it is envisaged that table wines will be able to put a vintage and grape variety on their bottles for the first time," says Joyce. "Up until now this has only been possible if you were an appellation wine, which means you signed up to follow strict rules set in particular areas. We were the first to sign up to a Belgian appellation in the 1990s. It is a mark of quality and distinguishes your wine."
It is possible that Genoels-Elderen and other quality wines would face more competition from lower quality wines if the EU plan gets the go ahead. But overall, Belgium's biggest wine producer is confident that the tourists will keep visiting and the sales of its wines in restaurants and shops will keep increasing as the vineyard matures.
"It all started off as a hobby but it has certainly grown since," says Joyce. "Belgium has been known for good beer for years, but why not wine in the future?"