Caroline Baerten & Nicolas Decloedt, Humus x Hortense

Caroline Baerten, lady of the house and sommelier, and head chef Nicolas Decloedt at Humus x Hortense, what are you looking for when choosing your wines?

– All of our wines are biodynamic and unless the quality is compromised, I opt for female winemakers since they often get ignored. In fact, sixty percent of the wines on my list are from female winemakers. We buy wines from Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Spain, and we have one wine from Georgia.

How do you know that the wines live up to your standards?

– By talking to the people in charge of the wines. I want to know how they treat the soil and how they manage the farm in general. I can’t travel everywhere but it’s still important to have that human connection.

Your menu is very sustainable, but are you equally aware when it comes to the welfare of your staff?

– Because of the situation in the world, our margins have of course become smaller. Still, from July and onwards, we will reduce the working hours for our staff by ten percent while maintaining their salaries, to get a better work-life balance. Up until now, we’ve been working very sustainably – but not necessarily when it comes to ourselves.