Andy De Brouwer came up with the idea a few years ago to mix geuze and champagne as the house aperitif of restaurant Les Eleveurs (Halle). He called it a 'half-and-half'. It became such a success that the idea was copied by other restaurants, often in an ill-considered manner. Some replaced the champagne with cheap cava and the gueuze with lower quality kriek. That is why Andy had the conceppt and process of the 'vin lambieké' legally protected. Instead of simply mixing two alcoholic drinks, Andy De Brouwer decided to blend an Oude Lambiek of the Den Herber brewery with a 'vin clair' from white hybrid grapes from the Liège wine cooperative and to let them undergo a second fermentation in the bottle.
MeuZenne is the contraction of the names of two rivers: Meuse (= Maas) and Zenne. The wine comes from a limestone rock in the Meuse valley, while the Oude Lambiek comes from the Senne Valley.
Andy De Brouwer is owner-sommelier of restaurant Les Eleveurs in Halle. He graduated as a master sommelier at the Ter Duinen hotel school in Koksijde. In 2012 he was named Sommelier of the Year and he was elected First Maître d'hôtel of Belgium 2019. Together with colleague Yanick Dehandschutter, he also received the HORAL Lambic Award 2020.