Our Vision

Oraio is about terroir and excellence.

Our naturally fermented soy sauce embodies the very essence of the natural cycles of La Falize, honouring the principles of sustainability and biodiversity.

Our passion for agriculture and fermentation

For the past 20 years, we challenge ourselves to constantly innovate agriculture as a whole. In the early 2000s, we noticed that the water from our artesian well was contamined with high concentrations of pesticides and nitrates. This was the result of large-scale conventional farming which depleted our soils and contamined our groundwater. We could no longer continue down this path if we wanted to preserve our terroir for the following 100 years. So what could we do? Well, we converted our land in organic agriculture, a first in Belgium back then. We were probably slightly naïve but after more than 10 years the groundwater from our artesian was now pure and drinkable. 

Our First hectare of vines.

Then in 2012, we decided to plant our first hectare of vines. With climate change and the average temperatures rising, we believed that the combination of our terroir and our northernly climate could provide a favorable backdrop to produce wines with tension, length and balanced acidity, just like the wines we loved.

Finally, in 2022 we tried to produce soy for the first time. Initially, the crop was destined to a vegetarian meat producer in Belgium. That said, our climate is not the best to produce soy and our low yields meant we would lose money on this crop. Our soy sauce was born by our wish to combine our passion for fermentation and terroir-driven products. We started to ferment soy in our kitchen and progressively started to extend our production within La Falize itself.

Terroir-driven fermentation

Our soy sauce is cultivated and fermented locally in La Falize. When we came up with the somewhat crazy idea to produce soy sauce in Belgium, our aim was to produce terroir-driven soy sauce with our own local specifities. The fermentation occurs in old barrels that we source from our own winery or local beer and spirit producers around Belgium. We apply the ancient fermentation process born in Asia with our own local twist. 

Respect for Seasons and Cycles

Our agricultural work follows the natural rhythm of the earth. Whether it concerns our soybeans or our wheat, our work begins with the selection of seeds, the choice of terroir, and the management of cultivation while taking climate variations into account. Each step is guided by the climatic conditions of the moment to ensure the highest quality.