A mission of mercy has helped wine-making nuns sell the 20,000 bottles of white wine they were stuck with when ‘a major Dutch airline’ pulled the plug because of coronavirus, Dutch media report.

The plight of the sisters at Sint Catherinadal convent in Oosterhout, home to the oldest order in the country and partly dependent for its upkeep on the sale of the wine, came to the attention of Thibaud van der Steen of platform Breda maakt mij blij (Breda makes me happy) some weeks ago.

The platform helps farmers and others who have trouble selling their produce because of the coronavirus crisis by featuring them on their site.

‘We made a little video a couple of weeks ago to market the wine and then the sales snowballed, with people from the Wadden islands to Maastricht wanting bottles. The nuns think it’s a miracle,’ Van der Steen said.

All of the bottles have now found a home , just in time to make room for the next load. ‘The 2019 wine is almost ready and that needs to be sold as well. And later this year we will asking volunteers to help pick this year’s grapes,’ Van der Steen said.

The sisters have been making mostly white and rosé wines since 2017 using Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Auxerrois and Gamay, they say on their website.