Moravia, Czech Republic
Turn-around maverick of Moravia Milan Nestarec has quickly become the young star of the Czech Republic.
“The older I get, the more I speak about my wine as being normal. Not authentic, natural, artisanal, idk. Not using herbicides & other industrial treatments? Normal. No fooling around in the cellar? Normal. Not adding sulphur? Normal.”
Established 15km from the Austrian border and comprises about 10ha, all of which are farmed organically without the use of systemic fungicides and herbicides. The wines are a pure expression of the grapes typically grown in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic. They are ethereal and filled with passion, enthusiasm, and while being a true and transparent representation of the terroir and the philosophies of Milan and his family farm.
‘Low viscosity, absent minerality, zero bullshit. No fining or filtration, no gimmicks, no magic powders, no added sulphur. Just a bunch of tanks and old barrels, grape juice, and time.’
“Wines from the cellar express good and also the bad character of the people who created them, they are not easy coming, nor waiting for compliments or untruth praise. In the beginning, the wines keep to themselves, but once they feel comfortable they open up and show their loyalty.”
~1L MORAVIAN MAGNUMS – 2021~
For that moment when magnum feels a tad too decadent but a regular 750 just won’t do. The idea here is to have wine that you can drink with literally everyone, be they natural wine fans or haters.
BEL – It’s a wine made in a very classical way, no maceration, just gentle press and then aging in stainless steel and neutral oak. To keep it this approachable, Běl is their only wine with added sulfur (about 30 ppm total SO2). Gruner Veltliner, Welschriesling, and a lot of Muller, because Muller from old vines is just dope, says Milan. .
NACH – The 2020 vintage is a blend of Pinot Noir, Blaufrankisch, and newly also St.Laurent. Aged in big (3000l) neutral oak barrels, bottled in a healthy measure of one liter. This is the Moravia Milan remembers, with great acidity, low ABV, elegant aromatics.
OKR – No hardcore tannins or long maceration, but rather a fine, light skin contact wine with great energy, distinguished aromatics, and only a hint of the “orangey” character. This wine is Chardonnay, Gruner Veltliner, Sauvignon and a little bit of Traminer, fermented mostly as whole berries, without stomping and with only gentle punch-downs for 5 – 7 days, then aged 11 months (all in stainless steel).
RUZ – Růž ’21 is a blend of Rotberger, Saint Laurent and Cabernet Sauvignon. Gently foot-stomped, slowly pressed the day after, spontaneously fermented and aged in stainless steel. Made in an easy, fresh style, this wine gets 15ppm sulphur added at bottling.
NACH RED 6 x 1L | SKU #190072 | $30.52
BEL WHITE 6 x 1L | SKU #190085 | $30.52
OKR ORANGE 6 x 1L | SKU #420279 | $35.85
RUZ ROSÉ 6 x 1L | SKU #445219 | $32.42
BUM BUM CHA 2020
Strawberries, cherries and an angel’s kiss in spring.
Juicy juicy juicy lemonade from Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt, with bright acidity that wakes up all the senses. Spontaneous fermentation finished under crown cap over the winter. Expect a wild nose, light sparkle and a lot of aromas. Raspberry, pomegranate and red currant plus a stony finish.
BUM BUM CHA 6 x 750ml | SKU #485964 | $34.55
MELANCHOLIA 2019
Silence is sexy…. understated elegance, more introspection and focus.
This comes from a site-specific plot in the Slovenske vineyard (which is usually the source of his white-label TRBLMKR). The subtlety of the wines coming from this plot was so different from the rest that Milan was compelled to bottle this 100% Neuberger it independently, in the same spirit of how he is currently moving away from deep extractions and heavily orange wines.
This is a wine of long conversations and introspective deep thoughts (whether held close to yourself in a special moment or shared with others, no matter).
Melancholia 6 x 750ml | SKU #467132 | $43.30
TRANSCENDENT 2020
Made with juice from Regent, a colour-intensive hybrid grape only released for commercial plantings in 1994, added to an open vat of skin-fermenting Riesling and Neuberger. There’s an addition of some wine from 2017 & 2018 barrels which add some flor characteristics and a nutty note. With the long, bright acidity, it tastes almost like an untamed, layered white, despite its vivid cherry-like colour.
Transcendent 6 x 750ml | SKU #279956 | $39.89
UMAMI 2018
Uber Mega Aromatic Master of Indulgence.
This is an intensely aromatic wine, made for pairing with food so that sometimes 1+1 equals 3 and that wine and food go together like love and marriage (or something like that!). From the Slovenské vineyard, this. is made from co-planted Riesling and Traminer, as with all the other white-label wines, this is made for longevity and selected from the top vineyard sites. Fermented and aged in barrel for up to 2 years on the fine lees.
UMAMI 6 x 750ml | SKU #485502 | $42.17
2018 I AM NOT A BIG WINE
“Chasing the essential, celebrating the mindful”
Lots of wineries have their “big” wines – big flavour, big marketing, big new barrels, big whatever – when Milan gets together with friends and really starts cracking bottles, it’s not the big wines that leave a memory, a mark. Milan’s response is to make his “small” single-vineyard (or two-adjacent-vineyard) wines, with grapes picked for maximum zing, aged for a couple of years in neutral barrels to let them breathe and give them life. These single vineyards are all coplants, meaning there’s no need for blending alchemy, for making certain parts of the wine bigger or smaller – everything is just right the size that it is. This plot is Riesling with a bit of something else.
I AM NOT A BIG WINE 6 x 750ml | SKU #44837 | $45.61
2018 PODF*CK
“Walk up to your own horizon….”
This wine has come full circle and is now a red wine! Made with roughly 60% Pinot Noir, 20% Blaufränkisch, with just 20% Pinot Gris working as a diplomatic bridge between the PN and BF (aka the PN of the East, they say)! All sourced from the neighboring plots Zadní and Otáhal. The fruit was picked and fermented together, resulting in a unique red-white blend that wonderfully mirrors the Bílovice loess soils.
Podfck 6 x 750ml | SKU #166713 | $47.90
2018 JUICY FRUIT
“Tastes amazing for about a million seconds”
Mostly Pinots, with other local grapes that historically were co-planted alongside. For this blend it’s Pinot Gris, Blanc, and Noir, plus Veltliner and Welschriesling, all from the adjacent Oplocenka and Achtele vineyard sites. Fermented and aged in large neutral barrels, with 2 years elevage on the fine lees.
Juicy Fruit 6 x 750ml | SKU #228426 | $43.79
BARVIRKA 2020
Dornfelder, with Zweigelt and a secret few white varieties. High colour, low tannin, high drinkability. Classical maceration on skins, gentle punchdowns in open-top vats and just under a hear of ageing in 600L barrels.
Barvirka 6 x 750ml | SKU #485505 | $30.75