MILAN NESTAREC
-
Mark and I were a little wary when the road all but vanished from beneath the car. Driving north from Vienna, across the Czech border into Moravia, is a little bit like travelling back in time. You go from impeccably engineered German-made roads and tidy fields to a dusty, crumbling highway passing villages that look all but abandoned. Fortunately, our rental car’s GPS worked magnificently, guiding us through awkward back alleys to a hundred-and-something-year-old winery (alright, it was more of a barn). The crushing spring sunshine couldn’t penetrate this freezing bunker and we began tasting the new vintage of Milan Nestarec’s wines as our teeth chattered.
-
Milan is barely thirty years old and is somehow making some of the most compelling wines in the Czech Republic. He has reached international fame, doing events in New York, London, and Tokyo for rooms full of swooning fans. Sommeliers battle for his limited production wines, and consumers line up in retail shops to get their hands on his best cuvées. He farms organically, forgoing pesticides and herbicides - his goal is to work with the land instead of against it. He learned his craft by working at natural wineries around the world, the most influential on his style was Movia in Slovenia.
-
Moravia, the Czech Republic’s most southern wine region features gently rolling hills covered in loam and loess (a wind-blown powdery soil). The sun feels like it’s about three feet above your head, grilling the back of your neck even when the air is cool. At first glance, it doesn’t look much different than southern Alberta - lots of wheat and canola.
After WWII, the communist system limited winemakers to selling wine and grapes in bulk to the state-run cooperative winery. There was no reason to improve quality, only quantity, and it was a meagre, joyless life for the most part. Chemical farming was rampant, and thousands of years of winemaking tradition and history were almost lost. Fortunately, new generations like Milan are refusing to let their region die. We’re trying to do our part, by exposing adventurous consumers halfway around the world to his idiosyncratic and fascinating region.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $44.50
CSPC: 787171
2020 FORKS & KNIVES WHITE
Once again, Milan is evolving. He wants this cuvée to be more of a village wine, showing place over everything else, so he’s set aside aromatic grape varieties in favour of more transparent options. Grüner Veltliner, Welschriesling, and Neuburger are the new stars, planted on loess in Bílovice. The vines are all over 25 years old. The grapes were crushed and left overnight to macerate. The following day the juice is pressed off into 3000L Austrian oak barrels (Stockinger) for fermentation and élevage. After nearly two years, the wine is racked and bottled without SO2, fining, or filtration.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $44.50
CSPC: 787170
2020 FORKS & KNIVES RED
To better capture the unique and diverse terroir of Moravia, this wine is now made from a single village. The 25+-year-old vines are in Moravský Žižkov, planted on heavier clay soils. Blaufränkisch, Sankt Laurent, and Pinot Noir were all fermented separately in open top vat. Although extraction was gentle, maceration times peaked at fifty days. The wine is then pressed off into 3000L Austrian oak barrels (Stockinger) for an 18+-month élevage. It is then racked and bottled without SO2, fining, or filtration.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $37.00 CAD (1L)
CSPC: 788035
2021 BEL
This wine has always been Milan’s most crushable cuvée, bottled in a 1L bottle as an ode to his region’s history. Made from a blend of old-vine Muller Thurgau, Grüner Veltliner, and Welschriesling, the grapes are direct pressed into stainless steel and neutral barrel for fermentation and élevage. He bottles this cuvée with 30ppm of SO2 to ensure stability and maximally approachable style. The new packaging features a linocut made by his wife Mirka and crown caps for extra protection and accessibility.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $37.00 CAD (1L)
CSPC: 803860
2021 NACH
Nach is the Czech word for ‘purple’, representing the colour of this youthful wine. This vintage includes Pinot Noir, Blaufränkisch, and Sankt Laurent. The wine is aged in large 3000L foudre for minimal oxidation. It is bottled in one-litre bottle under crown cap.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $40.00 CAD (1L)
CSPC: 862195
2021 OKR
This wine is named after Ochre, an orange pigment made from earth - a perfect personification of what’s in the bottle. Although Milan has moved away from skin contact for the bulk of his portfolio, he wanted to remain true to his roots with this new orange wine. It is made from Chardonnay, Gruner Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, and Gewurztraminer. The fruit was fermented as whole berries in tank with minimal cap management for about a week before being pressed off into stainless steel and large neutral barrel for élevage. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without SO2.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $37.00 CAD (1L)
CSPC: 820969
2021 RUZ
After a brief hiatus, Milan is back to making rosé. Zweigelt, Sankt Laurent, and Cabernet Sauvignon were foot crushed and after a day of maceration the juice was pressed off for fermentation in stainless steel tank. Unlike his other cuvées, 15ppm of SO2 was added for stability.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $47.00
CSPC: 853287
DANGER 380 VOLTS
After a failed attempt, Milan didn’t try making sparkling wine again until 2017. Since then, his bubbles have become some of the most sought-after cuvées in his line-up. Made from a field blend in the Sahary Vineyard, it features Neubuger, Muller-Thurgau, and Muscat. When the wine is nearly done fermenting, Milan bottles it to achieve a low pressure petillant naturel. Unlike previous vintages, this wine is disgorged to maintain better bubble structure and consistency.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $52.00
CSPC: 874614
ATYP #2
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $41.50
CSPC: 878643
2021 NAŠE
This is Milan’s first cuvée from a new block he planted underneath the winery. The field blend of Riesling, Welschriesling, Neuburger, Gruner Veltliner, and Pinot Blanc is planted on the prized loess of Bilovice. The grapes were foot crushed and macerated on skins and stems for several days before being pressed off into tank for fermentation in stainless steel. The wine is bottled at the tail end of its fermentation resulting in a leesy semi-sparkling wine. The name is derived from the Czech word for ‘ours’. The label further emphasizes this with a play on the signs you see entering and exiting the village.
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $41.00
CSPC: 878644
2021 BAVIRKA
This wine is a blend of Dornfelder and Zweigelt planted on chernozem, loess, and clay-limestone in Milan’s Slovenské vineyard. He admits there’s a smattering of white grapes in the blend but prefers not to disclose his secrets. The grapes were destemmed and fermented in tank on skins with gentle daily punch-downs. After a year on lees, the wine is racked and bottled..
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $52.00
CSPC: 874614
ATYP #1
Milan couldn’t stop himself, he felt compelled to release a new cuvée from their new plot: Michalica. This site was planted in the early 90s on loess-chernozem and features a wild blend of varieties, some of which have yet to be identified. It’s a red and white co-fermentation of Blaufränkisch, Portugieser, Sankt Laurent, Muscat, Grüner Veltliner, and more. After alcoholic fermentation the wine is pressed off into tank for élevage. Eight months later, the wine is bottled. Only 166 cases were produced.
2020 NACH
Nach is the Czech word for ‘purple’, representing the colour of this youthful wine. This vintage includes Pinot Noir, Blaufränkisch, and Sankt Laurent. The wine is aged in large 3000L foudre for minimal oxidation. It is bottled in one litre bottle under crown cap. 12% ABV
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: $67.00 CAD
CSPC: 803861
2018 GINTONIC
Unlike previous vintages, Milan’s white label cuvées are now all about single site field-blends from his most poised vines. This cuvée comes from Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and Pinot Blanc planted on loess and chernozem soil in the Stará Hora Vineyard. The vines are between 35 and 45-years-old, a rarity for the region. To better express place, he has limited skin contact to 10% of the grapes and opted for ageing in large format acacia barrel. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and without SO2.