In his short time as a commercial winemaker, Milan Nestarec has achieved quite a bit of recognition from natural wine lovers the world over. But back home in the Czech Republic, he is a... Read More
In his short time as a commercial winemaker, Milan Nestarec has achieved quite a bit of recognition from natural wine lovers the world over. But back home in the Czech Republic, he is a bit of a superstar. He’s a forerunner in producing wine without the assistance of synthetic chemicals in the vineyard or the cellar and sees his role in the cellar as helping to guide nature along its course in the service of producing the best wine possible with the raw material each vintage provides. He has become an inspiration to a growing movement of young winemakers throughout the Czech Republic who are helping to carve out a new and unique identity for Czech Wines.
Like most stories about wine, this begins with the vines. Milan’s father planted 8 hectares of them in 2001 across two wine-growing municipalities: Moravský Žižkov and Velké Bílovice in the Southern Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. As is tradition in many parts of eastern Europe, he planted a dizzying array of varieties. Since the beginning they have been farmed organically. More recently Milan has converted to biodynamic practices having been convinced through experience that increased biodiversity in the field leads to more complex and stable wines.
In the cellar, things get complicated. His many cuvees are produced rather idiosyncratically. Fermentation vessels can range from 400-600 litre oak or acacia barrels of varying ages to 2000 liter stainless steel tanks. Elevage can last for only a few months to many years. He does not rack the wines off and elevage takes place in the same vessels as the fermentation. After the prescribed period the wines are bottled without fining or filtration. Milan works diligently to produce wines that are naturally stable and like most of his wines, they never sees any sulphur additions.
