Piri Naturel: Organic Is Not Enough

Our very "farming-first" interview with Christine Pieroth, the Nahe pioneer of regenerative agriculture and fellow fan of trees, Pinot Blanc and burning less fuel.

Wine fairs, tastings & more: see you there!

List of the 2024 events where we can meet, greet and taste our wines.

Joe Swick: Everyone's Song Is Different

Breaking the bread on the need for varietal, style and life diversity with my esteemed colleague who makes idiosyncratic wines in the Pacific Northwest of the U. S. of A.

Lammidia: Blind Tastings Are the Best

Candid exchange with Marco Giuliani of the iconic Abruzzo winemaking duo that has an extraordinary path both behind and ahead of them.

SOMA VINES: Crossing Borders

British-French couple making and importing wine in Germany, Daisy and Antoine attest to the compelling cosmopolitan cross-pollinations inherent to the natural wine world.

Is wine an art?

A question that lives in my mind rent-free. If wine is a work of art, does that make the winemaker automatically an artist? It's not that simple, and by no means do I want to aggrandize myself or my role.

Nikolas Juretic: Finding the Balance

From art through Simonit & Sirch to farming the family vineyards – and making art again.

Where to drink Nestarec in Prague

"Hey, we're going to Prague for a couple of days, where can we taste your wine while there?" I often get asked. So here's a little list to quench your thirst.

Markus Altenburger: Don’t Jeopardise Deliciousness Because of Dogmatism

Geeking over all things Blaufrankisch with my Burgenland colleague and fellow BF enthusiast who likes to keep things elegant and balanced.

Our Bottling Odyssey: Strickling the Extra Mile

A moment in the life of wine like any other. As important as the pressing, as important as a million other details. Yet it is a moment to which I have devoted a lot of time, energy, thought, (money, too) over the last few years.

Fabrice Domercq, Ormiale: Winemaking Is Too Serious to Be Left in the Hands of Experts

Designer, artist, sculptor, poet, winemaker, dreamer, thought-provoking wine sage… Fabrice Domercq, the creative force behind Ormiale wines, truly is one of a kind. Since starting their niche, experimental and now cultish winery in Saint Emilion (of all places) with his friend and fellow designer Jasper Morisson back in 2007, they have been doing things their own way, which is even more fascinating given the reality of that area.

Eddie Chami, Mercel Wines: Seeking the Lebaneseness

Meet an Australian-born Lebanese trailblazer who swears by high-altitude vineyards and indigenous Levantine grapes in order to capture the true spirit of his country in the bottle.

Franz Strohmeier: Trust the Plant, Trust Yourself

My interview with the Styrian legend proves that Franz is one of the most intriguing and warmest people in the wine world. No wonder his wines procure as much pleasure and feel-good vibe as his very presence and ideas.

"Share ideas and inspiration"

It's so easy to get lost in one's thoughts. Lately, I've felt like that was happening to me. So many outside impulses, fragmented attention, very little focus.

Filip Nagy: The Time, The Place, The Human

Interview with the driving force behind Zlatý Roh winery and 7 riadkov and one of the most interesting (and closest to my heart) members of the Czecho-Slovak wine scene.

XOXO, Samsa: Nestarec meets La Degustation, again

A gift that keeps on giving: almost exactly a year after the start of our beautiful friendship with La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise, our collab with this innovative restaurant in Prague bears two new exciting fruits.

It's a wrap! 2023 at Chateau Nestarec

As if you needed to read another recap of 2023. But yeah, here is our take on this eventful year.

Travel Journal: November Highlights

What I loved during my recent tour in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Amsterdam?

Slobodné Vinárstvo: You Reap What You Sow

At this point, our Slovak friends from Slobodné Vinárstvo don’t need much introduction - their wines travel around the world as much as ours, so funnily enough, we cross paths more often at wine fairs like La Dive or the recent RAW in Montreal than on our home turfs. Yet, their fascinating, century-spanning family history and “from lawyer to farmer” personal stories remain a bit less known. Which is a shame, so I'm grateful to our mutual friend Valentina Kasper Rosputinská for digging deeper in this interview with Agnes, Katarína and Mišo, three of the fab family four that is Slobodné.

Corentin Houillon: Don't Go in the Vineyard if Your Mind Is Elsewhere

Congenial talk with the young prodigy from Savoie who radiates energy to people and vines alike – and his wines are just as #goodvibesonly.

Mike Bennie: Shifting the Landscape

While the northern hemisphere is busy with harvest, things are no less in movement Down Under. Diving into the Australian wine scene with the multi-hyphenated wine globetrotter with Czechoslovak roots.

Hand Work

On stems and men: why we still harvest by hand

Jas Swan, Katla Wines: Underdogs & Safe Spaces

Opinionated and full of energy, my Mosel-Valley colleague Jasmin is a vocal supporter of the queer community and part of the "new German wave". Intrigued by her freethinking mind and the fearlessness with which she creates her own world and rules, I wanted to hear more of her story.

Nate Ready, Hiyu Wine Farm: Diversity Makes You Nimble

Located in the Alpine climate of Northern Oregon, a stone's throw from the snowy peak of Mt. Hood, Hiyu Wine Farm is one of the most idiosyncratic wine & farming endeavours in the US – or maybe worldwide.

The Mushroom That Strives to Get Out of the Box

David Minařík is truly a renaissance man – originally a painter with a degree from the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and a promising art career in Denmark, he has (with a stopover as cider and lemonade producer) become a mushroom tamer aka the CEO and co-founder of the biotech start-up Myco.cz.

Remembering Petr Nejedlík of Dobrá Vinice

💔 A dear friend, mentor and someone who deeply influenced my life: with the passing of Petr Nejedlík, we lost a God-gifted winemaker.

15 Seconds of Fame for a Blown Tyre

Brno-based street artist Timo is known for his subtly subversive interventions in the public space of the Moravian metropolis and beyond. I've always enjoyed his humour, his witty play with language and his voluntary distance from fame – which is why we're happy to display his ideas not only on the walls of our Betonarka, but also in this interview.

Good Design Shouldn't Be a Luxury

Brno-based designer Josef Rozehnal is a friend whom I appreciate not only for his passionate upcycling vision or his boundless creativity when turning our old auto-repair shed into something resembling an actual winery; I mainly enjoy how he always comes up with interesting questions, pushing me to search for genuine answers. So this time, we switched sides and made Josef the first "hypha" of our Mycorrhiza, a series of interviews with people beyond the wine world whose work I enjoy and get inspired by. 

Planting for the future

Planting a new vineyard can be done more or less quickly and easily, but there's more than meets the eye.

Travel Journal: what I loved in the Rheinhessen

Natural avantgarde, venerable institutions: our short winery tour in Rheinhessen delivered both wine and inspiration