G&T
My essay on energy in the bottle, written in 750 liquid words
Don't demolish. Transform. Finesse and vibrations. Joy.
Stará Hora, Žižkov. Loess & sand. Riesling & friends.
When the 2015 juice (our first edition of this wine) was fermenting, its aroma was super reminiscent of juniper berries and its slightly bitter aftertaste made it taste like tonic water. As a result, everybody in the winery was constantly tasting it on barrel, and it earned “GinTonic” as a working title scribbled on the barrel, and the name stuck ever since.
Originally based on Sauvignon blanc, yet it never tasted like the mainstream grassy idea of one. Probably because I didn't try to assign any roles to it or shape it into any mould; the only thing I cared about was transferring its unique energy from the barrel to the bottle. Since the 2018 vintage, we have been making G&T from two parts of Stará Hora, a beautiful old vineyard with Sauvignon and Riesling planted in the 1980s and some 45+ years old Pinot Blanc.
As the vines are getting older, the Riesling (being the tougher guy here) is gradually becoming more prevalent both in the vineyard and in the cuvée. I think it suits the resulting wine extremely well, as the Riesling contributes to the wine's precise structure, energy and ageing potential, balancing out the signature G&T depth. A wine full of finesse, energy and joy.
Wanna drink this? These are the guys to ask where to get my wine in your country, or buy our brand new White Labels 2021 Tasting pack here.
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The White Labels are our top-shelf wines, the pinnacle of our work. Hailing from our most interesting micro-locations, oldest vines, and often field blends. This unique energy is preserved by the gentlest treatment and several years of undisturbed ageing in our cellar. Minimal interventions, maximum genius loci.
These wines speak about our quest for elegance in all our imperfections. Purism inside and out. Pouring in our hearts as well as all our long-term work and know-how, something I'm proud of. All that is reflected on the labels. When working on them, we took out elements that weren’t essential until only my signature and the name of the wine remained. Because, as they say, perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
I don't wanna look like a natural-born sage - it took me some time to get there. My journey, like many others, has been paved with gold engravings and curlicues, like on a fancy tombstone. “Nestarec, a wine for funerals”, as a friend of mine dubbed it back then. Oops. But I remember that period fondly - it's a part of my evolution. No regrets, like in that famous Edith Piaf song.