I love me a good challenge: Miky-maus is the result of my grape swap with the Moravian natural wine OG Petr Nejedlík of Dobrá Vinice. Petr gives me Welschriesling, Muller and Gruner from his beautiful, approximately 40-yo National Park vineyard near Popice, I give him my Pinot and Blaufrankisch. It's a win-win, 'cause we both like the extra fun & adrenaline of working with some “stranger” grapes that behave differently from our own. (If I didn’t publicly hate this word I’d call his grapes' character “distinctly mineral”.)
I turn this unfamiliar matter into a macerated white - on skins until the fermentation starts, say 3-4 days, then pressed and left alone in big old barrels. Quite rich and herbal, but thank g-d (or rather the perfect grapes and Mother Nature) there’s still heaps of acidity that make you reach for another glass. And another. And another.
The name is a tribute to my childhood hero, the one and only Mickey, as well as a gentle poke to a winemaking neighbour of mine - when we tasted the first edition together a couple of years ago, he thought there was some mouse in it. There wasn’t (and hasn’t been since), but the name was born nonetheless. Thx for the name, man! (I let the cats out.)
The story behind the White Label I'm 200% positive that the most important thing is the person who makes the wine. It’s not about a varietal, or a famous village in a famous region - because even those wines can get the bad karma of being massacred in the cellar. It's all about the name on the bottle. A name you can trust, because you know how the winemaker works and that it's a style you enjoy. Hence the Nestarec white label, with my signature on it. (A tad prettier than IRL because my usual scribble is unreadable.) Together with Tereza, my graphic designer, we started taking out elements that weren’t essential - until only “Nestarec” and the name of the wine remained. A purist approach to both what's in the bottle and on it. 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.
All the wines are made without any added sulfur (with the exception of Běl). Spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeast, mostly a year or two in bigger old barrels from local oak or acacia wood. No fining or filtration. The normal way, simply put.
Wanna drink this? These are the guys to ask where to get my wine in your country.
