Milan Nestarec, Forks & Knives Red 2020

Milan Nestarec has quickly become the star winemaker of the Czech republic during the time we’ve been working with him. His wines display so much life, vitality, and originality, that they have become very sought after all over the world in a very short time. We are honored to have been working with his wines since 2014. The wines we are selling now represent the full evolution of his original vision: a full range of wines, from quaffable yet energetic and inexpensive wines like the forks and knives and liter bottlings of Nach and Bel, to the amazingly expressive skin fermented wines, made entirely without additions of sulfur. 

Milan’s father planted  8 hectares of vines in 2001 across two wine growing municipalities: Moravský Žižkov and Velké Bílovice. Milan studied winemaking with Aleš Kristančič of Movia, where he learned a great deal about the delicate art of making skin fermented white wines. No herbicides are used and the vines are worked organically. He believes that gentle methods of growing grapevines and grape processing gives the best result. All wines in the cellar are fermented spontaneously and they are usually vinified in oak and acacia barrels.

Total Production: 6000 bottles

Age of Vines: 15 years

Yield: 30 hl/ha

Elevation: 220 meters above sea level

Soil: Loess

Varietal: Pinot Noir

Vinification Method: Grapes are hand harvested and destemmed. The wine is fermented in 2500-liter stainless steel tanks for about 10 days with indigenous yeasts. The skins remain in contact with the juice for about 3 days, for a light and soft extraction and occasional pigeage. Half of the wine stays in tank and the other half goes into used 225-liter oak barrels for elevage for about 13 months. The wine is bottled unfiltered, unfined, and with zero sulfur added.

VEGAN. ORGANIC. LOW SULFITE. NATURAL.