About This Product :
The Grape:
100% Pinot Noir
The Appellation:
Moravia (inside The Czech Republic)
The Wine:
From the Krasna Hora Website: “My grandfather František’s favorite wine was Pinot Noir, and even though he’s long gone, it’s rubbed off on me. And so, of course, when I took over it all started with a great admiration for the wines of Burgundy. Not that we’d tasted them or even knew anything about them, but we had respect, and rightly so.
I remember my first 100% Pinot Noir from the 2003 vintage, when I convinced my friend not to use sulfur without knowing what I was doing. I was so excited about the distinctive notes of volatile acidity that the entire crop was bottled from a 25 liter demijohn straight into small 0.33L bottles to make it last as long as possible. (As vinegar, yes.)
We’ve learned how to deal with Pinot a bit better since then, and now it’s the variety that we plant on the best spots, and the one we buy more and more Francois Freres barrels for. It’s the wine that made us known around the world, and it’s so distinctive that we’re never quite satisfied with it. It has a life of its own, it is independent, willful, it does not like outside interference. An uncompromising beauty that’s worth the effort. In fact, we just observe this wine from a distance, letting it surprise us again and again.”
The Vineyard:
Biodynamic: Krásná Horá winery dry-farms 8.5 hectares of vineyards in organic mode, carefully tended by hand and biodynamic principles are implemented to produce grapes of the highest possible quality expressing the terroir. They employ biodynamic techniques of applying cow horn manure and cow horn silica to the vines, and also add compost which consists of local animal manure and the recycled marc of pressed grape skins from the previous vintage.
Krásná Horá vineyards enjoy a location rich in biodiversity. The use of herbal teas and specially prepared composts and manures enable them to avoid using any synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. Yields are carefully controlled to around 1.3 kg/vine in order to achieve the intensity and concentration of desired aromas and flavors.
The Winemaking:
Only ripe grapes are harvested, which means ripe tannins, moderate sugar concentration and balanced acidity. Picking is done by hand into small buckets where they are quickly transported to the winery, which adjoins the vineyard. The grapes are carefully hand sorted and then processed with absolutely minimal handling.
Red wines undergo a fermentation using natural wild yeast, followed by an extended period of Czech Oak barrel ageing before going to bottle unfined and unfiltered. This sophisticated artisanal approach helps to retain all the natural aromas and flavors they have worked so hard to achieve during the growing and maturing of these wines.
The Winery:
The Krásná Horá (‘Beautiful Mountain’) vineyards are located in the historic wine village of Starý Poddvorov. The winery is situated on the 49th parallel (just like Alsace and Burgundy) at the very limit of where grapes can be grown in Central Europe, in the south-eastern corner of the Czech Republic.
They grow traditional French varieties – Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Merlot along with a few other varieties. The Pinot Noir grape has a tendency to thrive in cold, variable climates like, and it is naturally suited to the Moravia wine region where it enjoys a long and cool growing season.
The cool climate viticulture includes the large differences between day and night time temperatures, helping to produce grapes of outstanding aromatic intensity and expression along with mouth-watering acidity and freshness. Instead of synthetic agrochemical sprays they employ a range of organic and biodynamic techniques to grow their beloved grapes sustainably and with the smallest ecological footprint possible.
Their passion and dedication to creating modern beauty translates directly into their natural wines. Krásná hora won Czech Winery of the Year at the 2018 New York International Wine Competition
