One of Richard’s signature wines, a classical field blend of traditional local red varieties from his tiny old vineyard called Veselý (“merry” in Czech). The yields are naturally low, giving only about 1000 bottles per year. A 0.3hectare plot planted in the 1980s. Sandy soil, southwest exposure, farmed organically.

Grapes are hand-harvested and whole bunches are fermented in open-topped wood tanks for about 14 days with only indigenous yeast. The grapes are foot-stomped after fermentation completes, and the wine then spends 10 months in old barrels of various sizes, with regular batonnage. Zero sulfur added, unfiltered and unfined.

Richard Stávek

Richard Stávek is one of the pioneers of natural wine in Moravia, starting to produce in the mid 1990’s. Richard is a constant tinkerer and farmer of all sorts. He has begun drying wood staves that were used to make barrels for the world-renowned Austrian barrel-maker, Stockinger. He also makes honey and goat cheese, and farms all sorts of crops, not just grapes. He farms 15-hectares of land, with 4.5-hectares of grape vines featuring some little known indigenous grape varieties, where most of his wines are field blended.