You always have a lot of detailed information about the wines from our winemakers and sommeliers. If the winemaker chooses to age the wine in barrel, you will often learn about this as well and you will always be able to taste it. But do you know what the story of a barrel looks like at a winery?
Buying and investing is a start. We opted for the renowned Austrian cooperage G.Benniger from Grafenwörth. We installed an 800 litre French oak barrel in our barrel hall. (Come to the winery, we'll be happy to show you around!) As the Benningers write, aging wine in a wooden barrel is a complex and valuable step. The original shipping purposes are long past, stainless steel tanks allow for controlled fermentation, but also isolate the wine 100% from any interaction with the environment. In contrast, minimal oxygen reaches the wine through the wood and reacts with it. The climate in the wooden barrel also promotes malolactic fermentation. As a result, the wine often appears smoother and creamier due to storage in the barrel.
Next, we let the winemaker himself, Jura Baláže st., tell the story:
"The story of our barrel continues. Last year we fermented Müller Thurgau, then Veltliner and finally Riesling. The grapes for this wine came from our iconic Pod Slunným vrchem vineyard, which is 53 years old. The wine was fermented in this barrel and blended for 10 months on fine lees. The finished wine, which was awarded 91 points at the international Prague Wine Trophy competition, was not going anywhere lower than our premium Balaz range. Now another Vlašák from the same vineyard is fermenting in this barrel. How will it turn out this time? We will let you know again next year."
If you want to taste the Riesling sur lie from this barrel, you can buy it at the winery and in our e-shop. It won Premium Gold in the international walrus competition at the Prague Wine Trophy. In the detailed description you can also read why we say it was lying in the featherbeds.
P.S. Our loyal and attentive customers may have noticed that some of the wines that used to be on the Plotny line are now officially on the Pod Slunným vrchem line and vice versa. Both tracks still exist, just their official boundaries have been adjusted.