Monday 18 March was the date for the Basket Press Wines Spring Tasting for the trade, held at Spry Wines, the wonderful restaurant/wine bar/natural wine shop in Central Edinburgh. Now, I know I’ve brought you a lot of articles on this small London-based importer over the past six months, but I’m not going to miss an opportunity to taste more than twenty new vintages, nor to write about them. I was lucky to taste a few new wines before Christmas, but having such a wide range of wines together was instructive. Not least because I think these wines were showing better than ever in what was a fantastic tasting.

Jiri from Basket Press Wines at Spry

There are way too many wines here to give extensive notes on each. What I will do is to give you a summary here, of which were my own personal favourites. You can refer to the entry for each wine below to find out any brief technical details, and you can probably find out even more, including about the producers, on the importer’s own web site.

I ought to point out that Basket Press Wines are much more than an importer of Czech wines. Not only did we have wines here from Czechia, but also from Slovakia, Slovenia and Germany, although they also have wines from Georgia, a producer who I think will be at the Real Wine Fair, along with several represented here. Their star producer from Hungary, Annamária Réka-Koncz, wasn’t represented because her new wines were landing in the UK as we were tasting. Anyway, they sell out pretty quickly, something my readers ought to know by now.

My wines of the tasting? First, Petr Koráb is the king of petnats and his new cuvée, “Dark Horse” is very possibly the best pétnat I have drunk for a year or two. It’s red, but a blend of both red and white varieties. I just bought some more.

Max Baumann (Max Sein Wein from the Baden/Franken border) continues to prove he’s a genuine rising star of German wine. Both his wines shown here were superb, though we didn’t get to try any reds. He’s a Meunier maniac.

Mira Nestarecová is bound to get a lot of interest, being married to Czechia’s first star of natural wine on the export market, but I think her wines are superb. So alive, so concentrated. I don’t usually go wild for Sauvignon Blanc, for instance, but this one stung me. A special project.

Other standouts? Check out the wines from Slovakia’s Magula, Vykoukal (from Moravia, I especially liked their Neuburger and Cabernet Moravia, which got appreciative noises all round). Utopia’s Ice Cider (from the Bohemian Highlands) is, of course, off the scale. You never ever spit this. Jiří, who led the tasting, suggested that Jaroslav Springer are making the best Pinot Noir in Central Europe, not just the Czech Republic. I would not disagree. The cuvée on show here, their “village” wine equivalent, was delicious, and quite different to Mira’s beautiful Pinot.

But I also want to mention the real bargains. Krásná Hora and Basket Press Wines’s new signing, Syfany make wines which may not be the “finest” on the list, certainly not the most expensive, but the quality-price ratio is remarkable. For example, you can buy a better Welschriesling than Syfany’s Ryzlink Vlassky for sure, but not remotely close in price to this one.

The wines in the Basket Press portfolio are all bargains in their way, but prices are without doubt creeping up. It was gratifying talking to other tasters who acknowledged the quality and value, not to mention the excitement these wines bring to the table. It was a good palate calibration exercise, and gave me confidence that my “promotion” of these wines is valid. If you haven’t tried any now is perhaps a good time. Before prices rise further and before the small production wines sell out, as they inevitably do.

Now follows a list of all the wines tasted with three of four lines of explanation. I haven’t included prices but for the trade they range from around £11.50 to just under £20. It is unusual at a tasting like this to be able to say that I would happily drink every single one of the wines on taste, and I have doubtless done a disservice to those wines not mentioned above as “stars”. So read through the wines and see whether any others take your fancy.

Sparkling Wines

Kmetija Stekar “Izi” 2022 (Goriska Brda, Slovenia) – Rebula (aka Ribolla just over the border in Italy), 6m on lees in stainless steel, slightly cloudy, lightly sparkling fresh pétnat style. From a domaine known for their skin contact wines, but their “monkey label” series are made in a fresher style.

Petr Koráb Dark Horse Petnat 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – Mentioned above with ebullient praise, a blend of red (Hibernal and Blaufränkisch) and white (Traminer and Welschriesling) grapes, with a whole year on skins for the white varieties, but in an inert glazed ceramic vessel. Disgorged style. Bitter red fruits with a dark side. Love it.

White Wines

Kmetija Stekar “Belo” 2022 (Goriska Brda, Slovenia) – White field blend, 6m on lees in stainless steel. Perfumed, creamy apple merges well with fresh mineral saline acids. Field blend of eight varieties including Chardonnay, Glera and Friulano, plus one you may not have tried, Polsakica!

Dva Duby “Divide” 2019 (South Moravia, Czechia) – 70% Frühroter Veltliner with 30% Müller-Thurgau, one year in mix of oak and stainless steel, on lees. Off volcanic soils, perfumed, lovely fruit, plumps up in the glass.

Max Sein Wein “Les Autochtones” 2020 (Baden, Germany) – Silvaner off shell limestone with a little maceration, aged in large oak. This is toned down Silvaner without the acidity common in many. Smooth, soft-fruit style, very interesting and appealing as a result.

Mira Sauvignon Blanc 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – For me, Mira’s wines are quite intense. They come from unpruned vines (cf Meinklang, Lissner etc). Some skin fermentation, 6m in acacia. The unpruned vines give more grapes, but smaller berries, so higher skin to pulp ratio. Think more towards NZ’s Hermit Ram than your average French SB.

Syfany Ryzlink Vlassky 2018 (South Moravia, Czechia) – Note the vintage. 6m in stainless steel on lees and then aged in bottle. Honeyed notes with white peppery finish. Remarkable value, and as with all the wines here, “natural” low intervention juice.

Zdenek Vykoukal Neuburger 2021 (South Moravia, Czechia) – 24 hours on skins, 12m in used acacia (600-litre) barrel, then 6m in stainless steel. Off a steep limestone slope, nice weight and texture, rounded, generous. If you like Neuburger and have noticed the price of some of the Austrian versions, try this.

Skin Contact Wines

Zdenek Vykoukal “Resch” 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – An orange wine, 95% Müller-Thurgau with 5% Sauvignon Blanc, 3 weeks on skins, 10m on lees in acacia barrels, before transfer to stainless steel to rest before bottling. Soft and velvety.

Krasna Hora “La Blanca” 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – White field blend weighted towards Riesling with Traminer, Neuburger, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, 40% of grapes macerated on skins, ageing in oak and stainless steel. Clean, pale, but textured.

Max Sein Wein Blanc 2021 (Baden, Germany) – Max blends Müller-Thurgau and Silvaner off shell limestone for this cuvée, adding a little skin contact for a lovely perfumed wine (tropical fruits and camomile on my nose).

Petr Koráb “Ambero” 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – 70% Welschriesling with Veltliner and Traminer aged one year in a 1,000-litre glazed vessel in his remarkably cold underground cellar, to which he adds 30% Hibernal (a red variety) which was aged in barrel. Definitely an orange/amber wine but so “alive” and “vivant”. Bouquet is that clementine juice Tesco sells, good legs, lively acids, textured fruit, savoury finish.

Magula “Oranzovy Vlk” 2021 (Little Carpathians, Slovakia) – The Orange Wolf is classic Magula, and beautifully packaged as are all their wines. Veltliner, Traminer, Welschriesling and Devin, 14 days skin contact, aged in used oak and acacia barrels, stoneware vessels and amphora. Dark but shimmering gold colour, gentle orange nose, both fruity and savoury (like sweet & sour…almost, but not sweet) with rocky salinity.

Pink Wine

Krasna Hora “Pink” 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – KH make great value wines. Organic but in conversion to biodynamic, they are indeed a dynamic, family winery with modern facilities and a beautiful vineyard sloping up to ancient forest. 100% Pinot Noir, whole bunch pressed, a rosé with delightful red summer fruits.

Red Wine

Jaroslav Springer Pinot Noir Vintage Selection 2020 (South Moravia, Czechia) – a “village” selection from the Czech Republic’s Pinot specialist, aged in a mix of new and used oak. This is smooth and fruity with definite varietal character. Ripe, and with a savoury touch. Not enormous complexity but I’m buying one.

Mira Pinot Noir 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – Like the SB, quite intense and quite different to the Springer above. Darker for a start. Semi-carbonic here, from those small grapes off unpruned vines. Aged in oak. Ripe, smooth, a bit of tannin, very expressive. Mira was a dancer/dance teacher and her labels all feature 20^th Century avant-garde dancers.

Krasna Hora Ruby 2022 (South Moravia, Czechia) – A simple but lively red field blend aged in stainless steel using Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and St Laurent. Summer fruits, red and dark berries with a bit of flesh. A nice summer wine, which I would chill down a bit. I do like a chilled red. Not just pale ones, so long as they aren’t heavy and have bags of fruit.

Magula “Carboniq” 2022 (Little Carpathians, Slovakia) – A red made as it says on the label, from grapes grown in warm and dry conditions at higher altitude and aged in stainless steel. It’s a single varietal Blauer Portugieser. The result is full of summery red fruits but with a little structure and bite, and it’s sappy and delicious.

Mira Cabernet Franc 2022 (Southern Moravia, Czechia) – This was the first Mira Nestarecová wine that I drank, a month or so ago, and I was immediately impressed. Unpruned vines, of course, partial whole bunches, eight months ageing in 450-litre old oak. The fruit is concentrated blackberry and blackcurrant, perfumed with good fruit acids. Is it as good as the SB and the PN? Yes, but it’s possibly the most subtle of the three…maybe.

Zdenek Vykoukal Cabernet Moravia 2021 (Southern Moravia, Czechia) – Cabernet Moravia is a 1960s crossing between Cabernet Franc and Zweigelt, created when temperatures in Moravia were somewhat cooler. Off limestone soils, the wine sees ten months in old oak and then six in stainless steel. It has that Cabernet Franc green pepper note on the bouquet with juicy red fruits on the palate, a palate which is generous and ripe. Already a fan myself, I heard other exclamations of appreciation in the room. An individual wine!

Petr Koráb Saint Laurent 2022 (Southern Moravia, Czechia) – Aged one year on lees in oak, this is perhaps one of Petr’s more “traditional” wines, and he keeps his old, less wild/more conservative labels for this cuvée. It’s still a generous summery wine but grounded with a spicy, textural, finish. A red worth cooling before serving. Don’t let the label put you off!

Magula Baccara 2019 (Little Carpathians, Slovakia) – Whereas this is beautifully labelled. I just bought a mixed case from Basket Press Wines and this was the thirteenth bottle that didn’t make the cut, partly because I know it so well. A blend of “Rosa” with some Frankovka (aka Blaufränkisch). Named after a famous rose, it does have an unmistakable rose petal element to the bouquet. The palate is mid-weight with vibrant dark fruits. The fine tannins are receding but still there on first sips.

Syfany Frankovka 2018 (Southern Moravia, Czechia) – The wines of Syfany are all relatively simple but inexpensive and amazing value for money. This “Blaufränkisch” had one year in acacia (I could write positively and at length about ageing in local acacia). It has this lovely brightness and zip that makes it so versatile for picnics, parties and definitely restaurant/wine bar lists. I’ve got a few Syfany wines at home because there’s little to compare in terms of QPR, except perhaps from Portugal!

Utopia Patience Ice Cider 2022 (Bohemian Highlands, Czechia) – If the north of the Czech Republic has a name for beer, there are some lovely orchards too. Utopia make ciders of amazing quality but this is the jewel in their crown. Frozen apple juice (from untreated fruit) fermented with wild yeasts, one year in oak. Extremely concentrated, a perfect balance between fruit and acidity…imagine a fine German Auslese but made from apples. A firework display on the palate. At tastings this is a veritable DNS (Do Not Spit). Half bottles keep the price down and spread the joy.

Utopia Drinking Apple Vinegar (Bohemian Highlands, Czechia) – Utopia created a range of very fine vinegars where a cider base (aged itself for 12 months) is aged slowly in oak for twenty more months. It becomes vinegar by the traditional “Orléans” method (without heating). These are macerated with wild berries foraged from the forest. This one is apples, wild cherry and elderflower flavour. It is concentrated, though not thick, and is quite sharp yet the fruit presence makes it drinkable (though perhaps sipping, not glugging). For those who like a cider shot for health, this is perfect, although I used mine as a finish in cooking and also for dressings (I bought one last summer).

For further information speak to Jiri or Zainab at Basket Press Wines, via sales@basketpresswines.com .

Look out for a good selection of these producers at the Real Wine Fair in London in April. See whether our palates coincide. I shall be there.