Presentation of "Reserva" wines
14. December, 2024A significant step
To date, our winery has been going for more than 5 years, so this is a very important event for us. Today is a very important milestone for the B\V winery as such and we will explain why.
In 2015, we started to create something exceptional and very unusual in our conditions. This year we decided to implement the idea of "big" wines. Wines that have the potential to stand the test of time and perhaps even global competition, which has been our dream, vision and above all goal since the beginning of this journey.
It is 2021 and we can finally show you the result of our efforts. Allow us to present to you the jewel of our winery. A jewel that has received the best care from us, our exclusive "RESERVA" range of wines.
The idea of Reserva
We had the idea of a premium line since the very beginning of the winery, but it was not until 2015 that it came to fruition. Thanks to a confluence of exceptional weather, grape maturity, patience, risk-taking in the vineyard, enthusiasm, faith and support from the owner, our idea matured. We were able to produce a grape that deserved only the best care. Even then it was obvious that we were going to have something exclusive ripening in our cellar. This led to the fundamental decision to invest in quality French barrels of varying strengths.
"Another milestone for RESERVA was in 2017, when it was decided to purchase 3,000 litres of Seguin Moreau barrels for the ageing of selected white wines."
What is Reserva
The RESERVA range can only contain the finest wines, which will always be trained in the finest French oak barrels. Only the finest grapes must go into the barrels. It may happen that no wine makes it into the range in a given year, simply because the weather does not allow us to grow the best quality grapes worthy of a premium range.
Strict Selection
Wines worthy of inclusion in the RESERVA range must meet several essential criteria. In particular, red wines must have an exceptional year in terms of the quality and maturity of the grapes. In order for such a wine to reach you, it must ultimately convince us at the winery during the aging process. If we are not sure of the wine, it will never appear in the premium range.
After all, we already know that no wine from the 2016, 2017 vintages has been or will be given the privilege of being included in the RESERVA range of red wines. There were some excellent wines among them, but we concluded that they could not approach the quality of the wines from the 2015 vintage.
For us, the quality set by the 2015 vintage is unsurpassable, and the wines in subsequent vintages must be at least at the same level of quality, or even higher. We can reveal that such a vintage is 2018. We will have to wait until at least 2023 for these wines.
Beyond legislation
We have been thinking about the name of our premium range for many months, maybe even years. We discussed many proposals, but none conveyed the unambiguous uniqueness of the new range in a simple and understandable way.
In the end, we were inspired by the legislation; all our wines in the premium range meet the conditions for the "RESERVA" label. According to the legislation, such a label can be used for wines, except for sparkling and still wines, which have been aged for at least 24 months in a wooden barrel and then in the bottle. Of this time, red wine must be aged in a barrel for at least 12 months and white or rosé wine for 6 months.
And here beware, to deliver the highest quality to you, our wines will always be aged in barrel and bottle for considerably longer than the legislation requires. We always indicate the length of ageing on the bottle. Beyond that, the most important parameter for us is the quality of the wine, which gets the "privilege" of being barrel trained.
Reserva wines
Red wines
Red wines lie in wooden barrels for a minimum of 18 months after alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The oak wood carries the noble tannins into the wine. The molecules of colouring agents and tannins combine and the colour shade changes, the coarseness and harshness of the tannins are lost and the smoothness and velvetiness of the wine increases. For red wines, the B\V winery uses oak barrels of 225 and 600 litres with different degrees of firing. The red wines are then bottled for at least 2 years. For example, at the moment the 2015 vintage has been aging in bottles for 3 years.
For the premium range we have chosen two types of bottles for the red wines. Each bottle combined with the label defines what you can expect from the wine. The labels of the RESERVA wines themselves are very minimalistic. The aim of the graphic design was to highlight the wine itself and the variety. All other parameters and quality are guaranteed by our name.
"Small RESERVA" - Burgunder Tradition bottle with a dark grey label.
This type of bottle will be given to all wines that are worthy from our point of view and, of course, meet all the criteria that arise from the "RESERVA" label itself and also meet the above mentioned parameters concerning the quality of the grapes and their maturity. The grape composition of the 'Little RESERVA' range is based on traditional varieties for our region. In the past, wines from these varieties were described as 'B', but from today's point of view, not quite rightly so. Typical representatives are St. Lawrence, Zweigeltrebe, André and Franconia. With the absolute uniqueness of such wines, we are ready to include some of these varieties in the "Great RESERVA" series. However, we can already tell you that in the 2015 vintage we included the NERONET varietal in the aforementioned higher series, and there was one other wine competing for such inclusion, but due to our very strict parameters it ended up just outside the gates.
"The Big RESERVA" -- a bottle of Burgunder Sommeliere with a black velvet label.
Only those red wines that meet the above mentioned criteria, but must have something more, will get into this bottle. Primarily, the wine must convince us at the winery that it deserves the privilege of being in this bottle. You will simply find here only our jewels, i.e. the best and most outstanding red wines. This is our highest and most premium range of wines within RESERV. This range will mainly include wines from traditional, world-renowned varieties. Specifically for the 2015 vintage, these are Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. This pair is complemented by the local Neronet variety, which in this vintage fulfilled all the criteria and prerequisites to be included in the "Great RESERVA" series. We can further reveal that from the 2015 vintage Neronet will surprise you in two different attributes.
You will never find the aforementioned traditional, globally recognised varieties in the "Little RESERVA" range. If the wine does not meet our criteria it will be included in our standard range. This is based on our philosophy that these wines deserve to be only in the top tier. White wines The white wines of the "RESERVA" range undergo a technological process that experts refer to by the French word bâtonnage. It involves annual stirring on fine yeast lees in wooden barrels. The aim of this process is to improve the characteristics and qualities of the wine. In addition to the taste itself, it also enhances its aroma, colour and purity, as well as ensuring its stability and increasing its longevity. The progressive development of these wines and selected analytical parameters are monitored regularly. The wine is stored in classic oak barrels designed specifically for white wines with a capacity of 3 000 litres or in 600 litre barrels. After the wine is racked from the barrels, it is bottled and left to rest for at least one more year.
"White RESERVA" - Burgunder Tradition bottle with a light grey label.
The first wines of the 2017 vintage that we have selected for this range are Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris. With the 2018 vintage, this trio of varietals has been expanded to include Riesling and Traminer Red.
Who are the wines for
The wines of the "RESERVA" range require a different approach, deeper thought and time; they are undoubtedly more complex wines. You will always find a noticeable expression of aging in wooden barrels, and the emphasis is always on "knowing the variety". The wines are elegant, complexly structured and destined to be paired with food.
"The wines are intended for long-term archiving, the finest corks are used for their closure, and they are aged in the best French barrels. From the bottle itself, to the labels, to the boxes, to the corks, we have placed a fundamental emphasis on the fact that these are truly the highest quality of our wines."
However, the wines from the RESERVA range are not direct competitors to our standard range. We still feel great interest from customers who prefer these wines that are not trained in wooden barrels. With the standard range we keep the quality high and want to push it even higher. These wines also always receive our best care. In the standard range, expect our wines to continue to have an unmistakable varietal character and typical fruitiness in both aroma and taste. We leave the wines on the fine lees for a long time so that the aromatic fullness of the wines comes out as much as possible.
Haven't you heard of our Reservas before?
To confirm what we set out to do with this vision, in 2020 we submitted some selected wines from the "RESERVA" range to several international competitions and successfully presented them at the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic. The 2017 RESERVA Chardonnay was even included among the 11 best dry wines from competitions organized by the VINOFED federation, in competition with more than 31,000 wines from all over the world.
Where you can buy the wines
These wines will be sold exclusively through us and will also be offered to selected restaurants. They will not be standard or in the permanent offer of our e-shop. For those of you who find these wines appealing, we would like to prepare the possibility of becoming a member of our club in the near future and offer you our RESERVES on this basis.
The reason for this is our belief that these wines deserve to be sold in person, preferably through tastings and tastings. RESERVA wines don't just sell like that, the bottom line is that you really like the wine and we believe you will keep coming back for more. We are convinced of the quality and value of the wines.
However, our original intention was to introduce our wines in 2020 and start presenting them to you in person. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons related to the COVID - 19 pandemic, we have not yet succeeded in this intention.
For these reasons, we have now decided to present and offer our wines exclusively on the e-shop of our winery.