In conversation with winemaker Ota Ševčík: Common sense is lacking, and farmers who tend to the land are disappearing
Ota, you come from the wine-growing village of Bořetice, so winemaking is in your blood, is that right?
Yes, it is. In our region, vineyards are often passed down from generation to generation. I remember how my grandmother, even at the age of seventy-five, still tended to over twenty arces of vineyards herself using the so-called “per-vine” method, and my dad went to the old-school winemaking program, where every apprentice was given a plot of vineyard as part of their training and graded based on how well they cared for it. You don’t see that anymore these days.
But it’s still true that winemaking is incredibly hard work that demands a lot of your time, so you have to find your own way to do it. I didn’t start making my own wine until after I got back from military service; until then, I was just learning and helping my dad.
And how did you come to make natural wine?
Just like that. For us, natural wine is simply normal wine, made the way it was thirty or forty years ago. Lately, there’s been a lot of hype around authentic wines, but back then it was just the natural way of working in the vineyard and the cellar. All those dealers with their “miracle” products didn’t show up on the market until the 1990s. We tried a few things ourselves back then to figure out what worked and how, but we quickly realised that it wasn’t right for our wine, our vineyard, or the nature around us.
In some (authentic) wines, a process called malolactic fermentation occurs thanks to the spontaneous activity of natural, indigenous bacteria, which use the temperature of the must to initiate fermentation in unsulphured young wine and convert malic acid into lactic acid. This softens the flavour, develops the aroma (tertiary bouquet), and enhances the wine’s stability without the winemaker having to use large amounts of sulphur dioxide for preservation, which often causes headaches.
How are natural winemakers faring today?
Wine distributors to the food service industry, restaurants, and perceptive sommeliers—who understand our wines and can explain them to customers—are helping us a great deal by raising awareness. Our customers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable and curious; they often even offer to help in the vineyard and strive to understand how wine is made and how much work it entails. Despite all this, many people still don’t trust natural products and prefer sweet wines with overtly aromatic flavours.
The mainstream is overwhelming us with volume and price, and if society ever comes to accept natural wines as the norm, it will take quite some time. It saddens me that the reputation of natural winemakers is being tarnished by people who present their wines as “natural,” but in reality are just using it as a marketing ploy—passing off wines made from purchased grapes of unknown origin, with defects and diseases, as “natural.” As a result, many people end up with a distorted idea of what authentic natural wine should taste and look like.
On the other hand, it’s important to realise that there will never be as much natural wine as conventional wine, because producing it and growing grapes organically is much more labour-intensive.
How did the COVID-19 crisis affect you, and how might it impact the winery in the long term?
It wasn't pleasant for any of us, but work in the vineyard continued. Sixty percent of our wine production goes through distributors or directly to restaurants, which were forced to close overnight due to a government decision; fortunately, however, we have capable business partners who were able to adapt quickly and focus primarily on the end customer.
As far as the winery is concerned, the coronavirus crisis could help the public become more familiar with the quality of our wines and learn more about wine and specific winemakers, since some businesses have now been more active in selling and promoting wines for home consumption. The situation was also bound to the effect on the tourism industry. I hope people will now think more carefully about what they consume and whether they want to support local producers.
I’m also concerned about the fate of the vineyards here and in the surrounding villages. Young people no longer want to become winemakers, so it may happen that the original, inaccessible vineyards in the hills will lie fallow, and small family wineries will be taken over by large wine companies. You know, I think the wine industry will face bigger problems than the coronavirus crisis.
Such as?
Winemakers are plagued by a severe drought. Last year, local thunderstorms saved us in Bořetice, but lately we’ve mainly been seeing torrential rains, which isn’t good. In 2018, we had sixty days here with temperatures above 30 °C, and the local Trkmanka river was almost dry. Some south-facing vineyards, which used to be top-notch, are slowly turning into lifeless soil, and if we want to continue growing grapes there, we need to consider choosing drought-tolerant rootstocks, which are common in Mediterranean regions. Where there is no water, there is no life, and drought is just as detrimental to grapevines as it is to other plants, which suffer from stress when deprived of moisture.
Drought and Wine: Dry and very hot weather negatively affects the quality of ripening, especially in white grapes – it increases the bitterness and reduces their acidity. This means that climates like these are more suitable for red grape varieties.
I can’t control the weather, but as a winemaker and vineyard owner, I can help the vineyard by loosening the topsoil so that the grass doesn’t absorb all the moisture, breaking the capillary action and thereby reducing water evaporation from the soil. I'm not a proponent of artificial irrigation or drawing water from reservoirs, especially since there is already a water shortage. In my opinion, the first step should be to subdivide the large tracts of land where corn is grown with the help of subsidies, so that it can then be converted into green energy in biogas plants. I would then replant trees along the streams — the ones that were cut down to improve soil fertility.
Experts would be better equipped to comment on this, but one thing is certain — nature does not want monocultures. It needs biodiversity. In a program about rural life in South Moravia, I heard an elderly gentleman say something beautiful, albeit sad: “Common sense is gone; the farmers have died out.”
But a vineyard is also a monoculture.
You’re right, but in the past, they weren’t like these plantations. I myself try to follow the path of cultivating smaller vineyards. Back in the day, there were more small growers in the villages, and anyone who owned a hectare was considered a major winegrower. Vineyards were planted mainly on hillsides and were often lined with trees.
Today, large companies use subsidies to buy heavy machinery and cultivate dozens of hectares on the plains. It makes me sad that we, as small-scale winemakers, are at a disadvantage. When your vineyard is next to a conventional winemaker who uses systemic sprays, you’re the one who has to back down and can’t label the grapes from the neighbouring rows as organic.
What else is working against organic winemakers?
That word has come up several times already — subsidies. And they don’t just harm organic winemakers. I’d love to abolish them entirely, because they create an imbalance in agriculture, in nature, and in society. We’re also concerned about global warming and the spread of pests from southern regions, which have managed to adapt to our vineyards due to the warmer climate and will be difficult to deal with. One example is the grapevine leafhopper, which infects the plant with viruses, causing it to gradually die. Grapevine esca disease is also spreading in our vineyards, and wildlife — especially roe deer — is causing significant damage, too.
A wine recap
The foundation of natural wine are grapes that are not treated with pesticides or industrial fertilisers, but rather with sprays that meet organic certification standards or natural plant extracts.
Authentic wines are characterised by minimal intervention in the cellar. Winemakers do not add selected yeasts, enzymes, tannins, gum arabic, or many other additives commonly found in conventional wine to the barrels, nor do they add residues of chemical sprays or herbicides.
The Moravian association Autentista Moravia Magna adheres to a charter that outlines the principles followed by natural winemakers in both the vineyard and the cellar.
Natural wines contain no or only a minimal amount of added sulphur.
Natural wines are generally unrefined and unfiltered.
Most natural wines are aged in wooden barrels of oak or acacia, though some winemakers also allow the wine to ferment and age in ceramic, concrete, or glass vessels.
You can taste Ota Ševčík’s wines at the Michelin-starred La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise in Prague, where they are now being served alongside dinner and lunch.
For natural wine enthusiasts, the Moravian Association of Natural Winemakers organises the annual natural wine festival Autentikfest Moravia in Boleradice.
Do you have any cheerful prospects ahead?
Definitely. We want to start building a new winery, which is currently in the planning stages, but we’d like to expand the vineyard only to an area that we can manage as a family and keep under control. I also find joy in the day-to-day work in the vineyard. It’s just like raising children — anyone can plant a vineyard, but caring for it and growing high-quality grapes is no easy feat. You have to devote a lot of time and care to it and listen to it, too — only then will it reward you. As the saying goes, you reap what you sow.
How would you convince someone of the authenticity of natural wine?
I’d take them with me to the vineyard for a week, perhaps — but ideally for an entire wine-growing year — so they could experience our work firsthand and see the entire process, from growing the grapes to their maturation in the barrel. That’s the only way to change people’s perspective on wine, which is actually a gift from nature. Although I tend the vineyards, I’m just a part of them, and the final wine isn’t determined by me, but by what healthy soil provides. As a winemaker, I simply allow nature to express itself and show what it’s capable of.
