Domin & Kušický – Pinot Noir Bio 2021 Veľký Krtíš, Slovakia | Red
Pinot Noir is an unforgiving grape. It reflects its site with uncomfortable honesty, and it rewards patience in the cellar with equal candour. The Viničky 1 vineyard in Veľký Krtíš was approaching 20 years old at the time of this harvest — old enough to have found its feet, to have pushed roots down into the Modrokamenský terroir and started translating it rather than just occupying it.
Hand-harvested at 23.4°NM into 20kg crates. Destemmed, then five to six days of skin maceration in a vinificator with estate-selected yeast, pressing at roughly 80% fermentation completion to preserve freshness and lift. From there into stainless steel, where the wine completed fermentation before being racked into a 7,500-litre tank for an extended 26 months of ageing — no oak, no ambiguity, just fruit, time, and stainless steel keeping everything clean and precise. Bottled in December 2024 with coarse plate filtration only, and a light sulphur addition to 36mg/l total SO2.
The choice to age entirely in stainless steel for over two years is a deliberate one: it keeps the fruit vivid and the acidity bright, without the texture and tannin that barrel ageing would introduce. The result is elegant rather than muscular — fresh red fruit, a certain transparency, and the kind of longevity that comes from good acid structure rather than extraction.
Drink it with: roast duck, mushroom risotto, charcuterie, or salmon prepared simply enough not to fight back.
Alcohol: 13.5% vol., total sulphur: 36 mg/L, Histamine < 2,07 mg/L