Krásná Hora Ruby 2023

Five red grapes, one bright, velvety blend — Krásná Hora's answer to "what if a field blend actually worked."

Grape Varietals & Region: A five-way blend — 35% Zweigelt, 35% Pinot Noir, 15% Merlot, 10% Saint Laurent and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon — grown organically and biodynamically across Krásná Hora's 7 hectares in Starý Poddvorov, South Moravia. The Vybíral family has farmed here since the 1960s, though the winery's shift toward biodynamic and natural winemaking is more recent, dating to a 2015 visit to natural wine figure Milan Nestarec.

Taste Profile: Deep, bright ruby with a touch of purple; seductive cherry and plum aromatics lead into an elegant, velvety palate loaded with red and forest fruit, a hint of liquorice, and fine tannin with the kind of fresh acidity that makes it dangerously easy to drink. Good with roast duck, charcuterie, or on its own.

Winemaking Process: Hand-harvested, low sulphur, unfined and unfiltered — each variety farmed and picked separately before blending, in keeping with the winery's minimal-intervention, native-yeast approach across the range.

Winemaker: Krásná Hora — "beautiful mountain" in Czech — has been in the Vybíral family's hands since the 1960s, but it's the last decade that's defined the winery's current identity: organic and biodynamic farming, native yeasts, and a five-grape blend like Ruby that shows off just how much complexity a proper field-blend approach can build without needing a single-varietal label to do the talking.