Hard work, straightforward, sincerity and humour: it’s enough to spend 10 minutes in Petr’s company to understand how warm and genuine he is. And resilient: on one summer evening in 2021, Marada’s village was heavily struck by a violent tornado, leaving both his winery and house severely damaged at a particularly busy moment of the season. (This catastrophe, a total anomaly in a place where tornadoes are virtually unheard of, left behind 6 dead, nearly 600 injured and more than 0.5 billion euro in damages.) 

“You know, it toughened me up. Such an event also teaches you to only care about what really matters and don’t waste energy on small things and people that you can’t change,” he says with a reconciled smile, as we tour his cellar, densely packed with equipment and vessels of all kinds.

Making good wine in such tight working conditions is no small feat, which makes us appreciate Petr’s consistently pleasurable, well-crafted natural wines even more. “Of course I’d love to have a bigger space, but I'm not obsessed with it. I’m able to make my wine as it is and I want to also enjoy life and my family. Maybe my task was to establish the bases and vineyards, and building the winery will be done by my son. Or daughters. Or maybe nobody, we'll see. These are exactly the small things I don’t worry about any more, after the tornado."

Petr’s flagship wines are definitely his orange ones, especially the Sauvignon and Gewurztraminer, both wonderfully flavoursome, balanced and easy on the eye and palate. The other “signature move” are his sparkling wines, especially the elegant sekts that reflect his passion and admiration for Champagne. 

All Marada wines are fermented spontaneously and aged in tanks, barrels, ceramic amphoras or qvevri, depending on the style. He uses no filtration or fining, and minimal sulphur additions are a given.