Chardonnay Maidenstein 2023

Not that Chardonnay. If your frame of reference for this grape is buttery, oaky, and tropical — the kind of wine that dominated restaurant lists through the nineties — this bottle will pleasantly disorient you. NEPRAŠ make Chardonnay the way they make everything: with restraint, honesty, and an absolute refusal to flatter. The result is something much closer to a serious white Burgundy in spirit, if not in postcode.

The vineyard. The Maidenstein Chardonnay comes from the Pod Pálavou tract — literally "under the Pálava hills" — a sheltered position on the limestone slopes above Pavlov. The soils here are the same calcareous bedrock that defines the entire NEPRAŠ portfolio: well-drained, mineral-rich, and warm enough to ripen fruit fully without sacrificing the acidity that gives these wines their spine. The vines are farmed organically, as across all 7.2 hectares of the estate.

The winemaking. The wine ferments and matures in a large Doppelstück oak barrel — a 2,500-litre neutral vessel that contributes texture and gentle oxygen exposure without any perceptible wood character. There is no new oak here, no toasting, no buttery malolactic softening. The wine is left to find its own shape slowly, over months, until it is ready — not until a schedule says so. Vinarstvinepras

In the glass. Clear golden yellow with warm golden highlights and good viscosity. On the nose, the character is immediately more continental than it is tropical: clean and intense, with orange marmalade, ginger, mirabelle plum and citrus. It is aromatic and inviting without being showy. The palate follows through with real substance — juicy and fruity, with very good acidity and a fuller body, underpinned by a pleasant thread of yellow stone fruit that carries through to a genuinely long finish. The house mineral signature is here too: that faint saline quality that surfaces on the back palate and anchors everything in place. Vinarstvinepras + 2

Where it sits. This is Chardonnay for people who have grown tired of the obvious version. It has enough fruit to be immediately appealing, enough structure to reward attention, and enough Pálava character to taste like nowhere else. The winery's motivation, in their own words, is "responsibility to a unique place" — to the Pálava landscape, to its history, and to the people who worked this land before them. That seriousness of purpose is legible in the glass. Vinarstvinepras

Food. Roast chicken, mushroom risotto, grilled crayfish, soft-washed-rind cheeses, or a simple roasted cauliflower with good olive oil. Also excellent as a standalone wine if you want something that rewards a bit of contemplation.