Through wine, Zsolt Sütó hopes to achieve self-awareness. A return to what he considers long forgotten values- understanding nature and oneself, the ability to accept something different, and that cheapness, comfort, and conformity are not and should not be guiding principles. Sütó strives to return to the ancient roots of winemaking; to create wines that require an open mind to enjoy. In his own words, wine “to which nothing has been added, and nothing has been taken away.” If you have preconceived notions of what a glass of wine should be, his wine will challenge them.

Strekov 1075, founded in 2002, focuses on terroir wines, expressive of the Strekov village, located in south-west Slovakia. All of the vineyard work is done by hand, and indigenous grapes of Central Europe are preferred. The wines are fermented spontaneously without any intervention, with no sulfur added, and are macerated on skins. Sütó has gone as far removing wire rods and poles from 5 ha of his 12 ha vineyard, training grapes to grow closer to the soil, believing they will express terroir more clearly with the proximity to the earth.
These wines have a lot of depth and complexity- they’re bold and unique.

When Zsolt tried to make Riesling in the past, it would always end up with some residual sugar. So starting in 2013, he decided to bottle the wine as a pet-nat. He figures probably something similar happened to Dom Perignon, thus the tongue-in-cheek name Don Zsolt.

Grape: Riesling

Vineyard: Badala, organic certified and farmed by Zsolt himself. Planted in 2007. Clay-loam with a high amount of calcium, marine sediments subsoil

Making of: The grapes are hand-harvested and then destemmed. The wine ferments for about 14 days without temperature control in stainless steel tanks. Just before it finishes fermentation, it is moved into bottles under crown cap to finish as a pet-nat. “Dirty” disgorged in February of the following year, zero additions.

Personality: yeasty, salty, feisty – a super drinkable, lip-smackingly fresh pet-nat as energetic as its color suggests.

-Jenny & Francois