Wine country since time immemorial
The Zlatý Roh winery stands on the slopes of Devín above the castle ruins, where the Danube meets the Morava. The Romans were already refining grapes here, and in 1688 the wine of Devín received a trademark from Emperor Leopold I himself.
After 1989 the vineyards were left orphaned and overgrown. In 2014 we came back to the slope, dusted off two forgotten vineyard names from old maps, and started over.
Emperor Leopold I.
vineyards begins
limestone and granite bedrock
no shortcuts
I. The Place
Why Devín
Devínska Kobyla is a geological rarity. Four times in its history this land rose from the sea, and four times the sea took it back, so when we work the soil we still turn up limestone fossils of marine and land creatures. Under one of our vineyards lies a sea from millions of years ago.
The soil is anything but uniform. One parcel sits on limestone, a little further on it is loess, elsewhere loamy sand mixed with granite fragments, and there are spots with almost no topsoil at all, right on weathered granite. The vineyards lie at 200 to 300 meters, facing southwest. The two rivers below them create a microclimate you will not find anywhere else.
Devín has its own winemaking curiosity. In the 18th century, under Maria Theresa, the locals answered a higher tax on grapes with a simple trick. They started making wine from currants, which the tax did not cover, and Devín currant wine became a name in its own right.
II. The Sites
Goldeck and Purweg
We found the name in old maps. Maps from the 19th century held two names that were already marking specific vineyard sites on this slope more than a hundred years ago.
The German name for the southern tip of the slope, where the land turns a corner above the castle. This is where the winery got its name. We invented nothing, we simply brought it back.
A site named after the road that ran through here for centuries. Today it carries our rows of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling. The vines here have roots deep in history.
III. The Label
The Veltliner that wrote its own label
When the first Grüner Veltliner was ready, one bottle with no label went to founder Patrik Tkáč. He opened it at a family barbecue, glass in hand, looking out over the vineyard. He tasted it and sent Filip his thanks, along with a reply:
“Killer”
Patrik Tkáč, after the first taste
That silhouette of a man with a glass, looking out over the landscape, became the model for the label. Look closely at a bottle of Zlatý Roh and that is exactly the moment you see.
IV. The Year 2014
Beginnings on the hill
The slope was not just overgrown, it was scarred. Under socialism, bulldozers and excavators rolled in below Kobyla, pushed up artificial terraces and stripped away the best topsoil. A terroir that took millennia to form was nearly destroyed in a few seasons. Then, after 1989, nobody tended the vineyards for thirty years.
In 2014 we cleared the first three hectares and started over. While clearing we came across four rows of St. Laurent from the 1970s that had survived as if by miracle. We managed to save them. They are the oldest vines we have today.
Over time we planted Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Frankovka, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet. Some of the plantings are stubborn on purpose. Following the example of French winemaker Loïc Pasquet, we planted the Frankovka on its own roots, with no American rootstock, straight into weathered granite. A hectare of Pinot Noir comes from massale selection, from cuttings the winemaker Filip Nagy laughingly calls his little theft from Burgundy. And the rosé Pet-nat comes from an old forgotten vineyard where, to this day, we are not entirely sure of every variety growing in it.
This is roughly how the four rescued rows of St. Laurent looked in the 1970s. The oldest vines at Zlatý Roh.
VI. Today
Only in the best restaurants
Our limited production goes mainly to restaurants we know by name. At home in Devín, in Vienna, in Berlin and beyond.
Daniel Tilinger
Konstantin Filippou
Cordo, Barra
Distribution is handled by partners such as Wein Skandal in Vienna and Nescio in Copenhagen. The home project in Devín also includes the BABA wine shop
with an archive of more than 1,500 wines from around the world.
VII. Philosophy
Jazz and a few bottles
Zlatý Roh is like jazz. Thought through, easygoing, with room for silence between the notes. It is a wine you listen to. That is exactly why it makes sense to farm slowly and let each vintage ripen at its own pace.
Winemaking is, at its core, just turning grapes into liquid. Growing vines is turning a philosophy of life into matter. And when someone asks what makes a good wine, sometimes the most practical answer is the truest one. You share a bottle in the evening and your head does not hurt in the morning.
Taste for yourself
Goldeck, Purweg and vintages that cannot be repeated. Open a bottle of Zlatý Roh or visit us on the slopes of Devín.
