Jan Dienstl takes pride in his life being connected to the Ústí nad Labem Region. He worked in finance, handling large investments, until finally settling in the mining and energy industries. Since the 90s, he has also been interested in wine, especially the varieties coming from the most famous French and Italian regions. Twenty years ago, when he found out that there is an abandoned winery from the times of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe close to Litoměřice, he did not hesitate and decided to bring it back to life. That is how the Chateau Winery JOHANN W Třebívlice came to be.
Why did you decide to invest in wine?
In the 90s, I travelled a lot around Europe and its most famous vineyards. When I was later trying to find out what the wine situation looked like in Czechia, I stumbled upon records of the fame and prestige that Czech wines had in the entire 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Wines coming from Roudnice, Mělník, or Žernoseky were of great renown in those days. I thought it would be a good idea to bring this status back. And Třebívlice had just the place, a once-famous winery, last owned by Baroness Ulrike von Levetzow. Sadly, she died with no heir to take over, and when the phylloxera infestation ravaged the local vineyards at the turn of the 19th century, there was nobody to restore them. Until I came along and did that a hundred years later.
What was it about Třebívlice that spoke to you?
Besides personal reasons, it was the story that moved me. I do not mean the fantastical history of the 14th century, when – under Charles IV’s rule – even Prague's vineyards were blooming. I mean the story of the young Countess Ulrike, lady of the local fields and vineyards. The year was 1821, and, in Marienbad, she caught the eye of the then-eighty-two-year-old doyen of German culture, Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Ulrike did not reciprocate his love at that time, but she never married for the rest of her life. The story intertwines perfectly with my idea of good wine: a certain freshness, to the point of innocence, combined with deep knowledge and maturity. And so, I decided to see if the depth of this story could be transposed into the production of wonderful wines.
How long does it take for a winery to get off the ground?
I started building it around the year 2000. The only restored vineyard back then was the Skršínský Vrch – an experiment from the 1970s. We had to build everything else from the ground up. The first wine we produced was in 2008, but it was unpalatable. The really good wines started coming around 2012, and their quality is continuously increasing thanks to the care of Martin Nesvadba.
Were there bad years when things did not go your way?
The key to the quality of a wine is always the vintage. No matter how experienced the winemaker, or how advanced the technology, nature always ultimately decides the kind of wine that is born. The years 2015 and 2018 were good to us, in fact, none of the past years have given us major issues. From the business perspective, I used to focus more on the people who would come visit us for the wine and cuisine. For the high-quality home-grown ingredients, good chefs and winemakers. But as it turns out, that is not enough to attract people. It was a stroke of luck, when, just before the Covid pandemic hit last year, I decided to end continuous food service for the public, and focus solely on big concerts that we ourselves organize here.
Did your investment sense and intuition help in that regard?
Possibly, but of course, I could not have expected what would happen here due to Covid. Nowadays, besides wine, we are mainly focused on organizing concerts. During the summer and the beginning of fall, we had Mig 21, Lucie, Janek Ledecký, Monkey Business, Ewa Farna and David Koller. And of course, we offer our local wines and amazing cuisine to those who do come to visit. I think that that is the way it should be. Wine has always been coupled with the culture of a given time period, be it the poems and plays of Goethe, or today’s great popular music.
Who is Jan Dienstl
An Ústí nad Labem native, but now a long-term denizen of Třebívlice. A mechanical engineer with a degree from the CTU, but also a connoisseur of food and wine, which he has been interested in since he was 25 years old.
An important businessman in the mining and energy industries, as well as a local patriot, who invests substantial sums into restoring the traditional production of the distinctive Třebívlice wines, coming from grapes grown on the southwestern slopes of extinct volcanoes of the Central Bohemian Uplands.
Dienstl is also working to elevate the top-notch cuisine of the region of northern Czechia, which uses ingredients sourced exclusively from local farmers. He also actively supports local regional tourism.
The grapes are hand-picked, the wine ages in wooden barrels.
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