INTERVIEW
Jan Čulík: "More time to meet winemakers, that's what the two-day Bottled Alive will be like."
Bottled Alive - a festival of organic, biodynamic and authentic wines - February 7 and 8, 2025 - Tábor - the historic Střelnice premises. This year, for the first time, the organizers decided to stretch it over two days! Every day, on Friday and Saturday, about sixty winemakers, mainly from small family wineries from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain, Bulgaria, Portugal and France, will present themselves. "There were too many winemakers for one day, so we divided them into two groups and over two days," says festival organizer Jan Čulík.
On Friday from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM, winemakers from abroad will pour their wines, and on Saturday at the same time, visitors to the event will taste wines from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. “The festival is a unique opportunity to meet more than a hundred great winemakers in person. It’s a great asset to meet the person who made the wine,” Jan Čulík points out.
What was so uncomfortable about the previous years that you decided to hold the festival over two days?
If a visitor wanted to visit all one hundred winemakers, it would be impossible, it wouldn’t be possible. There was also a problem with the venue, we simply couldn’t fit in there.
And from your point of view, is the beginning of the year the ideal date? Why?
When I founded the festival, I had a guesthouse at the time, I wanted to attract people to Tábor and support the January off-season, help accommodation providers and pubs. That was one of the reasons for the festival. And it worked, the accommodation capacities are full during the festival. There are hundreds of people who come here. The beginning of the year is also good for winemakers, they have relatively little time and peace at this time.
How do people in advance sales react to the two-day festival? Do you have any feedback yet?
Many more people buy tickets for both days. Of course, the two-day ticket is discounted.
Foreign winemakers will be presenting on the first day. How many will there be?
More than sixty every day. More and more winemakers are contacting me, unfortunately I have to slow it down due to capacity, but I am of course happy that Bottled Alive is becoming an incubator for young and even beginning wineries from various parts of Europe.
Who specifically is going to Tábor from foreign wineries?
For example, young wineries from Bulgaria and Poland, new winemakers from Austria will appear, those who are not normally active on this scene, I think the project from the German Moselle is very interesting, Slovenians, Italians, French, Portuguese and a Spaniard will come. We presented the festival in New York at a wine event called Karakter, where distributors from all over the world go. From there we know that a large American distribution company, Jenny & Francois, pioneers of natural wines from New York, together with journalist and writer Alice Feiring, who is dedicated to natural wines, is coming to us.
How and on what basis do you choose winemakers for the festival?
I don't choose them, I give them the opportunity to apply. Each participant fills out a form in which they answer a few questions. The main criterion for participation in our festival is how the winemaker grows grapes. If I don't know the winery, I ask about it and give recommendations from winemakers I know.
So the condition for participation in the festival is whether the winemaker farms the vineyard in an organic regime?
Yes, we believe that the way the vine is grown is absolutely essential. We want to beautify and improve the landscape by promoting and drinking this type of wine.
What will this year's accompanying program be?
On Friday, we want to connect the space between the Jednota bookstore, the Triko Tábor business and the cellar in the house opposite, where a DJ will play. Bertie from the London bar Ducksoup will lead the way with his selection of wines. We will combine gastronomy, wine and music. On Saturday we will start with the first annual wine run called WineRun - which will take you through my favorite places in Tábor. You can also walk briskly. It is supposed to be a reminder that we can taste wine and have fun in Tábor from Friday, but only to the extent that we can manage the Saturday run at 9 am.
For the last three years you have been organizing a special dinner for exhibiting winemakers. Will it be this year too?
It will be a seasonal, local, breathtaking dinner, as always. It will be prepared again by the chefs from the Prague restaurant Alma, Michal Daněk, Petr Žídek and Vojta Václavík. It is a nice togetherness, sitting down to eat together, and when the food is also great, it is an amazing experience. This dinner is not public, but it is a thank you to the exhibiting winemakers for their work.
Preparing a festival with such a large turnout is a big challenge, a demanding discipline. Why do you do it? What is your main motivation?
I like connecting winemakers from Central Europe with the wine world. And as I already mentioned, I want to light up Tábor in this somewhat gloomy winter time, and bring hundreds of people here who come for the noble idea of tasting wines made from grapes that ripened in the vineyards that beautify the landscape.
What would you like for the festival?
I would like it to remain the way it was when it was founded. To remain mainly a meeting place in the absolutely innocent Tábor, in a city that has nothing to do with wine. As a patriot, I am pleased that people who come here get to know the city. I am trying to promote the festival in the city of Tábor.
Asked by Hana Černohorská.
