In the beginning was the… Friendship.
The friendship of two winemakers born and raised in the Tekov area, Marek Uhnák (Pivnica Cajkov) and Ján Záborský (Pivnica Brhlovce). Both of us work on our own vision of the Tekov terroir in our respective cellars, but a shared desire to support and connect like-minded grape growers in the region led us to start a new project together: United Cellars of Tekov.
The name describes exactly what our project is all about:
community – wine craft – sense of place.
United Cellars of Tekov brings together local growers, winemakers, and wineries, united in their goal to preserve life in the soil through the promotion of organic viticulture and care for the land and its future. We strive to keep the people (and their memory and know-how) in our unique region, to remind everybody that agriculture, however tough, is a vocation full of deep meaning and joy.
We see wine, the cultural drink par excellence, as the perfect tool for this: it has the extraordinary ability to bring people together around a table and reveal to them the traditions, history, unique energy and natural conditions of the region from which it comes. Wine, when made with honesty and respect, reminds us of where we come from, and that everything around us, whether living or inanimate, must be lovingly cared for.
Through such artisanal wines, United Cellars of Tekov seeks to create a dynamic community and cultural space where viticulture, wine, art, food, passion, and human stories meet.
It is a vessel in which the historic multicultural identity of Central Europe vividly ferments – without the use of selected yeasts, of course.
All the wines come from grapes farmed organically (with or without certification) by our talented fellow winegrowers Stano Kinci and the guys from Zemberovce Cooperative. The wines are made in their cellars in cooperation with us, without the use of any oenological “improvements” or harsh technologies – you can really “drink to your health”, as we say here in Slovakia, with these.
A magic place where two climates meet on a volcanic bedrock
It all starts with our beautiful homeland: Tekov is a traditional wine region under the Sitno Volcano. It’s a magic place where two climates meet on volcanic bedrock. The hot southern climate of the Panonian basin overlaps with the cold northern-European influence of West Carpathians, creating a unique cool-climate area perfect for making balanced wines with lip-smacking acidity, wines you (we) can’t get enough of.
