MY STORY

The history of the surname Vajčner dates back to 1636. In this year, the surname Weinschner was mentioned in the Strážnice chronicles for the first time. Probably derived from the word Weinschnitt - a cut of a vine. It seems to be fate! As the language progressed, our name was born.

I was born on May 10, 1986 into a family with a long tradition of viticulture. My grandfather from Strážnice in Slovácko once moved to Znojmo and started making wine there. The second lived in Velké Pavlovice and as a cooper was in charge of manufacturing and repairing wine barrels. My father has also been involved in all phases of wine production so it might only be a natural outcome that he became the director of the newly established company Znovín Znojmo shortly after the privatization of the former Moravian wineries in 1992. He retired in 2022 and helps me with the vineyards.

I have been helping in the vineyards since I was a child, but, at that time, I saw only the hard work surrounding this art. Maybe because I could not drink wine yet at that time. I found out that the vineyard not only means hard work all year round, but also the pleasure of tasting its fruits, when I enrolled in the only Czech wine high school in Valtice.

I started training my senses as a little boy when my grandfather led me into the cellar and uncorked a barrel so that I could smell Sauvignon or Gewürtztraminer with a hint of rose. It took me a long time to refine and sharpen my taste buds though. One needs to drink for that.

As a student I learned to cultivate vineyards with my fellow classmates, harvest grapes and produce the resulting bottles in the school cellars. It was at this time that I smelled authentic wines for the first time, supervised by Jaroslav Osička who taught viticulture there. Before graduation, however, the teaching focused mainly on the art of sommelier, which I began to pursue professionally after graduating from the University of Hospitality Management. Since 2011, I have gained a lot of winemaking experience at the Central Agricultural Inspection and Testing Institute. I have also successfully completed my master's degree at the Nottingham Trent University.

In 2015, my friend and I founded Navajn - a project originally created to offer tours and wine tasting in Znojmo and around. We also started producing wine under this brand. It was a great ride and both of us invested our hearts as well as all our time and we enjoyed it. I was, however, always drawn to the vineyards. I wanted to tighten the established idea of ​​making wines with maximum expression of terroir. At the end of 2018, I left the company and founded my own winery. I dreamed of spending more time making wine and having my own grapes which needed all of my time. Finally, I launched my first wine in 2019. Since 2022, I have become a member of the Autentiste association.

PUBLISHED ABOUT ME