Our Story

Although the age of Zebra Wines could be counted on one hand, our story began in 1969 and involved, for example, holographic interferometry or the body's over-sensitivity to white wine. Without these and other milestones, it is unlikely that our society would have come into being. But let's take it one step at a time. This is actually the story of two people... 

Mirek (left) basically comes from a winemaking family, as his father and maternal uncle farmed vineyards in South Moravia. Unfortunately, he did not sweat, so instead of growing, making and drinking wine, he stayed only with consumption. And because he was an avid consumer, he soon discovered that his father's white wine gave him a bit of heartburn. Unfortunately, his father did not grow red wine, so the search began for a good red wine that could be drunk without unpleasant consequences. For a long time, this search was futile...

Zdeněk had more of a mining than a winemaking background at home. But wine became his hobby and he and his friends made their own wine from the grapes they bought. With his wife Jana, he founded a technology company that in its early days developed medical imaging systems. These were based on holographic interferometry, which evaluates "streaked" images - hence the company name Zebra systems. And because he had built a successful company, he sometimes thought about trying to achieve similar success in the wine industry...

In 2018, Mirek pays a long-delayed visit to his aunt in South Africa, where she and her family emigrated in 1969 before the Russian occupation. And by visiting wineries around Cape Town, she finally finds her holy grail - excellent red wines with consistent quality. Upon her return, she utters the memorable phrase: "I would love to import them to the Czech Republic!" And Zdenek replies, equally memorably, "Okay..." Zdenek then figures out the name of the new company with an association to his technology business and a striped African animal. After all, even South African President Nelson Mandela used to have his favourite Shiraz brought in on a zebra-drawn cart.                          

Today, we successfully sell several dozen mostly red (but also white and rosé wines and sparkling wines) from South Africa and are the only importer in the country specializing in South African wines. Everything you buy from us has been honestly tasted directly from local farms and only the best have been selected. From 2020 we are also importing selected wines from Tuscany, specifically from the terroirs of Chianti, Montalcino and Talama.