THE WINE TASTING THAT NEEDED A BOAT
Wine Boat Prague began with a simple idea: Czech wine deserved to be discovered in a setting as memorable as the wine itself.
I started working in some of Prague’s best wine bars, building on experience from our family winery and organising wine competitions. What I enjoyed most was introducing people to bottles they had never heard of—and watching their curiosity grow after the first sip.
For about a year, I also ran a small stand at the Náplavka Farmers’ Market, offering our family wines alongside Czech natural wines. I began dreaming about holding informal tastings of my own. I had the wine and the idea. I was only missing the right place.
After gaining more experience in Vancouver, I returned to Prague determined to create something of my own. Then I discovered the Čertovka canal and the Old Town mills, tucked away along waterways that large sightseeing boats could not enter.
That was it.
A comfortable little boat, Czech wines, music and conversation—with historic Prague drifting past instead of four walls around us. The idea became my dream. It was too good not to try.
I rented a small boat and launched the first Wine Cruises. The first season went so well that the boat company doubled the rental price. I could either give up the business or find a boat of my own.
So I found a 24-foot American Bennington pontoon boat in New York State, prepared a business plan and, with financial support from family and friends, brought it across the Atlantic to Prague.
It was not the most direct route from a wine bar to the captain’s seat.
But it worked.
— Andre
