Wine
Czech wine: 34 cellars, wineries and vineyard walks
Most Czech wine is made in South Moravia, around Mikulov, Valtice and Znojmo, with a smaller Bohemian wine region along the Elbe near Mělník.
Pinsko lists 34 wine stops, from tasting rooms and historic cellars to vineyard walks, with booking advice for each. Harvest time brings burčák, a cloudy, half-fermented young wine sold only in season.
Quick answers
- When is burčák season?
- During the grape harvest, roughly from late August into October; it is at its best in September and October. From 11 November, wine bars pour St Martin's young wine.
- Do I need to book a wine tasting?
- 7 of the 34 wine stops are best booked ahead (guided tastings and cellar tours), 5 are walk-in and 22 are worth checking before you go. Each place page says which.
South Moravian Region22
- National Wine Centre, Valtice
In the cellars of Valtice Chateau, it presents the 100 best wines from each year's national wine competition. Tastings run in timed sessions.
- Mikulov Chateau & Giant Barrel
The Dietrichstein chateau above Mikulov keeps a giant wine barrel from 1643 that holds more than 100,000 litres. The town is the heart of the Mikulov wine subregion.
- Pavlov Wine Village
A wine village under the limestone cliffs of Děvín, with old cellars and views over the Nové Mlýny reservoirs.
- Sonberk Winery
A modern hilltop winery near Popice looking straight at the Pálava hills. Known for Riesling and the Pálava grape from the surrounding slopes.
- Hustopeče Almond Orchard
A wine town famous for its almond orchard with a lookout tower among the trees, blossoming pink in early spring.
- Šobes Vineyard
One of the oldest and most celebrated vineyards in the country, on a sunny spur in a meander of the Dyje inside Podyjí National Park. Reachable only on foot or by bike.
- Louka Monastery Cellars, Znojmo
The former Premonstratensian monastery of Louka in Znojmo has vast wine cellars, now used by the Znovín winery for tours and tastings.
- Plže Wine Cellars, Petrov
A lane of small whitewashed wine cellars with blue painted ornaments, protected as a folk architecture reserve since 1983.
- Vrbice Cellar Lanes
Hundreds of wine cellars climb Stará hora hill above the village, many dug into loess over several levels.
- Kraví hora, Bořetice
A hill of wine cellars and vineyards above Bořetice, crossed by wine trails and known for red wines.
- Velké Bílovice
Often called the largest wine village in the Czech Republic, with hundreds of family wineries and cellar lanes.
- Velké Pavlovice
A town famous for apricot orchards as well as red wines such as Frankovka and Modrý Portugal.
- Dolní Kounice – Rosa coeli
The Gothic ruin of the Rosa coeli convent stands above a small town known for its red wines.
- Templar Cellars, Čejkovice
Cellars begun by the Knights Templar in the 13th century run under the village in a cross-shaped labyrinth, today among the largest cellar complexes in the country.
- Mutěnice Cellar Lanes
Several hundred press houses and cellars stand side by side in the Búdy area outside the village, one of the largest cellar colonies in Moravia.
- Kobylí
A wine village between Velké Pavlovice and Čejkovice, known for red wines and long rows of cellars below the vineyards.
- Němčičky
One of the Modré Hory villages that grow blue grape varieties, with vineyards and a small ski slope – a rarity in wine country.
- Dolní Dunajovice
A wine village north of Mikulov with one of the longest cellar lanes in the area.
- Blue Cellars, Nový Šaldorf
A row of cellars cut into loess near Znojmo, their façades traditionally painted blue.
- Hnanice
A border village of the Znojmo subregion below the Šobes vineyard, with a late-Gothic pilgrimage church.
- Lahofer Winery
A modern winery near Znojmo whose curved roof doubles as an open-air amphitheatre above the vineyard rows.
- Bzenec
A Slovácko wine town known above all for Riesling, with cellars in the chateau grounds.
Prague4
- St. Clare's Vineyard, Troja
A historic vineyard inside Prague Botanical Garden, with a wine bar and the Baroque chapel of St. Clare looking over the city.
- Grébovka Vineyard Pavilion
A restored 19th-century vineyard in Havlíčkovy sady, in a Prague district whose name, Vinohrady, means 'vineyards'. The pavilion pours local wine.
- St. Wenceslas Vineyard
A small vineyard on the slope below Prague Castle, linked by tradition to prince Wenceslas and replanted in the 1990s.
- Salabka Winery
A terraced vineyard estate in Prague's Troja with a winery and restaurant, one of the largest inside the city.
Ústí nad Labem Region3
- Velké Žernoseky
In the Elbe valley below the České středohoří hills, this village has rock-cut cellars and one of the oldest wine traditions in Bohemia.
- Litoměřice
The centre of the Bohemian wine subregion, with a wine centre in the restored castle and a big harvest festival each September.
- Roudnice nad Labem Winery
Lobkowicz vineyards on the Elbe terraces below Říp hill, among the oldest wine sites in Bohemia.
Central Bohemian Region2
- Mělník Chateau Winery
Above the confluence of the Vltava and Elbe, the Lobkowicz chateau has made wine for centuries; tradition credits Charles IV with bringing Burgundy vines here.
- Kutná Hora Wine Cellars
A Bohemian winery working vineyards around the silver town, with tastings in cellars above the Vrchlice valley.
Zlín Region2
- Svatý Antonínek, Blatnice
A pilgrimage hill with a Baroque chapel above Blatnice pod Svatým Antonínkem, surrounded by vineyards of the Blatnice appellation.
- Vlčnov Wine Press Houses
Small traditional press houses clustered in a lane. The village is also known for the Ride of the Kings, inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.