Wine Summer In South Moravia 🍷

Summer is underway – best way to have a good time during the warm nights is definitely with a glass of wine. If you are wondering how locals enjoy wine and what is the wine culture like in the Czech Republic, you are invited to explore our habits.

As already mentioned, South Moravia is the heart of wine production in the Czech Republic and wine is also widely consumed here. Inhabitants of Bohemia, in the Western part of the country, tend more to beer consumption and mostly contribute to the highest beer consumption of the Czech Republic in the world – unbelievable 144 litres per person. Compared to this, the wine consumption is really low, slightly over 20 litres per person per year but it has been growing rapidly in recent years. Thanks to the massive improvement of the wine quality since 1990’s, government campaign promoting local wines and expansion of specialized stores, the consumption is somewhat shifting from beer to wine also in Bohemia. A bunch of the small winemakers offer also accommodation or restaurant, therefore South Moravia is a popular local destination for summer holiday attracting tourists from the whole country.

The season for the wine lovers starts in April or May, when lots of wine competitions and exhibitions take place - exhausting events for the professionals but very enjoyable for public visitors. Also the wine tourist season starts – the winemakers are bottling new vintage and open their cellars for the visitors. Very popular events are the so called „opened cellars“ which take place in several wine villages. The winemakers open their cellars for public, even the little ones who don’t produce the wine for sale, invite the visitors in and let them taste their treasures. In the biggest wine village Velke Bilovice, this event is called „From cellar to cellar“ and is perfectly organized. You can buy entrance fee allowing to unlimited tasting of wines from 50 cellars and free transport between the cellars so you don’t have to care about driving :)

South Moravia is also very popular with cyclists – there are hundreds of kilometres of cycling paths, along the vineyards and rivers, with beautiful views from the hills. After the hard day it is always a pleasure to rest in the cellar with a glass of chilled wine. There are two options – you can choose from a typical Moravian little cellar of the winemaker or you can visit huge ancient cellars which are part of a few castles or chateaus. These offer educational tours but also traditional cultural evenings including live music with folklore cimbalom band inviting to sing and dance together. Of course 90% of the songs are about wine! Watch this video to get a better idea how the evening can look like.

The folklore has still a strong position in South Moravia and you can enjoy some traditional events also during summer. Most of the villages hold the so called „costumed feast“ celebrating the grain harvest. It is a feast of abundance, full of joy, good food and wine, music and dance. During the celebration the villagers are wearing the beautiful folk costumes presenting them in a parade. 

However, we have to wait till September for the most important feast of wine – grape harvest! We will shorten the waiting with a glass of wine – what about you?

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