The central European wine region giving France a run for its money

Telegraph

19-04-2025

Ask most people where to find Europe's most exciting wines and they'll rattle off the usual suspects like France, Italy and Spain. Few would mention the Czech Republic (or Czechia, its official short name). But in the quiet vineyards of South Moravia and the gentle hills of Bohemia, a wine revival is underway. Turns out, Czechia isn't just about beer.
With around 20,000 hectares under vine, Czechia's wine footprint is tiny, but it makes up for that in character and quality. Vines flourish in town centres, in gardens and in neat rows across sunlit landscapes that have been cultivated for over a thousand years. And the wines are winning acclaim. At the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards, Czech producers picked up 119 gongs, including four golds.
Why are they relatively undiscovered? Under communism, viticulture was centralised and quality sacrificed for quantity, so Czechia's winemakers had to start from scratch after the 1989 revolution. Now, they're reclaiming lost ground. Grapes like grüner veltliner, riesling and welschriesling are thriving, pinot noir (grown here for centuries) flourishing and gently floral pálava, a white grape grown almost exclusively here, enjoying a revival. Best of all, it hasn't been mobbed by wine tourists. Not yet, anyway.
A good place to start a wine journey is Mikulov, a postcard-pretty town just over an hour from Vienna, or a few hours' scenic drive from Prague. It sits beneath a curve of vine-covered hills in the heart of the Pálava region, crowned by a Renaissance château whose terraces offer views across the red-tiled rooftops to the limestone ridges beyond. The cobbled streets are dotted with wine bars where a 100ml pour might set you back £2 and an entire bottle rarely breaks a tenner.
Just under an hour north-west of Mikulov, is Znojmo, a medieval town perched above the Dyje River and one of the oldest winemaking centres in the country. A warren of fourteenth century tunnels runs beneath its streets, open for guided tours if you don't mind tight spaces. Above ground, the Church of St Nicholas, with its globe-shaped pulpit, and 11th century Rotunda of St Catherine, steal the show. But for wine lovers the real draw is the Enotéka, set in a former monastery, where 120 local wines are offered on tap. Just load a card with credit and try as many as you like: classics, natural wines, ice wine or straw wine (made from grapes dried on straw mats to concentrate sugars and flavours, similar to vin Santo).
Another way to taste the breadth of Czech wine is the Wine Salon in Valtice, a grand château once owned by the Liechtenstein family and now home to the National Wine Centre. In its vaulted cellars you can try up to 100 of Czechia's top wines for €29, surely the best value wine-tasting offer in Europe. You're handed a glass and given two hours to explore and taste at your own pace.
Elsewhere, winemaking takes a contemporary turn. Obelisk is a striking modern winery with sleek tasting rooms and accommodation. And in the nearby village of Pavlov, Plener Winery takes a different approach again, producing low-intervention, organic wines, some of which come in cans. On weekends between May and September, visiting chefs take over the space outside the cellar and cook for visitors who can stretch out on deckchairs in the sunshine while they taste and eat.
If almond brandy is your thing, and you visit in April, nearby Hustopeče is worth a detour. The almond orchards burst into blossom then, and producers set up beneath the trees to pour their wares. If, on the other hand, you need a pause from all the sipping, try the nearby Lednice Château, another former Liechtenstein bolthole, a Unesco World Heritage site and a marvel of neo-Gothic flamboyance.
In Vrbice, wine cellars are Hobbit -liked warrens that were carved into the sandstone beneath the vineyards from the eighteenth century onwards. Their arched stone fronts lead into cool, silent tunnels that smell of wine and history. It looks Disney -esque but this is a working wine village, and the magic is entirely real.
A short drive away in Bořetice, the self-declared Free Federal Republic of Kraví Hora brings a touch of playfulness to the vineyards, complete with its own flag, constitution and elected president. The set-up may be tongue-in-cheek, but this is a serious wine growing area, producing excellent wines. During tasting season from April to September, cellar doors are flung open, tables appear in the narrow lanes and visitors are welcomed with food, music and plenty to taste.
Bohemia, which makes up the western two-thirds of Czechia, is less associated with wine than the south, but it has its gems, like Kutná Hora. Most of the city is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and the Gothic spires of St Barbara's Cathedral, along with the saint-lined street modelled on Prague's Charles Bridge, take your breath away. The Sedlec Ossuary is both macabre and mesmerising, its chandeliers and altars crafted from the bones of more than 60,000 people.
Like many towns across Czechia, grapevines grow right in the centre and the wine is good. At Vinne Sklepy, in the former nunnery of St Ursula, winemaker Lukáš Rudolfský welcomes visitors to taste his beautiful organic wines. (If you're lucky, he'll play the piano for you and offer pork rillettes made from an old family recipe.) The Lobkowicz Winery, in the cellars of the nearby château, is also worth a visit.
The food in Czechia is as much a part of the experience as the wine. Traditional soups, goulash, roast meats, pickled vegetables, dumplings and farmhouse cheeses sit at the heart of the nation's table. But chefs are modernising.
At Thaya Winery in South Moravia (one of Decanter's 2023 Gold Medal winners) traditional ingredients are reworked with a lighter hand and a modern eye. Game pâté might be piped onto an éclair instead of served on dark bread, pork could be paired with green apple and horseradish purée instead of dumplings, and smoked trout married with pickled radishes and confit potatoes.
The food is rooted in tradition, but definitely not stuck in the past. Just like the wine.
The essentials
EasyJet offers return flights to Prague from several UK cities from around £50 return. Flying to Vienna is another option: Ryanair offers return flights from a number of UK cities for a similar price. Hotel Galant in Mikulov offers doubles from £100 per night. In Kutna Hora, doubles at Hotel Barborský dvůr start at £90 per night. Doubles at the Obelisk winery start from £123 per night.