cuisine recently came upon TLP so we booked our Ryanair flights to Brno in the
Czech Republic and jetted off to sunnier but definitely colder
climes.
We were met at the toy town airport and whisked 45 minutes down
the Autobahn to the pretty little town of Mikulov and the first winery of the
tour where we would also be staying for the night. ‘Sklep Barta’ (sklep meaning
cellar and Barta being the family name) is set in the cobbled streets in the
centre of town and commands a view of the town’s castle which was beautifully
lit up on our arrival. We were glad we had our English speaking guides, David
and Veronika, as the staff couldn’t speak a word of English but that didn’t stop
them being very friendly and
accommodating.
The rooms where we stayed were in a separate part of the house
and although basic, were very spacious. Another double bed could have easily
fitted in my room.
We were asked to assemble in the bar at 6pm, which we duly did,
and were led into the main cellar which had wooden tables laid with platters of
meats, cheeses, olives, breads and pates. They had also arranged for a local
restaurant to cater a main meal (as the platters were merely nibbles to peck on
throughout the night) so we tucked into that straight away, keen to line our
stomachs. It was quite traditional Czech fayre of cabbage, potato and bacon soup
which was tomato based and tasty followed by a beef in red wine stew with potato
pancakes which they encouraged you to dunk in the stew. Hearty and delicious,
perfect for a winters night.
for dessert) and once that was finished we were directed to start sampling the
four white wines from the jugs laid on our table before the real wine tasting
began an hour later. Being a cynic i didn’t expect the wine jugs to hold a good
quality wine but i was pleasantly surprised. There were two chardonnay and two
pinot blanc varieties. To be honest i’m not the biggest fan of chardonnays but
these ones were much lighter and crisper so were very drinkable. The pinot blanc
ones were even nicer and so i was really looking forward to the main show if
these were the warm ups.
The Sklepy Barta didn’t actually produce their
own wines anymore but rather housed events for local vineyards to showcase their
wares so a representative arrived with 10 different wines in tow and kicked off
the evening. He also didn’t speak English but David deftly translated everything
so we were always involved. As you would expect the wines started from the
youngest white wines and gradually moved up through older whites, dessert wines
to rose and then to a final red. The most interesting ones were the two dessert
wines. One was made from frozen grapes and not surprisingly was known as ‘ice
wine’.The second was made by picking the grapes and then drying them out whilst
wrapped in hay or straw for roughly three months to concentrate the juices. The
result is a perfectly sweet tasting blend that makes it seem as if the grapes
have been directly squeezed into your glass. As the soil and climate is better
suited for white grape varieties in this region there was only one red wine on
offer and by all reports, was bitter and not very
pleasant.
Once all the tastings were completed we were asked to select our
top four between us and bottles of these were then left for us to enjoy for the
rest of the night. The wine i chose is known as ‘Palava’, named after the region
where the grapes are grown, and has wonderful honey, vanilla and slightly spicy
flavours.
The cellar was then at our disposal so we were free to move into
the bar area or remain in our cellar listening to the piped traditional Czech
music. For larger events, local bands are brought in to entertain. Sklepy Barta
also has a lovely terrace which i could envision would be a perfect way to spend
a summers evening.
(the Templars Cellar)in a town called Cejkovice, almost an exact replica of
Mikoluv with it’s castle perched in the centre of town and cobbled streets
surrounding it. ‘Templars’ is a larger commercial winery and boasts 16 miles of
wine tunnels where their barrels and bottles are housed although only a mile is
open to the public. There was an English guide for us so we were taken through
the catacombs and walked through the making and storage processes. We finished
up in the tasting room where the owner (a lovely lady reminiscent of my grandma)
poured full glasses of wine from 6 bottles for us to try. She was clearly an old
hand (or wanted us to leave quickly) as she was ready to pour the next wine even
before we’d had a chance to taste the previous one. This culminated in us
downing the wines in quick succession and then leaning against the barrel tables
for support. However, i did manage to note that each one had a higher quality
taste than the previous winery and so i put my order in to be shipped
home.
transported to the next overnight stop in the village of Mutenice. This is a
very unique village and quite something of a wine lovers dream as all the
seemingly normal houses are in fact wine cellars which Czechs use as their
weekend homes. We stayed in Penzion San Marco which has a pretty cottage facade
but all that occupies the building is a bar/dining area, kitchen, toilet and
wine cellar. The cabin style rooms are then at the back of the
house.
with additional choice of schnitzels, stuffed pork slices and delicious home
made scratchings. We tucked into this and then headed down the steps into the
cellar which housed 20 different barrels of wine. Marek the owner extracted the
wine from the barrels with a strange looking instrument whereby he sucked a
pipe, the wine then travelled up into a wide cylinder at the top of the pipe
and then it was poured into glasses from there. Don’t worry, he doesn’t spit
into it! We tried 10 different wines, the favourite 4 were chosen, decanted and
then taken up to the bar area where we supped for the rest of the
night!
These wine tours are excellent value,
unique and cultural so please get in contact with us on [email protected]for further
details.