During our drive to Wachau we had a stop in Mikulov in the wineregion of Moravia in the south of the Czech repuplic. We stayed here just one evening but tried to search out some of the wines from the area. Mikulov, just a kilometer over the border to Austria, is a town with loads of wine. Here in the middle of the Palava hills there was many wine-making firms and several winebars. It looked to me that there was a lot of negociant-business in the area. So most winemakers bought grapes from growers. Most wines were sold by their grape-name and most wines were single-varieties. Also if you looked more closely at the label there was often indications of origins to be found. Such as village and even single-vineyard-names.

On this hill you see the chalk that is typical for
the Palava-hills. 		We stopped at several small wine-bars and tried their wines. Mostly it was hard to get more information than grape-variety. If you were lucky, you found the vintage-dating. The wine tasted not good at all. If cleanly made the wines were without interest and left a lot to be desired. It was not until we entered a wine-shop in the center where you could taste wines by glass that we found something interesting. The Wiem vinarske seemed like more serious people. The wine we got to taste were from the firm Mikrosvin Mikulov.

Veltlinske zelene 2005
First out was a dry veltlinske zelene (grüner veltliner). This showed a typical green peppery nose. Slim wine in the mouth and higly simple fruit. Light and refreshing with fine acids and medium concentration. A decent grüner veltliner.

Ryzlink rynsky "Za Cihelnou" 2005
Next out was a rheinriesling with much more weight and interest. This was off-dry in style and the aromatic nose showed flowery and some spice with fine hints of stones. Off-dry in the mouth with much better extract and good structure. Fruit is more interesting, but again no great depth. A little spicey. The best wine of the tasting. This wine comes from a single vineyard with the name Za Cihelnou from the village of Mikulov.

Palava 2004
Palava is a crossing from gewürztraminer x müller-thurgau and is mostly seen in the Moravia. Here it makes a somwhat aromatic wine that is often used for sweeter wines. This Palava had a very simple and aromatic nose. In the mouth it shows some sweetness, but with little substance in the fruit and a flat taste.

Rulandske zede 2003
Rulandske zede means pinot gris. This was made in the same style as the palava above and showed not as aromatic, but more herbal and green notes. It showed the same flat mouthfeel with the same sweetness. Another half-sweet wine of absolutely no interest.

Rulandske modre - rose 2005
This was a rose from pinot noir or rulandske modre as it is named here. This was a very light rose with just a slightest touch of pink. The nose was fresh and flowery with a slight note of butter. In the mouth this was dry and very light, but with better acids than the previous wines. Still very simple and a little flat too.

Cuvee 2005
This was a red wine, a cuvee made from a blend of svatovavrinecke (Saint Laurant) and cabernet sauvignon. It showed a dark colour with some pink hues. Hints of dark fruits and earth in the nose. Quite somple in the mouth, with a little hollow fruit. Hints of dark berries. Decent acids and length. Drinkable, but nothing more.

So perhaps not much to be excited about in this tasting. Prices were very moderate though and the riesling is a fine wine for the price of 10,-€.
I tried to read and understand certain aspects of czech wine-labels. Although most wines looked to be made by large negociants and mostly marketed as varietal-wines there often lots of information to find on the labels. As an example look at the bottom of this label:

You can read:

vinarska oblast Morava
vinarska podoblast Mikulovska
vinarska obec Novosedly
vinicni trat Nad Sklepy

Here you get very exact information:

vinarska oblast Morava means that this wine is from the region of Moravia (Morava).
vinarska podoblast Mikulovska means that within this region the wine is from the sub-region of Mikulov (Mikulovska)
vinarska obec Novosedly means that within this sub-region the wine comes from the village of Novosedly vinicni trat Nad Sklepy means that within this village the grapes comes from a vineyard named Nad Sklepy

So this Frankovka is actually bottled as a single-vineyard wine.

Another thing is the classification of wine-quality in the czech republic:

1. Stolni vino = This is equivalent to table wine and makes the category of the simplest wines.
2. Odrudove vino jakostni = This is equivalent to german QbA-wines or quality wines.
3. Vina s privlastkem = Quality wines with attributes or equal to german prädikat-wines. Under this category you have:
kabinet = kabinett
Pozdni sber/ber = spätlese
Vyber z bobuli/hroznu = Auslese/selection
ledove vino = eiswein
slamove vino = straw-wine

So our beforementioned Frankovka is a spätlese (pozdni sber).

Later as we had dinner at the hotel we ordered a bottle of Frankovka (blaufränkisch) which is another grape you often see in this area. This bottle was from the firm Vino Mikulov and was the best wine we tasted during our stay in Mikulov. At the price of 10,-€ at the restaurant this was a really great buy.

Frankovka Sommelier club 2002, Vino Mikulov
Deep red colour. Fine fruity nose with hints of anise and minerals. Medium bodied in the mouth, refreshing and fruity style with no oak. Fine fruit with hints of red berries, anise and some minerals. Good concentration. Quite typical blaufränkisch. Fine acids, food-friendly style and with slightly rustic tannins in the finish. I really liked this for it's pureness and typicity.

At the end we tasted another Frankovka by another producer. This was a spätlese made in a totally different style.

Frankovka pozdni sber 2003, Vino Marcincak
From the town of Novosedly. From a vineyard named Nad Sklepy. Tight dark purple-colour. The nose shows lots of dark berries, some kirsch and ink. Medium bodied in the mouth. Fruity; dark berries. But simple and a very short taste. Low acids and slight tannins in the back with some hints of anise. Fair enough wine, but lacks the refreshing character that the best blaufränkisch gives.



Vines with the town of Mikulov in the background.


Arnt Egil Nordlien
September-2006

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