Mikulovská is one of four

Czech wine Wine in the Czech Republic is produced mainly in southern Moravia, although a few vineyards are located in Bohemia. However, Moravia accounts for around 96% of the country's vineyards, which is why Czech wine is more often referred to as ''Moravi ...

regions within southern

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The Mikulovská wine region, containing 30 wine villages, is famed for producing white wines grown in the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

soils, particularly in and around the area of the Pálava Landscape Protected Area.Wine of the Czech Republic, '
Viticulture of Bohemia and Moravia
'', pg 10-11, Accessed: January 11th, 2011 Historically a centre of

viticulture Viticulture (from the Latin word for '' vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of '' Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

and

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

in Moravia, Mikulovská is home to the historical town of

Mikulov Mikulov (; german: Nikolsburg; yi, ניקאלשבורג, ''Nikolshburg'') is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The historic centre of Mikulov is well preserved and ...

, and the Czech National Wine Centre (Czech: ''Národní Vinařské Centrum'') and Wine Salon of the Czech Republic, located at Valtice Castle.

History

In the 2nd Century CE, the Roman 10th Legion based at

Vindobona Vindobona (from Gaulish ''windo-'' "white" and ''bona'' "base/bottom") was a Roman military camp on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13th century, being changed to Berghof, or now si ...

built an extensive outpost near the

Amber Road The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. ...

and the Pálava Hills in Mikulovská, near the present-day village of

Pasohlávky Pasohlávky (german: Weißstätten) is a municipality and village in Brno-Country District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants. It is a summer resort at the Nové Mlýny Reservoir. Geography Pasohlávk ...

. Around the year 278, the Roman Emperor

Marcus Aurelius Probus Marcus Aurelius Probus (; 230–235 – September 282) was Roman emperor from 276 to 282. Probus was an active and successful general as well as a conscientious administrator, and in his reign of six years he secured prosperity for the inner pr ...

annulled the edict of

Emperor Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

that had prohibited the planting of grapes in colonies north of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

, and encouraged the planting of new vines in the northern Roman colonies. Modern-day archaeological excavations of the ancient Roman outpost near Pasohlávky have yielded many artifacts, including a vine pruning knife. Wine historians theorize that, during the Roman occupation, the

Grüner Veltliner Grüner Veltliner (Green Veltliner) ) is a white wine grape variety grown primarily in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The leaves of the grape vine are five-lobed with bunches that are long but compact, and deep green grapes ...

and

Welschriesling Welschriesling is a white wine grape variety, unrelated to the Rhine Riesling, that is grown throughout Central Europe. Origin The descendance of Welschriesling is uncertain. The German name ''Welschriesling'' literally means ' Romanic Riesling' ...

grape varieties This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...

may have been introduced to the region. Viticulture was practiced during the

Great Moravian Empire Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

(833–906), as evidenced by numerous pruning knives and grape seeds unearthed during archaeological excavations of Slavic settlements.Wine of the Czech Republic, '
History of Wine in Czech Republic
"'', Accessed: January 16th, 2011 In 1249,

Ottokar II of Bohemia Ottokar II ( cs, Přemysl Otakar II.; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his dea ...

granted the land of Mikulov (then called Nikolsburg) and the surrounding area to the Austrian noble Henry I of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

. Afterward, more vineyards were planted in the Pálava Hills. In 1309, a new set of viticultural and winemaking regulations was established for many southern Moravian villages, based on the application of Bergrecht laws and vineyard rules of

Falkenstein, Lower Austria Falkenstein is a town in the district of Mistelbach in the Austrian state of Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the n ...

in the district of Mikulov. For those villages under the jurisdiction of the Falkenstein Bergrecht, Falkenstein served as the Supreme Appeals Court in vineyard disputes. By 1368, Mikulov was one of the largest wine centres in Moravia. In 1414, a large number of the vineyards around Mikulov and

Valtice Valtice (; german: Feldsberg) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,600 inhabitants. It is known as part of Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town ...

were documented in the Liechtenstein Duties Register, later to become the oldest preserved register of the Liechtenstein vineyards. Georg Decker Joseph II

In the 16th century, vineyard planting reached a peak. After the Mikulov estate was purchased in 1575 by Adam von Dietrichstein, the Emperor's ambassador to the Spanish court, new vineyard plantings greatly expanded and new cellars were constructed at the Mikulov château. In 1643, the Renaissance wine barrel was commissioned by Prince Maximilian von Dietrichstein, grandson of Adam von Dietrichstein and the owner of the Mikulov estate. This enormous 1,014 hectolitre barrel was used to store wine collected as taxes from the peasants who rented the Prince's vineyards, and is one of the largest such barrels in Europe still in existence.Regional Museum in Mikulov, '
Renaissance Wine Barrel
'', Accessed: January 18th, 2011 The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

(1618–1648) destroyed a significant portion of the vineyards in the Czech Republic, and over the next hundred years they were gradually replanted. In 1763, Austrian vintners asked Maria Theresa to limit new vineyard plantings in Moravia to reduce the competition from Moravian wines. In 1783, the local Bergrecht laws and the activities of the wine regulation court in Moravia were abolished by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and replaced with a new set of vineyard regulations for Moravia. Wine academies, dedicated to training capable enologists in the art and science of winemaking, were founded in the Mikulovská wine villages of Valtice in 1873,

Lednice Lednice (; german: Eisgrub) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,100 inhabitants. It is known as part of Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritag ...

in 1895, and Mikulov in 1903. The vine pest Phylloxera arrived in Mikulov and

Dolní Dunajovice Dolní Dunajovice (german: Unter Tannowitz) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,700 inhabitants. History The first written mention of Dunajovice is from 1183. In th ...

in 1900, struck Perná in 1901, and hit

Horní Věstonice Horní Věstonice (german: Oberwisternitz) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 500 inhabitants. Horní Věstonice lies approximately north-west of Břeclav, south o ...

and

Bavory Bavory (german: Pardorf) is a municipality and village in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. References External links

* Villages in Břeclav District {{SouthMoravia- ...

in 1902, devastating the vineyards. Using Phylloxera-resistant rootstock, the vineyards were replanted with quality vines of single varietals. The establishment of modern wine laws in the Czech Republic began in 1995 with the enactment of Wine Act No. 115/1995 on viticulture and winemaking practices into the Collection of Laws (Sb). The wine section of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

regulations was translated into the Czech language and subsequently incorporated into the Wine Act. The original draft of the Amendment to the Wine Act also contained provisions for establishing the Czech Wine Fund through Act No. 50/2002 Sb. After the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004, the Wine Act No. 321/2004 Sb on viticulture and winemaking practices was adopted, bringing Czech wine legislation in conformity with EU standards.

Geography and climate

Mikulovská is located within the Breclav and Brno-venkov geopolitical districts of the

South Moravian Region The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...

. Here the tail of the Western Carpathian Mountains extends through Mikulovská and forms the

Mikulov Highlands The Mikulov Highlands ( cs, Mikulovská vrchovina) is a mountain range in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. The Highlands, together with the Waschberg Zone and Lower Austria Inselberg threshold, form the South-Moravian Carpathians ...

which are composed of the Pálava Hills and the Milovická Hills. The Pálava Hills are formed of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

limestone that can be seen as steep cliffs in some areas. Devín Hill is the highest peak at 549 metres (1,801 ft). The rolling Milovická Hills, located east of

, are composed of

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

limestone and Cenozoic deposits of

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building epi ...

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts ...

s and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s. Calcareous loess from the last ice age has been preserved in many places. The system of hills forms a unique

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

biosphere reservation, home to several rare protected plant and animal species. Surrounding the Mikulov Highlands and to the northwest are Cenozoic deposits of

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

clays, sands, and gravel. Situated at the northwest edge of the

Pannonian Plain The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the ...

, the Mikulovská region is in the warmest and nearly the driest part of the Czech Republic. The

Thaya The Thaya ( cs, Dyje ) is a river in Central Europe, the longest tributary to the river Morava. Its drainage basin is . It is ( with its longest source river German Thaya) long and meanders from west to east in the border area between Lower Au ...

(Czech: ''Dyje'') River runs through the region from west to east, with a series of three dams forming the three

Nové Mlýny reservoirs The Nové Mlýny reservoirs ( cs, Vodní dílo Nové Mlýny) are three reservoirs behind the Nové Mlýny Dam on the Thaya River in the Czech Republic. The lower reservoir, 1,668 ha in area, is the Novomlýnská (or Nové Mlýny) Reservoir, the ...

. Covering a combined 3,227 hectares, the reservoirs exert a moderating influence on the

macroclimate In viticulture, there are several levels of regional climates that are used to describe the '' terroir'' or immutable characteristics of an area. These levels can be as broad as a macroclimate which includes entire wine regions or as small as a mi ...

.Pálava Protected Landscape Area, '
Landscape Attributes of the Pálava
'', Accessed: October 15th, 2011

Grape varieties and wine styles

More white grape (3,225 ha) than red grape varieties (1,210 ha) are grown in Mikulovská. Of the white varieties,

(Czech: ''Ryzlink vlašský'', 601 ha) and

(''Veltlínské zelené'', 393 ha), both of which are traditional to the region, predominate.

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

(''Ryzlink rýnský'', 335 ha), Müller Thurgau (331 ha), Sauvignon blanc (301 ha), Chardonnay (268 ha), and

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

(''Rulandské šedé'', 218 ha) are also grown. More

Gewürztraminer Gewürztraminer () is an aromatic wine grape variety, used in white wines, and performs best in cooler climates. In English, it is sometimes referred to colloquially as Gewürz (; although this is never the case in German, because "Gewürz" me ...

(''Tramín červený'', 164 ha) is grown in Mikulovská than any other Moravian region. The most planted red varieties are Saint Laurent (''Svatovavrinecké'', 310 ha),

Blaufränkisch Blaufränkisch (German for ''blue Frankish'') is a dark-skinned variety of grape used for red wine. and California, DNA profiling has shown that Blaufränkisch is a cross between Gouais blanc (Weißer Heunisch; male parent) and Blaue Zimmettra ...

(''Frankovka'', 248 ha),

Zweigelt The Zweigelt, also known as Rotburger, is a new Austrian grape created in 1922 by Friedrich Zweigelt (1888–1964), who later became Director of the Federal Institute and Experimental Station of Viticulture, Fruit Production and Horticulture ( ...

(''Zweigeltrebe'', 181 ha), and Pinot noir (''Rulandské modré'', 172 ha). Plantings of

Blauer Portugieser Blauer Portugieser is a red Austrian, Slovenian wine, Croatian wine and German wine grapeJ. Robinson (ed) ''"The Oxford Companion to Wine"'' Third Edition pg 542 Oxford University Press 2006 found primarily in the Rheinhessen, Pfalz and wine re ...

(''Modrý Portugal'', 92 ha) has decreased rapidly, while Cabernet Sauvignon (89 ha) has increased.

Wine classification

The Czech Wine Classification System, set in the Viticulture Act of 2004,Czech Wine Law, '
Viticulture Act of 2004
"'', Accessed: January 13th, 2011 is based on the sugar content of the grapes at harvest. Sugar content is measured using the Normalizovaný moštomer (°NM) scale, a measure of how many kilograms of sugar are in 100 litres of must. 1 °NM indicates 1 kg of sugar in 100 L of must.

Wine villages and vineyards

Thirty wine villages, along with 182 registered

cadastral A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...

vineyard tracts, are situated within Mikulovská and are defined under the Czech Viticulture Act.Czech Wine Law, '
Viticulture Act of 2004
"'', pg 87-90, Accessed: January 13th, 2011 By law, single-vineyard wines must have the name of the vineyard (Czech: ''trať''), as well as the wine village (''vinarská obec'') and viticultural area (''vinarská podoblast''), on the bottle label.

References

External links

Wine and Viticulture in MikulovCzech National Wine CentreWine Salon of the Czech Republic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikulovska wine South Moravian Region Wine regions of the Czech Republic