Monday, May 11, 2009

Beer Today, Wine Tomorrow

Last weekend was a 3-day weekend, in honor of Liberation Day, May 8. For sometime, we - as in a bunch of the Fulbrighters - had been talking about going to the Moravian wine country so this was a perfect time. We ended up in Znojmo, mainly because that's where we found the hotel space. Regardless, it turned out to be quite serendipitous and we had a great time.

We started on the bus which was standing room only. I wasn't aware that they did this so was very happy that we had seat reservations. I usually get a mistenka (seat reservation) when I buy my train ticket but didn't even think about it for the bus. Luckily, Laura was buying the tickets and had experience with this.













Laura and I on the bus - Amanda behind the camera.














When we got to Znojmo, we headed for the hotel and then found lunch! We were lucky to find a restaurant on the square that served great food. Then we started to explore a bit while waiting for our 4th member, Joanna, to arrive.Znojmo is really a lovely town with a number of churches














and a castle with a World Heritage Rotunda,









set along a river and hills with a number of small valleys.


We found a great little restaurant for dinner that served 13 different kinds of fried cheese! The other 3 were happy for the halušky. When Amanda was deciding what to drink, I suggested beer today and wine tomorrow, knowing that we'd be spending the evening in a wine cellar :)





Saturday dawned beautiful. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed toward the square to the weekly farmer's market and spring wine festival! I had read something about a festival in Znojmo but wasn't sure of the date. We got lucky!






Thinking it a bit early for wine, we decided to check out the Podzemi, or underground caves.
Built centuries ago, these caves have served as storage and hiding places during wartime. I especially enjoyed the variety of additions to the caves to give them more atmosphere including skeletons dressed in a variety of rotting costumes - monks, Templars, soldiers - and ghouls and the gnomes below.
Time for wine! We bought our tickets and tasted a variety of very nice local wines and enjoyed a variety of folk and other local bands.

This little boy was a joy to watch as he danced to the soundcheck for the next band :)
At some point we climbed the town hall tower.



It was a great afternoon topped off by a fabulous night! Amanda had contact with a small, family-owned winery and arranged for us to go for a tasting. In a word, adorable!





Around 30 years ago, the Adámek family began making wine. Recently, their son Petr bought his own cellar and began making his own. Petr was our guide for the evening.










We tried a variety of whites, roses and reds and learned about wine and a bit about the history of the area.










For example, during communism, a lot of the tunnels (like the one pictured here) were closed off due to the proximity of the area to the Austrian border.









We also got to pick some of the bottles we sampled, with the excuse that if it's bad, we are to blame. There was no blame on Laura for this bottle!






While most of our samples were from the large casks or barrels, at the end we ended up in the "treasury" tasting the same varietals from different years. Joined by Bora, the dog.



Afterwards, we sat outside and enjoyed some of our favorites.

On Sunday we headed back to our respective corners of the Czech Republic. It was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun! Thanks, ladies!

1 comment:

  1. I had a great time too, Heidi!
    And I love the picture of me with Bořenku!

    ReplyDelete