A sampling of Moravian wine from Valtice,  29 April 2008

Bruce Shore

Moravia, at the southern edge of what is now the Czech Republic,
bordering Slovakia to the south and Austria to the west, is one of
the great wine growing regions of Europe — as measured by quality,
not quantity. The Czech Republic is now a member of the European
Union, and one of the results of that entry was the emplacement of
rather severe quotas on the acreage of vineyards allowed. In
consequence, each Czech grape has value, and the Czechs who do run
wineries now concentrate on creating very select wines — what we in
California would call boutique wines — aimed at the upmarket
purchasers. You will not find these wines on the supermarket shelves
even in Moravia, but they can be found in the small villages whose
economy relies (as it has for centuries) upon the making of wine.
Moravia has some  30,000 wine growers in some 300 wine communes.

On a Tuesday afternoon my local host, Prof. Vlado Buzek, drove me to
the small village of Valtice, arguably the very center of the wine
industry of Moravia, there to sample some of the best of Moravian
wines.

The village of Valtice dates from at least 1200  AD and is dominated
by a splendid palace,  constructed by the local ruling family, the
Liechtensteins, who began the construction of the present edifice in
the 17th century when the region was part of Austria, and who
continued to own it until 1945. (it was then used as a “forced labour
camp for women”). It is today restored as a grand edifice, sort of a
small Austrian version of Versailles, very nicely maintained. There
is a large horse-riding hall as part of the grounds, now being
renovated, and a large baroque church nearby, everything in pale
yellow plaster with the embellishments that one often finds on
buildings of the baroque age. It is the centerpiece of a very
pleasant small village, where the small boys speak politely to
visiting adults.

( An aside: one of the later Liechtenstein family, John von der
Apostlethwaite, lived for a while  in Livermore, where I met him
during the 1970s.  He was evidently the “black sheep of the family”
and  was said to own what at that time was a very run down area
called Tubbsville and is now, filled with apartments, a very
presentable part of redeveloped Livermore. )

The interior of this Chateau has some very fine rooms, including a
small chapel whose furnishings rival anything you will find in better
known tourist stops — said to be one of the “finest baroque spaces
in central Europe”.  (The princely ruler of around 1700 was known as
“the Austrian Croesus” so great was his reputed wealth.) But I only
know this from the picture book; the purpose of our visit was to
sample Valtice wines in one of the palace rooms that has now become
the tasting and sales point for the local wineries: the National
Viticulture Centre of the Czech Republic.

Along the wall of the tasting room were a succession of wine racks,
chest high, wherein lay the wines of more than a dozen of the local
wineries. Above each was a very handsome print by a contemporary
German artist, Knut Norbert Firchau; these were on sale for around a
thousand dollars per print.

There were only three of us that afternoon: Vlado (who was driving
and so had to forgo the tasting), myself, and the woman who ran the
tasting room. She is a retired school teacher, but spoke no English.
So Vlado translated from the Czech.

For serious tasting of wine it is important to rinse the wine glass
between samplings. Here is the device used for that purpose in the
Czech National Wine Salon.

Some of the wines would be familiar to fellow residents of Livermore,
others would be recognized by Germans, but I think some would not be
known beyond the Moravian borders. There are very strict rules
regarding the labeling of wine, based in part on the sugar
content.From least to most the English translations of the classes
are: Table wine, Regional wine, Quality wine, Kabinett wine, Late
harvest, Selection from grapes, Selection from berries,  Ice wine,
Straw wine,  Selection from raisins.

Here is what I tasted. (I will not attempt to reproduce the proper
Czech diacritical marks above letters)

2006 Veltliner from Chateau Veltice. A typical light white wine.

2006 Ryzlink vlassky from Moravino Veltline winery. This was probably
my favorite .

2006 Aurelins from Valvin Dominium winery. This was a blend of
Riesling and Neuberg. The latter grapes are very sensitive and so
they can only be used with much care. Hence this is a pretty rare
wine — and very good.

2005 Sylvaner from Popea Pena  (this winery is in the neighboring
village of Pena). Sylvaner wine is another of the favorites along the
German Weinstrasse..

The whites of this region are said to be better than the reds,
because the growing conditions are more suitable to the whites. The
white wines were indeed excellent. But I tasted several red wines,
one of which was particularly noteworthy.

2006 Frankova barrique from Voravino Valtice. The name barrique means
that this has been aged in French oak barrels, in contrast to the
other red and white wines. I liked the result.

2005 Cabernet Moravia from Zajeci. This was, in a way, similar to
some of the Livermore Cabernets; but I preferred other wines

2006 Dornfelder late harvest, from Chateau Valtice. This was unlike
any of the Dornfelder red wines that I have so often had in Germany.
The name “late harvest” means that these grapes remained on the vine
much longer than the usual grapes, thereby accumulating more sugar.
This was a truly remarkable wine that I would pick out for one of
life’s great occasions, such as getting engaged to be married or
winning the Nobel prize.

There was available a red and a white port wine, called Old Porter,
by Perez Barquero winery. I tried the red. It was ok, but I think not
what one would select as the best wine of Valtice.

In the great wine cellar of the National Wine Archive  of the Czech
Republic one finds, and can taste, the 100 Czech wines judged best
during the previous year. Here my guide, physicist Professor Vlado
Buzek, ponders the possibilities of an addition to his own wine
cellar.

Following this instructive wine tasting experience we visited the
palace  wine cellar. This is not where one finds huge oak casks
holding unbottled wine, as one finds around Livermore. It is a pair
of long vaulted underground rooms in which stand wine racks holding
the finest of local products. Above each rack is a sign on which one
finds such information as the alcohol content, the sugar content,
various other descriptors, and even, to the exact hour , when the
grapes were picked. This cellar, known as the National Wine Salon (or
National Wine Archive) of the Czech Republic and furbished with funds
from the Czech Ministry of Agriculture, is for people who really know
wine. The 100 wines on display are chosen competitively each year –
to be selected for the Salon is the highest honor bestowable on a
winemaker.  On other days one can arrange to be there for a fixed
time (one hour or two hours), during which you have access to the
various wines, and expert advice cocerning them.

Vlado told me that he had once arranged that the attendees at a
scientific conference he had organized should spend the evening in
this wine cellar, experiencing the pleasure of the very finest wines
of Valtice — and that means very fine indeed.

Incidentally, the area around Valtice, and neighboring Lednice, is
one of the very nicest areas a tourist can visit. The Liechtenstein
family built not only the Valtice Chateau but also a grand summer
house in Lednice, now being restored, with extensive formal gardens
and even vaster parks with  artificial lakes containing numerous
islands. One finds there, for example, the only Minaret in central
Europe, a remarkable tower designed by a self-taught former mason’s
helper  Josef Hardtmut,. who eventually became the court architect of
the family. Amongst other things he invented the modern graphite
pencil and founded the Kohinoor pencil company.

See Back Roads Wine next year at the “2009 Naples Winter Wine Festival”