Many regions of the Czech Republic have large wine producing areas. Production centres around local grape varieties, but there has been a recent increase in the production of established international strains such as Cabernet Sauvignon.
Although Czech wines are not particularly well-known on the wider international market, they are popular domestically and in neighbouring countries.
Wine production on the Czech Republic centres around the southern region of Moravia and particularly around the River Dyje. Indeed, the area around the towns of Velké Pavlovice, Mikulov, Znojmo along with the Slovácko region provide 94% of the Czech Republic's vineyards. Wine is labelled according to the region where it was produced.
Bohemia
The northern region of Bohemia is home to a smaller collection of vineyards, which are predominantly sited on the River Elbe (Czech: Labe) and its tributaries Vltava and Berounka. Production here focuses on white wines produced from grape varieties such as Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc (Czech: Rulandské bílé) and Gewürztraminer (Czech: Tramín ?ervený) and Grüner Veltliner (Czech: Veltínské zelené).
Grape varieties
The most commonly grown varieties of grape in the Czech Republic include the following (Czech names given in italics, followed by the percentage of vineyard planting given over to that variety):
The wine-producing areas of the Czech Republic are well-known for their wine festivals (Czech: vinobraní) which take place around harvest time in September. The biggest of these festivals in Znojmo, Mikulov, Brno and M?lník will feature samples of hundreds of local wines as well as local music, dancing and cuisine.
Identification
Two bottles of Moravian wine (an Irsai Oliver and a Cabernet Moravia), showing the usual labelling for geographical origin
Czech wine will usually come labelled with its variety, as well as detailed description of its origin.
Origin specification
Typically, the label will specify the wine's origin with the following terms
vina?ská oblast - region, e.g. Morava (Moravia)
vina?ská podoblast - subregion e.g. Velkopavlovická (Velké Pavlovice)
vina?ská obec - municipality/village
tra? - vineyard
Composition
The types of wine is usually labelled with one of the following terms:
révové víno - grape wine (to distinguish it from other fruit wines; not frequently used)
jakostní víno - quality wine where 100 l of must contained at least 15 kg of fermentable sugars
jakostní víno odr?dové - made of at most three grape varieties
jakostní víno známkové - cuveé, blend of at least two grape varieties
jakostní víno s p?ívlastkem - quality wine made of at most three grape varieties (label can list varieties with contents of at least 15%). Must had to have high must weight (at least 19 kg of fermentable sugars) and could not be additionally sweetened. For further classification see this article.
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