Czech road trip continues to Lednice, Valtice and Bořetice

Today we went saw the stunning Lednice Chateau, which is one of the most beautiful complexes in the English Neo-Gothic style I think I’ve seen in Europe. It’s also one of the most popular tourist attractions in southern Monrovia, Czech Republic. While we were there we saw some filming going on, which must have been the fourth or fifth time during this Czech trip. I can certainly understand why so much filming is done in the Czech Republic, there are so many wonderful scenes that can be captured and used in various ways. Plus, it’s much less expensive than most other parts of Europe. The scene the videographers were trying to capture was of two beautiful horses pulling an classic carriage through the château property, with the Lednice Château in the background.

The Lednice compound is much more than just the Château, there are wonderfully massive gardens to stroll, as well as nearby ponds and an extraordinarily large greenhouse. I can see why this area is such a popular attraction. We were just there a couple/three hours and had just scratched the surface of all the glory to see.

Visitors to Chateau Lednice can choose from several tour options:

• From the château interior, representative halls, to the princely apartments.
• Rooms of the small princes and princesses and the Puppet Museum.
• The French garden with its palm-tree greenhouse, Masonic wall and château grounds, which freely blend with the open countryside.
• To the park, which includes several islands, a Roman aqueduct, the Minaret viewing-tower, Moorish Water-Tower and jetty that serves as the departure-point for cruises.

Our next stop of the day was to the National Salon of Wine in Valtice, which was a truly unique and memorable wine tasting experience. The mission of the National Wine Center is support the Czech wine industry. The 700 year old cellar, houses the best wines from the Czech Republic (97% of which are from Moravia). The château itself (above the cellar) was once the winter home to the Liechtenstein family.

The cellar is quite large and stores 100 different varieties of wine. Only the best wines are selected and allowed to be included in the top-100 to be featured. In 2015, 722 different wines were submitted. The display for each type of wine is identical in that each has a large display-board with photographs of the region, the vineyard, along with all the specs related to the wine, including aroma, years to drink, etc. The design of the cellar is quite well done, any wine aficionado would salivate over the experience. Two thirds of the wines are white, with nearly one third red…the remaining are rosé.

One of the coolest aspects of the National Wine Center is the fact that you can download their internal app to your phone (internal wi-fi in the cellar) in which you can scan a QR code and get all of the information on that specific wine directly to your phone, which includes the ratings from experts, as well as wine-lovers who’ve been to the cellar. After you’ve tasted the wine, you can leave your own ratings, which will help populate the “wine-lover” portion. At the end of the wine-tasting tour, you can see which wines you enjoyed most.  This way you can assure that you purchase the bottles you enjoyed most. The best part is, for just 350 Crowns (less than $20), you can try as much wine as you like. It’s not only a great deal, but a relatively unknown experience.

Our wine adventures continued as we went to the Kraví Hora cellars in Bořetice, which has an interesting story. Located near the Austrian boarder, this little village is a self proclaimed sovereign republic (more of a news’ish playful tourist hook I think). The village is quite small, with  just 1000 people, however what was extraordinary to learn is that there are over 260 boutique cellars. Wine clearly runs through the veins of its inhabitants.

I had my aerial quad-copter with me and the light was really good, so I hiked up the hillside of one of the vineyards to get a few shots and shoot some video footage. I also had my tripod in tow and really enjoyed taking some close-up shots of the near fully ripened grapes.

Another thing we learned being in some of the smaller villages in the Czech Republic is that fewer people spoke English, so thankfully we had a tour guide with us who could interpret. One person we met during our winery tour of Bořetice was the governor of the self-proclaimed republic. He walked us along a long stretch of cellars where we met several wine-makers, all of whom were gracious enough to show us their operation, but none of whom spoke English. Again, we were thankful for our tour guide and interpretor.

After our cellar tour we drove just a short way to an amazing estate, which is a boutique hotel, winery, vineyard and restaurant all in one. The setting of Penzion André is quite remarkable, from the palatial building, to the well manicured vineyard and grounds, to the terraced deck, this is a place we really wanted to spend more time. Unfortunately, our two hour gastronomic meal would have to suffice.

It was a spectacular evening, so we opted to dine on the patio, overlooking the vineyards as the sun set. Only our sensational meal to follow could top the colorful sky before us. Each course was paired with one of their wines, which continued to elevate our dining experience. Many of the cellars we had visited in Bořetice were smaller and less refined than Penzion André, this place however is top-notch and is on par with some of the estates in Sonoma or Napa Valley. Here are a few photos from our meal this evening.

The wine cellars of Kraví Hora in Bořetice sure seemed like an off-the-beaten path destination, the type I really enjoy discovering. While the village is quite small, there are a couple of really nice places to stay, lots of vineyards and cellars to explore, and some good dining choices…especially the restaurant at Penzion André.

Tomorrow we will be exploring Mikulov, then heading back to Prague, so please stay tunned for my last Road Diary update from the Czech Republic.