CHÂTEAU VALTICE – Vinné sklepy Valtice, a.s.

Family winery with a 100 year old tradition

CHÂTEAU VALTICE - Vinné sklepy Valtice, a.s. is one of the oldest and most significant wineries in Czech Republic. It’s a company of a family sort with deep moravian roots and traditions, which carries on the motto „Behind success stands hard work“.

The winery itself is based on a long tradition of winemaking which was established by powerful members of the European nobility, the Lichtenstein family, at the beginning of the 15th century. They realized that the region around Valtice and Mikulov (the southern part of the Moravian wine region) would be excellent for growing grapes to make wine. This was the start of a significant expansion in winemaking in this unique region. The Lichtensteins built their huge wine estate, or so called wine dominion, in a “château“ style, after the French model.

From the time of Lichtensteins to the actual form of the company CHÂTEAU VALTICE - Vinné sklepy Valtice, a.s. occured to a long complicated history due to the events of second world war, yet the winery still kept strong and works sucessfully for years now under the lead of Mr. Antonín Šťastný and his two sons Marek and David. Mr. Marek Šťastný (pictured on the left) personally looks after the production and quality of wines, Antonín (pictured in the middle) is in charge of the vineyards and lands and David (pictured on the right) is the Director of Marketing and Strategy.

The founder of the wine tradition in the Šťastný family was actually the father of Antonín – Mr. Jakub Šťastný (1910-2006) who as one of the first people right after second world war started to graft European grape varieties onto American vine rootstock, which was phylloxera-resistant (phylloxera = one of the most dangerous pests of grapevines). This helped to continue the great wine making tradition in South Moravia.

The development of the Lichtenstein estate and it‘s vineyards required the building of two new wine cellars, each of which is unique. The Zámecký sklep (Castle Cellar) was built in 1430 with a capacity of 500 000 litres. This unique historic cellar is located in the left wing of the Valtice Castle and is on of the oldest wine cellars in Czech republic. The conditions in this cellar are ideal for maturing the best red wines such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Blaufränkisch in more than a hundred of barrique barrels.

Then, in the year 1640, the great Křížový sklep (Cross-shaped cellar) was built, which now is the so called „heart“ of the winery, because it’s located right in the center of the winery building. The monumental main corridor of this cellar is 136 meters long and it‘s crossed by a 90 meter long arm. This great Cross-shaped cellar was built, with a capacity in excess of 1 000 000 litres of wine, stored in oak barrels and also stain steel tanks. There is also an archive with 50 000 vintage wines of the winery’s production.

CHÂTEAU VALTICE is also the biggest grapegrowing company in the Czech Republic. The company owns around 1 000 hectares of vineyards covering the southernmost part of the Moravian winemaking region. This is nearly 6 % of the total area of vines in the whole of the Czech Republic, a region bigger than, for example, Alsace in France.

Premium vineyards located under the Pálava hills are unique for growing mineral wine varieties such as Pinot Blanc, Rheinriesling, Welschriesling etc. In Valtice is historically known Sylvaner, which is still the flagship of the winery.

Farming on the vineyards and their careful protection takes place in harmony with nature, according to the rules of organic farming. Annually, the company handles around 4500 tons of grapes.

The wines combine the tradition and the experience with brand-new techniques for winemaking, and the result is wines which are modern in style, yet which maintain a strong tradition. Huge assortment contains different wine categories from young and fresh wines, matured wines, still wines, ice wines, straw wines to different sorts of sects. From approximately 30 different wine varieties prevail mainly white wines. The wine offer is extended with Exklusive wines such as Bouvierův hrozen (Bouvier’s grape), Cabernet Blanc, Gelber Traminer or Gelber Muskat, which are quite sought-after as a rarity by the customers. Every year CHÂTEAU VALTICE wines receive significant awards in domestic but also international competitions. One of the most recent significant achievements of this winery is the very first red wine Champion in the history of Salon vín in the year of 2016 (Wine Salon = annual wine exposition of 100 best wines of Czech Rep., located at the Castle Valtice). CHÂTEAU VALTICE also won the competition „Winery of the year“ in 2014.

Visitors and customers can taste the wines either in the Zámecký sklep (Castle Cellar opened from may to october, located under the left wing of the Castle Valtice, near the entrance to the Tiree Chmelar Herbs garden) where is also a tour through the cellar, or at the Vinařská pohotovost (Wine emergency) located in the area of the CHÂTEAU VALTICE company. 365 days a year, you can buy bottled wine here.

You can check also a NY Times article about wine making in Valtice or an article about visiting our Castle Cellar

The winery CHÂTEAU VALTICE does not operate in foreign trade, neither does not export wines. International customers interested in the wine have to buy it directly at the winery in Valtice. More information at: odbyt@vsvaltice.cz, contact for visiting wine cellars: sekretariat@vsvsaltice.cz