Summer must smell of wine
What would summer be without a visit to the Moravian underground? I am of course referring to the wine cellars in Moravia, the east-south part of the Czech Republic. Those cellars where you go down with excitement and a little bit of caution, and come out in a blissful drunkenness.
This year's visit was particularly rewarding. Unexpected, spontaneous, all the more pleasantly surprising.
What more can I say? The Open Cellars event in Jaroslavice in the Znojmo region, where we got involved partly by accident, and partly by planning, had everything one would expect from such an event. Cheerful atmosphere, fun, great people, and best of all wine. All of this in the environment of just a big village or town, which has its square with little pubs and shops, one place a bit more classy, then the Upper and Lower Pond, and then 25 wine cellars, which together on the first Saturday in August created an oasis for all those who came to soak up... something of the legendary Moravian hospitality.
And that there was a lot to stand for. After all, already on Friday, a kind of warm-up round took place. We, the strangers from South Bohemia, tried not very successfully to calibrate our livers to the local wines and spirits, which I can't say was entirely successful. I suspect that to endure the frantic pace of the seasoned visitors, we would have to practice a slightly different technique than we are used to.
Even Friday's introduction party gave a hint that Saturday was going to be a ride. And it was. At noon, we paid the cover charge, got a drink, and got swept up in the merry-go-round of tastings and random encounters, and all sorts of informed conversations that were immediately lost in the next round. Then there was eating, drinking again, and perhaps a little dancing at the end. But at the same time, everything was carried out in the kind of dignified manner that goes with wine. And in a sophisticated joy.
However, what can I tell you, after successfully passing through all 25 stops on this Moravian trail of courage, not much has stayed in my memory. And there is not much to tell of what has stuck with me, as not everything was perhaps too well-mannered to be discussed here.
I also took photographs. Boldly, with commitment, with enthusiasm, very tenaciously, I pushed myself everywhere, even challenging the winemakers to pose for me, throwing myself into creativity, as it happens when you have a hectolitre or two of wine to go with it. It turned out that out of the many photos, I sorted out about ten that at least show the subject of the event (see the gallery at the end of the article, or my IG). The rest went hopelessly into the trash. But even this is such a testimony to how much fun it was in Jaroslavice.
So thanks so much to all the locals who made for an amazing experience and who were so very kind to us. I believe that now we won't return randomly, but that this event will become an essential part of every summer from now on.
Check out the full gallery:
