The place: Mikulov, Pavlov, Popice and the villages under Pálava#
Mikulov is the wine region I can reach from my door in Brno before the coffee has cooled: 55 kilometres south, 50 minutes, the last town in Czechia before the Austrian border. The Mikulovská podoblast is one of Moravia’s four sub-regions, with 4,876 hectares of vines across 30 wine villages (2025). It is also the warmest of the four.
The landmark is Pálava, a short ridge of white limestone standing out of the flat south Moravian plain. Děvín, the highest point, is 549 metres; the Děvičky castle ruin sits on its northern shoulder above Pavlov. The hills have been a protected landscape since 1976 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1986.
Around their feet are the villages we visit. Mikulov, with a Dietrichstein chateau and a square that fills with wine on the second weekend of September. Pavlov, on the north-east side, with a heritage-listed lane of baroque press houses. Dolní Věstonice, on the shore below Děvín, where the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, a ceramic figurine dated to 29,000 to 25,000 BC, came out of the loess; the archaeological park is in Pavlov. And Popice, across the water, a loess slope facing the hills, where Sonberk has its terrace.
The water is the Nové Mlýny reservoirs, three dams built between 1978 and 1988 on the Dyje that drowned the village of Mušov. Today they give Popice and Pavlov their view.
Mikulov gets a full day on my Moravian day tour from Brno and the middle of the South Moravia weekend. The wider picture is in my Czechia country guide.
Terroir: Jurassic limestone, deep loess and a lake that softens frost#
Pálava is Upper Jurassic limestone, the Ernstbrunn formation, pushed up as klippen at the outer edge of the Western Carpathians. On the hill slopes the soil is limestone rubble and thin rendzina, pale, stony and quick to drain. Step off the hills toward Popice or Dolní Dunajovice and the ground turns to deep loess. Toward the Dyje it becomes sand and gravel.
Vineyards sit roughly between 170 and 350 metres in the warmest and driest corner of Czechia, with about 2,000 hours of sunshine in a typical year. Grapes ripen early, autumns are usually dry enough for late picking, and ice and straw wine are a tradition. The risk is spring frost; the reservoirs take the edge off it on the slopes that face them.
I try not to promise that you can taste limestone. What I can show you is a Welschriesling from the Pálava slopes next to one from the loess: the first tighter and saltier, the second rounder and fruitier. The reason is for the geologists; the difference is for the glass.
Grapes and styles: Welschriesling, Pálava, Riesling and Grüner Veltliner#
Ryzlink vlašský, Welschriesling, is the grape Mikulov is built on. It is not related to Riesling: a Central European variety that gives green apple, a touch of almond, firm acidity and, on limestone, a saline edge. VOC Mikulov, the appellation since 2011, is led by it.
Pálava the grape is named after the hills. Josef Veverka crossed Tramín červený, Gewürztraminer, with Müller-Thurgau in 1953 at the Velké Pavlovice breeding station; the work continued at Perná under the hills, and it was registered in 1977. Rose petal, honey, lychee; most often semi-dry, though dry versions and straw wines exist. VOC Pálava followed in 2012.
Ryzlink rýnský, true Riesling, does well here: lime, wet stone, dry. Veltlínské zelené, Grüner Veltliner, gives its white pepper and green apple, and the Austrian Weinviertel, where the same grape rules, begins at the border. Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay fill out the whites; reds, a minority, are Pinot Noir, Frankovka and Merlot.
The styles you will meet: dry whites from the limestone; aromatic, off-dry Pálava; slámové and ledové víno, straw and ice wine, in 250 ml bottles; and traditional-method sekt. Labels use the Czech must-weight ladder, kabinetní, pozdní sběr, výběr z hroznů, which I decode in my South Moravia wine guide.
Producers to know: Sonberk, Volařík, Reisten and the Popice slope#
Sonberk, Popice. Founded in 2003 on the old Sonnenberg, “sunny hill”: 40 hectares of loess facing Pálava across the reservoirs. Josef Pleskot’s low winery building, all production under one roof since 2008, is usually called the first modern Czech winery. Riesling, Pálava and Merlot are the main grapes; the cellar, under Oldřich Drápal Jr., works in steel with some oak, and the straw wine is Pálava dried for about five months on racks. Open daily. My story on Sonberk has the long version.
Vinařství Volařík, Mikulov. Founded in 2007 by Miroslav Volařík on family land returned in 1989; 80 hectares, mostly at Perná and Březí. Precise, reductive whites in steel, more than ten Welschriesling lots a year, a perfumed Pálava, and the national Winemaker of the Year title several times.
Reisten, Pavlov. About 19 hectares planted between 2002 and 2004, Pinot Blanc and Riesling the largest blocks, and a tasting terrace above the vines. Gotberg, Popice, is Sonberk’s organic neighbour, also from 2003, with seven guest rooms. Tanzberg at Bavory, Mikrosvín at Dolní Dunajovice and the organic Marcinčák at Novosedly complete the classic roll call.
Twenty-five minutes north-east, in Rakvice, Miloš Michlovský farms Mikulov plots too and privatised the Perná breeding station in 1994. Mikulov is Moravia’s classic side: přívlastek labels, VOC panels, the Salon vín in the Valtice chateau cellars. For the natural scene, Nestarec, Koráb and Stávek, you drive to Velké Pavlovice. I pour both; here is why.
What a day in Mikulov looks like on tour#
We leave Brno at 09:00 and are in Klentnice or Pavlov by 09:50. The morning is for legs: the path up to Děvičky, or to the Sirotčí hrádek ruin above Klentnice, takes about an hour and puts the whole region under you, lakes, loess, Austria to the south. Then coffee on Mikulov’s square under the chateau.
Late morning at Volařík, booked ahead, where I ask for the Welschriesling lots in a row before anything aromatic. Lunch in Mikulov or Pavlov: roast duck with red cabbage and dumplings and a Frankovka, or svíčková, beef in cream sauce, with a dry Pálava; apricot dumplings and a semi-dry Pálava to finish.
Afternoon on Sonberk’s terrace: Riesling first, then Pálava dry and off-dry, then the straw wine, which the estate calls a liquid dessert and I do not argue. Around 17:00 we walk into the Pavlov cellar lane, where a grower opens a press house, pours from a koštýř, the glass pipette, straight from the barrel, and puts out bread, škvarky and cheese. On the day tour we are back in Brno by about 20:30. On the weekend tour we sleep in Mikulov or Pavlov and the evening runs longer; Mikulov also works as a private day.
Practical: 50 minutes from Brno, and the best months#
From Brno, Mikulov is 55 kilometres, about 50 minutes; Popice and Pavlov are a little closer. From Vienna’s airport it is 85 kilometres, about 1 hour 15; from Brno’s small airport, 45 minutes. Znojmo is 50 minutes west, Velké Pavlovice 25 minutes north-east. Czechia has a zero-tolerance rule for alcohol at the wheel, so we move by minibus with a driver; I taste with you.
Best months: May and June, when the hills are in flower and villages hold open-cellar weekends; September, when burčák, the half-fermented must, arrives and Mikulov holds the Pálavské vinobraní (since 1947) on the second weekend, so book beds months ahead; and October, gold vineyards and calm cellars. July and August reach 25 to 32 °C. From December to March tastings are by appointment and you will have Sonberk’s terrace to yourself.
For the neighbouring sub-region, read my Znojmo guide; for the whole country, the Czechia guide.
