100 Best Wines from Moravia and Bohemia for the Year 2020

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The Wine Salon of the Czech Republic is presenting the collection of the 100 best Moravian and Bohemian Wines for the year 2020. These were successful in a competition entered by almost 2,400 wines. From Thursday 6th February 2020 these wines will be showcased for the entire year in the tasting exhibition of the same name that takes place in the historical cellars of Château Valtice.

Naturally this year‘s Absolute Champion will not be missing from the exhibition – Pinot Noir 2017, special selection of grapes, batch number 7235, from the EGO series, produced by the Château Winery of Bzenec (Zámecké vinařství Bzenec). The ceremonial announcement of the holders of the prestigious title “Gold Medal of the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic 2020“, and with it the complete composition of the tasting exhibition, as well as the winners in the individual categories and the best overall collection will take place for winemakers and invited guests on 5th February in Valtice. Specialised tasters from among the ranks of winemakers, sommeliers, oenologists and other wine trade professionals have thus decided upon the winners in the individual categories: In the category of dry and semi-dry white wines the jury awarded top place to Pinot Blanc late harvest 2017, batch number 7116, from the Château Winery of Bzenec (Zámecké vinařství Bzenec s.r.o.) In the category of semi-sweet white wines the jury gave the highest rating to Pinot Gris special selection of grapes 2017, batch number 7371, from ZNOVÍN ZNOJMO, a.s. As the best in the category of sweet white wines the jury most appreciated the Chardonnay special selection of grapes 2017, batch number NV265, by NOVÉ VINAŘSTVÍ, a.s. In the category of rosé wines and Blancs de Noirs (here referred to as klarets) the winner was Blaufränkisch (Frankovka) Rosé late harvest 2018, batch number 76/18, from Víno Rakvice s.r.o. The highest award, i.e. the title of Absolute Champion and victor in the category of dry and semi-dry red wines, went to the Pinot Noir special selection of grapes 2017, batch number 7235, from the Château Winery of Bzenec (Zámecké vinařství Bzenec s.r.o.). In the category of quality sparkling wines the highest marks were given to the wine Château Bzenec Brut, quality sparkling wine s.o. 2015, batch number 16027C, from CHÂTEAU BZENEC, spol. s r.o. The prize for the best overall collection of wines went to the company Château Winery of Bzenec (Zámecké vinařství Bzenec s.r.o.) “Twenty years of tradition, the number of entered samples, the unique three-round marking system, the thorough selection of trained wine tasters and the professional chemical analysis of the evaluated wines unequivocally make the Wine Salon – National Wine Competition the most prestigious wine contest in this country,“ Pavel Krška, Director of the National Wine Centre informed us, adding: “Interest in the competition, and not just on the part of winemakers participating in the competition but also subsequently from visitors attending the exhibition, is constantly growing. This binds us to the fact that we are always on the lookout for new ways to find the best amongst the many thousands of Moravian and Czech wines.“

About the wines on display at the Wíne Salon

The exhibition at the Wine Salon will present wines awarded with a gold medal of the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic. In line with the competition statutes 64 white wines were selected for the collection, of which 38 were dry, 15 semi-dry, 8 semi-sweet and 3 sweet. Furthermore there were 32 red wines, of which 30 were dry and 2 sweet. The total number is made up by 2 rosé wines and also 2 quality sparkling wines. The most successful grape varieties this year were Riesling with 20 representations, followed by Pinot Noir with 9 and Welschriesling with 8, respectively. In this year‘s Wine Salon we will most often meet up with the vintage 2018 from which there are 36 wines, followed by vintage 2017 with 34 wines, vintage 2015 with 18 wines and vintage 2016 with 11 wines. The oldest wine to be found in the Wine Salon this year dates from the year 2009. The wineries having the greatest number of successful wines are VINSELEKT MICHLOVSKÝ, a.s. and Zámecké vinařství Bzenec s.r.o, both with 10 wines on display. In addition, those wines in the exhibition that were awarded a “Silver medal of the Wine Salon“, wines with awards from competitions that took place abroad, young wines, rosé wines and so on will be featured in the form of short-term presentations. The Hall of Fame of Wine Production in the Czech Republic also forms a part of the exhibition.

About the competition and the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic

In the opening rounds of the competition, where the wines were evaluated in the wine sub-regions of Velké Pavlovice, Mikulov, Slovácko and Znojmo and from those in the region of Bohemia, a record number of nearly 2,400 wines were entered. Of these, 1,479 wines from 202 wine producers qualified for the first national round of the competition. 400 finalists, coming from 126 wineries, then progressed to the second – final round. From these the juries chose the 100 best wines of the Czech Republic, which were given the title “Gold Medal of the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic 2020“. The next two hundred wines received a silver medal. At the same time the jury selected the Absolute Champion of the Competition, the category winners and the best overall collection. The competition‘s expert evaluation is then followed by the public tasting exhibition of the Wine Salon of the Czech Republic. Each year the hundred best wines that are in receipt of a gold medal go on show here. In the given year wines are showcased here in the cellars of the state-owned château in Valtice and are available for tasting from February until December. Visitors are invited to select from several types of tasting programmes available and this includes the uniquely named “open wine-tasting“. Every year more than 22,000 visitors participate in the tasting programmes.

Selection of wine tasters and the evaluation system

Every year our very finest wine tasters take their places in the wine competition tasting committees – these are holders of international tasting examinations concluded under the rules of the ISO who are, along with the modern computer system, the multi-round evaluation and the guarantee from the Union of Vintners of the Czech Republic, the guarantee of objectivity and the selection of what really are the very best wines from Moravia and Bohemia. The evaluations take place in a round-table setting and with the aid of the 100-point system as used by the International Union of Oenologists for the Grapevine and Wine (O.I.V.). The Wine Salon – National Wine Competition is also one of very few competitions that systematically perform a check by chemical analysis to confirm that the declared and real parameters of a wine are in agreement. Concurrently the Wine Salon – National Wine Competition is the strictest of all the wine competitions in the Czech Republic.

The tradition and meaning of this competition

The Wine Salon – National Wine Competition of the Czech Republic is the most important as well as the largest wine competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the National Wine Centre, o.p.s. with the support of the Wine Fund and has the official warranty of the professional winemakers‘ organisation – the Union of Vintners of the Czech Republic. The year 2020 sees the competition’s 20th anniversary. The Wine Salon – National Wine Competition 2020 is held under the auspices of the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, the Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman, and the Governor of the South Moravia Region Bohumil Šimek.

See also: Opening hours and tasting programs

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