Record year 2016 for our winemakers – most medals for vintage 2015

Last year in fact our winemakers received an impressive 645 medals in international wine competitions and a whopping 446 of these were awarded to those wines produced from the 2015 vintage. Our participation abroad was in most cases with the finacial support of the Wine Fund and the organisational contribution of the National Wine Centre.    

Our wines were successful even half-way through the year. “At the beginning of last year we already scored a huge international success of the 2015 vintage and rejoiced in 500 medals, however, by the end of the year Czech and Moravian wines were awarded even one third more,“ commented Jaroslav Machovec, director of the Wine Fund, on the exceptional success of the 2016 competition year, adding: “This is not just about an increase in the number of medals, but also relates to their quality. In fact international juries have evaluated Moravian wines by awarding them 190 gold medals, which is 69 more than it was in the previous year.“  

Moreover, as the definitive hallmark of our winemaking quality among last year’s results, 13 great gold medals and 8 Champion titles stood out.

2016’s greatest success stories

• Title of Champion among rosé wines at Vinalies Internationales Paris for Cabernet Moravia Rosé, late harvest 2015 from Vinařství Horák  
• In no time this was followed by 6 out of the 7 Champion titles at the MUVINA Prešov Wine Competition for Riesling 2006 for Vinařství Josef Valihrach (dry white wines), Děvín, special selection of grapes, 2015 from Vinařství Štěpán Maňák (white wines from aromatic grape varieties), Alibernet, straw wine 2015 from Vinařství Oldřich Drápal (natural sweet wines), Frankovka rosé, late harvest 2015 from Vinařství Rovenius (rosé wines), Merlot, 2012 from Vinařství Josef Valihrach (red wines) and Staré Díly rosé, brut from Vinařství Josef Valihrach (sparkling wines)  
• A total of 4 great gold medals and two winners in the categories of the given grape varieties from San Francisco International Wine Competition for Riesling, VOC 2015 from Vinařství Vinice Hnanice, which was simultaneously declared the best Riesling in the competition, Pinot Blanc, late harvest 2015 from Vinařství Pavlov, which likewise won the prize as absolutely the best wine of the given grape variety, Pinot Blanc, late harvest 2015 from Vinařství Skoupil and Pinot Gris, special selection of berries 2015 from Vinařství Lahofer.      
• A further 3 great gold medals from the Israeli competition Terravino for Sauvignon Blanc, straw wine 2015 from Štěpán Maňák, with Pálava 2015 from Vinařství U Kapličky and Pálava, special selection of botrytised berries 2015 from Michal Grégr.
• Also another 3 great gold medals  from the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition for Riesling Austerlitz 2014 from the winery SPIELBERG CZ, Welschriesling, special selection of grapes 2015 from Tomáš Vican family winery and Aurelius 2015 from the family winery Vinařství Košut.  
• A great gold medal from Decanter World Wine Awards for Riesling, ice wine 2015 from Znovín Znojmo.    
• Chardonnay, special selection of berries 2011 from Josef Valihrach was named as the second best wine at the Chardonnay du Monde competition.  
• The most medals of all (251) were brought home by individual wineries from the AWC Vienna competition.  

Thus by no means does the renown of Czech and Moravian wines extend just as far as the border of the Czech Republic, but also year after year they gain ever greater international popularity, and our wines can boldly take their place in the pantheon of the world’s winemaking elite.