Vinařská Street

Around the year 1000, a settlement called Old Brno was founded at the ford of the Svratka River and it was developing quickly and thanks to that it became a trade centre for the whole region in the 14th century. And wine was drunk here – as we learn from the old scriptures, aldermen meeting in the 12-member municipal council adored its consumption and requested it for everyday as well as festive dinners. At the time, vineyards stretched across the whole area of Moravia, including today´s Vinařská Street. The townsfolk of Brno owned large areas planted with grapevine not only in the surroundings of Brno, but also of Židlochovice, Mikulov, Znojmo and Hustopeče. In the town itself, wine was served in taverns.

As even in those times the townsfolk of Brno had to face wining competition from other producers, in 1325, the king John of Luxembourg decided that from the beginning of the year to Easter, only wine from the citizens of Brno can be tapped on the territory of Brno.

It was the most remarkable of several decrees which paved the path to a large complex of cellars in the Hlinky Street. Imported wine was stored there until it was possible to transport it behind the city walls and be tapped in the taverns.

In the course of the next centuries up to this day, wine-growing in Moravia went through periods of rise and fall. It is clear from the historical sources that Moravian vineyards were historically owned mainly by citizens of Brno who founded the wine growing centres around Hustopeče, Mikulov and Znojmo. According to a physical inventory from years 1450 to 1500, these citizens owned about 40 per cent of their whole property thanks to works on the vineyards. However, looting of the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War and the ravages of phylloxera at the turn of the 19th and 20th century had a devastating effect on the wine-growing in Brno.

When you open your eyes again and look around, you will see the modern Brno with the return of the grapevine. And not just as a symbol on the city district signs. In the new millennium, vineyards appeared, even though more or less in a symbolic scale, in Bohunice, Vinohrady and in the centre of the city on the descents under the Špilberk Castle.

Source of information: Stanislav Šida, Moravian Wine Bank