Around us
Podluží, vineyards, and what to do from Nechory
Nechory sits in the warmest and driest part of the country, surrounded by vineyards and minutes from the Lednice-Valtice landscape. Most things are within twenty minutes by car and many are reachable by bike.
The region we are in
Podluží is a folklore region in the south of Moravia, between Hodonín, Břeclav and the Slovak border. The vineyards belong to the Slovácko sub-region and Prušánky is the largest wine-growing village in Podluží. The folk costume, the brass bands and the cimbalom are all still alive here, and wine is not a side dish but the reason people gather.
Nechory itself is a cellar colony above the village where nobody lives permanently. The cellars went up from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, after the landlords had the older cellars on the Čejkovice road demolished. The colony splits into Upper and Lower Nechory, the lower part with its own small square and side lanes. Many facades carry a painted žudro, the decorated entrance porch typical of Slovácko. Two Nechory cellars were considered valuable enough to be moved to the open-air museum at Strážnice.
The name comes from a local story. Gentlemen drank in the cellars so long that one stayed lying down, and when someone asked whether he was ill the answer was "ne chorý", not ill.
Something to do in every season
Event dates shift every year. The month and the weekday hold; we are happy to confirm the exact date before you arrive.
Spring
The vineyards wake up and the field tracks ride well before the heat arrives. In April there are open cellar days in Mutěnice and Velké Bílovice, where a weekly rota then runs right through spring and summer.
Cycling, the lookout tower, vineyards in flower, the church of sv. Isidor.
Summer
The cellar keeps its cool and the garden is for grilling late into the evening. In June the open cellars are here in Nechory, Dolní Bojanovice opens every weekend, and Mutěnice runs a tasting rota all summer, so wine is available without a booking.
The Podluží wine trail, Lednice and Valtice, Mikulčice.
Autumn
Grape harvest, burčák and zarážání hory, held on the first Saturday of September. The costumed harvest festival in Prušánky is usually the third Saturday of September, and in November Nechory opens the young wine.
Walking among the vines, harvest, folk costume, brass bands.
Winter
A quiet cellar lane, long evenings over red wine and a large communal room for the whole group. Lednice and Valtice have no queues, and the Salon vín in the Valtice cellars is open all year except January.
St Martin's wine, Advent trips, tasting in the cellar.
Walking distance from the cellar
- The Nechory cellar lane - more than four hundred cellars and búdy, no gate and no ticket, at any time.
- The exhibition on the Nechory cellars in cellar no. 72, a few hundred metres away. Open during events or by arrangement, so ask us.
- Vineyards above Upper Nechory - field tracks with views over Podluží and as far as Pálava on a clear day. Muddy after rain.
- Prušánky, about 1.5 km, a twenty minute walk. The Baroque church of sv. Isidor from 1751 to 1758, propped by seven buttresses because it stands on unstable subsoil.
Within twenty minutes by car
Na Podluží lookout tower
About 8 km. Thirty metres, 160 steps, and a view over Pálava, the Chřiby, the White Carpathians and into Austria. Free, all year. About 5 km by bike on the field road.
Starý Poddvorov windmill
About 8 km. A wooden mill from 1870, a national cultural monument, standing among the vineyards. Open seasonally at weekends; best to arrange a visit with the municipal office.
Slavonic hillfort at Mikulčice
About 9 km. One of the main centres of Great Moravia. Foundations of the princely palace and twelve churches, a model of the site and a lookout tower. Open roughly March to November.
Templar cellars, Čejkovice
About 11 km. Over 600 metres of cellar corridors founded by the Knights Templar, with tours and tastings. November to April by arrangement only. The Sonnentor herb garden is in the same village.
- Sonnentor herb garden, Čejkovice, about 11 km. Herb garden, tea room and a tour of the production. Garden and tea room free, the works tour by reservation.
- The chapel on Hradišťek, Velké Bílovice, about 9 km. A rotunda among the vineyards with a full circle view, known from the Czech film Bobule.
- The búdy at Mutěnice, about 14 km. Over five hundred cellars with painted žudra, the second large cellar colony nearby.
Worth a whole day
- Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape, about 20 to 26 km. Lednice castle with its gardens and greenhouse, Valtice, the Minaret and Janohrad. The whole landscape is on the UNESCO list.
- Salon vín České republiky in the cellars of Valtice castle, about 26 km. The hundred best Czech and Moravian wines of the season, with guided tastings. Open all year except January.
- The vine breeding station at Velké Pavlovice, about 18 km. Terraces with 160 labelled grape varieties, an educational wine trail and a wine archive. By arrangement.
- Masaryk Museum in Hodonín, about 15 km. The only permanent exhibition in the country devoted to T. G. Masaryk. Usually closed on Saturdays.
- Petrov, the Plže cellar lane, about 29 km. A folk architecture reservation of some eighty whitewashed cellars.
- Pálava and Mikulov, about 45 to 55 km. Limestone hills above the Nové Mlýny reservoirs, and Mikulov with its castle and Holy Hill.
By bike
The Podluží wine trail runs through the cellar lane, a loop of 135 kilometres that forms part of the Moravian wine trails network. From Nechory you can ride out among the vineyards, stop at the lookout tower or the windmill, and be back at the cellar for the evening.
The terrain is gentle, mostly field and asphalt roads between vineyards. Velké Bílovice, Mutěnice and Dolní Bojanovice are each about an hour away by bike, and every one of them has a cellar lane of its own.
The information point in Prušánky sells a map of the local trails.
Open cellar events
Most cellars in the area open by arrangement. The open cellar events are the days when you walk from cellar to cellar with a glass and a map in hand. The nearest is K Nechorám do sklepa, right here in Nechory, usually in the second half of June, with a young wine edition in November. Further afield there are the Bojanovice open cellars, the open cellar day in Mutěnice, the Mezi Sklepy festival, and Ze sklepa do sklepa in Velké Bílovice.
At these events everyone walks, so nobody in the group has to drive. That is the main reason to stay the night. Accommodation in Nechory is booked out well ahead for those dates, so get in touch early.