Wine Cellars Vrbice - Cellar Colony Pod Strážním vrchem in Vrbice

Fans of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy no longer need to travel to New Zealand to witness the charm of hobbit dwellings. Similar houses can be found in South Moravia, hiding delightful Moravian wines!

In the village of Vrbice, you will discover an intriguing collection of wine cellars known as the Cellar Colony Pod Strážním vrchem (Under the Guard Hill). These cellars have been carved into the sandstone, forming a remarkable structure of up to seven floors stacked on top of each other.

Vrbice holds a distinguished status among traditional Czech wine villages. The wine cellars known as Stráž are situated in a truly unique setting. These cellars are ingeniously dug into the hillside, with multiple floors layered one above the other. Constructed in 1920, the cellars feature distinctive stone facades and were once quarries for stone and gravel.

The region offers a cyclist's paradise, with its gentle hills and Vrbice as the highest point of the entire district. The picturesque village, established during German colonization around 1220, exudes beauty in every season. In the oldest part of the village, called Dědina, you can explore the entrances to underground escape tunnels in the wine cellars of some farmhouses.

Two cellar locations in Vrbice

The older colony, Na sklepech, forms the two lower floors of the wine-growing buildings in the village. Dating back to the second half of the 17th century, these mostly stone structures boast sunken moldings and long vaulted cellars. According to legend, these buildings were once connected to a fortress through underground passages, serving as a refuge for the local inhabitants during marauding raids.

A more well-known site is the Stráž wine cellars. Construction of the initial corridors began at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, while press rooms with stone facades were added in the middle of the last century. The noble black mold on the cellar walls attests to the stable environment necessary for the wine to mature.

The village encompasses 130 hectares of vineyards, cultivating high-quality grape varieties such as Neuburg, Welsh Riesling, Traminer, and Müller. The views of the surrounding wine country from Strážní hill are truly magnificent.