The Mutěnice Wine Route – The Land of Coal and Wine

Mutěnice, one of the largest wine-growing villages in Moravian Slovácko, and the start and end of our trip through the wine region along the pink marking of the Mutěnice Wine Route, welcomes cyclists with the scenery of vineyards spread on the southern slopes and the cellar colony Pod búdama. The genuine hospitality and playful charm of the local winemakers invite everyone who visits Mutěnice during their travels.

On the road to Dubňany, a sign points left to the wine cellars Pod Dubňanskú horú. Although the trail marking passes by this tempting detour, the cellar colony located at the foot of the Vyšicko vineyards is worth a visit. Most of the original earth cellars have been covered by modern reconstructions, but cellar number 126 demonstrates winemaking as it was in our great-grandfathers’ time. Since the mid-19th century to this day, wine is produced here without water or electricity, tasted and discussed by candlelight. The road passes the dam of the Jarohněvický pond around the derelict Jarohněvický manor, whose history is testified by an ancient 600-year-old oak, into Dubňany, which stand out from the wine culture of the region by their modern design and rather industrial history as a mining town of the South Moravian lignite basin. The rather notorious communist past of the town is recalled by a suitably monumental cultural house, while a small mining and glassmaking exhibition at the town hall speaks of the ceased mining. And perhaps symbolically, on the outskirts of the town, there is the 19th-century Church of St. Joseph. This part is completely bypassed by the Mutěnice Wine Route, which heads to the former Josef mine, where there is now a camp. Beyond the horizon, the route runs among vineyards, and after a short steep descent, we find ourselves on the edge of the Šidleny wine-growing area within sight of Milotice.

The Milotice cellar colony does not have an ancient character, but spread over a ridge among vineyards, it offers a beautiful view of the valley and the atmosphere of a lively wine-growing colony. In the second half of the last century, the moderation, cleanliness, and harmony of the original buildings disappeared; the traditional combination of white ridge and blue plinth was replaced by břizolit facades and Slovácko decorations called žůder, with low facades of stylish cellars crouching next to ostentatious cellar villas. In a left-hand bend at the end of Šidlen, the trail turns towards Milotice, and the marking leads cyclists to the baroque chateau, considered the pearl of southeastern Moravia. Originally, there was a water fortress on the site of today's chateau, mentioned in the 14th century. Today, only a moat remains around the chateau. In the 16th century, it took on the face of a Renaissance chateau with four corner towers. By the chateau is a large French park and a pheasantry. Today the chateau is open to the public, and several cultural events take place here throughout the year. It is possible to view an exhibition from the 17th to 19th centuries.

From the chateau leads the so-called "count’s" road to Svatobořice, and over the Fox Hill, the bright green facade of the Svatoborský cellar appears. A seemingly unnecessary detour from the village into the long climb along the vineyards to the Budovníky area is rewarded with an impressive view of the wide surroundings. On clear days, you can see the Pálava with Děvičky Castle to the south, the massif of the White Carpathians to the east, and the panorama of the Chřiby hills from Buchlov to Železňák as if in the palm of your hand. After a great descent into Svatobořice, it is recommended to visit the baroque church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary with a remarkable Stations of the Cross by local native, painter Vladimír Vašíček.

The trail continues on the road towards Šardice. It passes through the village by cellars near the playground, passing the former Augustinian residence and the historic Loyder cellar. When a row of modern wine cellars Za dědinů comes into view, we turn right and climb the hollow on a narrow asphalt road. Next is a picturesque section with vineyards and a wide-open view of the Babí lom peak with the TV tower above Kyjov and settlements under the hill. The rugged, colorful landscape relief resembles Impressionist paintings, the slopes decorated with chapels and wayside shrines. Soon, we reach the highest point of the trip in the area Za Dvorkem. At the crossroads before the Hovoranské Louky nature reserve, we turn towards Hovory, but many botanists and lovers of attractive natural scenery do not miss the small excursion to the landscape resembling the steppe of today’s Siberia. A tired traveler will appreciate the shaded bench at the bottom of the meadows towards Karlín, and the curious will learn from the new Natura 2000 information board.

The following road section from the settlement leads us to the Čejč basin. It is a unique area that was once the bottom of a lake that was plowed in the 19th century. On the steep slopes on the former shores of the lake, a unique steppe vegetation has been preserved, whose diversity compares only with the best localities in the White Carpathians. Čejč, which belonged to the Porta coeli monastery in the Middle Ages, was devastated in the 15th century and rebuilt only in the second half of the 18th century. Among the curiosities of the village is the sulfur spring Heliga. Between 1716 and 1857, a spa using this spring was even built here. Later attempts to restore the spa at the end of the 19th century were unsuccessful. Today, the spring emerges from a stone well located in the bed of the Čejč brook at the edge of the village. Other places Čejč is proud of include the house where T. G. Masaryk lived in 1866-1867 while learning to be a blacksmith in the “court” and the baroque chapel of St. Vendelin, around which the Mutěnice route continues towards Čejkovice. The about one-kilometer segment along the local road ends with the trail turning left. Crossing flat terrain near the Hodonín–Zaječí railway line, we approach the starting point of our journey and the center of the wine region we have traveled through.