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Main Page > Regions & Wineries > Wine region BOHEMIA > Sub-region Litoměřice

The history of winemaking in the Litoměřice wine sub-region goes right back to the earliest years of the settlement of Czechs in the area and went hand-in-hand with the dissemination of Christianity. The deed of covenant of Spytihněv II in the year 1057 speaks of the foundation of a collegiate of the church of St. Stephen in Litoměřice and lists the donated vineyards together with the vintners. During the Middle Ages Litoměřice was the second largest wine town in the Czech lands after Prague. 400 hectares of vineyards were recorded in its land register and vineyards were planted all over the surrounding area, especially in the Elbe valley. In 1251 capacious wine cellars were dug in Žernoseky by the Cistercian order, who planted vineyards in the romantic part of the Elbe valley where the river enters the rocky ravine known as the Bohemia Gateway (Porta Bohemica). The vineyards of Žernoseky are renowned particularly for the excellent quality of their white wines made from the Ryzlink rýnský, Rulandské bílé and Rulandské šedé grape varieties and for the wines from Müller-Thurgau emanating from the vineyards on the slopes of Lovoš. The subsoil of the vineyards of Litoměřice and Most is in part basalt, and in the lower part of the slopes limestone. In the vineyards of Most the vine has proved to be a suitable recultivation crop for the Habrák brown-coal quarries. Varieties such as Ryzlink rýnský, Rulandské šedé, Müller- Thurgau, Rulandksé modré, Svatovavřinecké and Zweigltrebe are all found here. At one time the substantial wine town of Louny was known for its Tramín. Wines from the Tramín bílý cultivar were then known as Brynšt, and used to be plentiful in the Litoměřice sub-region and were very highly esteemed, especially those that were matured for many years in barrels.