Looking for good red wine (and more) in Prague

[Robin Garr]

Not for me, alas, although I would love to visit the city. A good friend and her partner are in Prague right now and have Emailed me looking for good advice, specifically about local red wines but also about good places to find it, drink it, and enjoy the wine and food of the country.

If any of you have been there recently or tasted Czech wines, please let me know, and I'll pass it along to my pal.

Finding good wine in Prague is difficult, (finding great beer is child´s play), finding good, local wine is even worse. And if the local wine is supposed to be red? Well, the task is not to be envied... I have tasted some Burgundské Modré (Pinot Noir) and some Portugalské Modré (Portugieser), and indeed they were local, but good they were not.

If I remember correctly, vines are grown in a part of Prague called Troja (sp?), maybe they could be worth a look?

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

The challenge with Czech wines on a wine list is of recognition of the variety name.

I liked the red wines -- they were pleasantly low in alcohol, mostly around 12%.

Another thing that puzzled me was the reference to sugar (in Czech, Suché) which I took to mean sweet but in fact means superior as the grapes were riper hence more alcohol. So whenyou see Svatovavřinecké Suché it means superior rather than sweet

I liked, in order

Frankovka -- = Lemberger
Svatovavřinecké -- = St Laurent
Modrý Portugal --= Blauer Portugieser
Cabernet Moravia -- = local variety, crossing Cabernet Franc x Zweigel
Zweigelt
Rulandské modré --= Pinot Noir (Not keen on this, too thin)

Varieties such as Merlot asn Cab Sauv also grown plus, these and the ones above are the varieties most seen on wine lists but there are some rare varieties in the wine shops sich as Andre

As for local food.....

OTOH, there was a decent Argentinian steak house on the main street

Hi,

I have had decent local wines with locals there. So, I made the mistake to recommend some local variety, I liked, to a neighbor in a restaurant.
What he got was undrinkable.

If your friends do not get recommendations from local people, I highly recommend to have beer

Winfried