The Kvevri Soul & the Žabčice Garden
Vinařství Měřínský is a family winery in the village of Žabčice, on the northern edge of the Velkopavlovická sub-region in South Moravia, Czech Republic — a place where three generations of hands have worked the same soil since 1976. What began when father and grandfather planted the first vine has grown into a 2-hectare estate that produces 9,000 bottles per year exclusively from its own grapes. The Měřínský family does not buy fruit, does not blend across villages, and does not compromise on the conviction that wine is born in the vineyard, not the laboratory. Their portfolio spans classical Moravian whites and reds — Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Frankovka, Saint Laurent — but it is their obsession with ancient technique that defines them: Georgian kvevri amphorae buried in the earth, orange wines macerated in acacia barrels, and a playful Pét-nat Unicorn that proves tradition and joy can coexist. Red wines are made with minimum sulphur; some cuvées see no filtration. The result is a cellar that honours the Moravian hierarchy — zemské, jakostní, kabinet, pozdní sběr — while quietly pushing its boundaries from within. It is family and friends who give their wine life, and that life tastes of Žabčice: warm, honest, and unmistakably alive.
Žabčice & the First Vine
The story of Vinařství Měřínský begins in 1976 with a single vine — planted by father and grandfather in the garden of the family home in Žabčice. It was not a commercial venture; it was a family ritual, the continuation of a Moravian tradition that predates memory. Over the decades, that first vine became a row, the row became a vineyard, and the vineyard became a 2-hectare estate that now produces every bottle the family sells. There are no purchased grapes, no contracted growers, no shortcuts. Every wine is born from soil the Měřínský family has touched with their own hands.
Žabčice sits on the northern edge of the Velkopavlovická sub-region, the largest and most productive wine district in Moravia. Unlike the southern villages that dominate the region's headlines, Žabčice is quieter, more intimate, and more deeply rooted in the smallholder tradition. The family cellar is a place of work, laughter, and generational memory — where winter pruning freezes fingers, spring green work tans skin, autumn harvest gathers friends around crates, and winter again finds the family among barrels and bottles. Wine is not a product here; it is another member of the family.
The current generation — led by the visible, energetic voice of Ivana Vondráčková and the winemaking craft of the family — has preserved the cellar's soul while opening it to the modern world. Through their blog, social media presence, and direct-to-consumer shop, they have built a community of loyal drinkers who return not just for the wine but for the atmosphere of warmth, humour, and unpretentious joy that radiates from every bottle. As one customer wrote: "It is family and friends who give their wine life. Atmosphere of comfort, laughter and great taste you will find in every bottle."
The Měřínský family has also become a bridge between generations of wine drinkers. Their slogan — "Naše víno chutná mladým" (Our wine tastes good to young people) — is not a marketing gimmick but a statement of intent. They make wine that speaks to newcomers without alienating connoisseurs, blending the accessibility of pét-nat and orange wine with the gravitas of kvevri and late-harvest selections. It is a rare balance, achieved only by families who know exactly who they are and exactly where they come from.
"It is family and friends who give our wine life. Atmosphere of comfort, laughter and great taste you will find in every bottle."
— Vinařství Měřínský
Žabčice, Velkopavlovická & the Warm Loess
Velkopavlovická is the largest wine sub-region in Moravia, a sweeping district of rolling hills, historic villages, and some of the most diverse soils in the Czech Republic. Žabčice occupies its northern frontier — a village of family cellars, garden vineyards, and deep agricultural tradition. The climate is warm continental with a pronounced Pannonian influence: hot, dry summers; cold winters; and a long, sunny autumn that allows late-ripening varieties to achieve full phenolic maturity while preserving the acidity that defines Moravian wine.
The Měřínský family's 2 hectares are planted on the calcareous loess and clay soils typical of the northern Velkopavlovická ridge. The loess — wind-deposited over millennia — provides mineral richness, excellent drainage, and the warmth that allows red varieties like Pinot Noir, Frankovka, and Cabernet Moravia to ripen fully. The clay subsoils retain water and nutrients, ensuring vine health even in dry years. This geological marriage produces wines of generous fruit, firm structure, and distinct mineral clarity — a profile that suits both the family's classical whites and their experimental kvevri cuvées.
The vineyard is farmed as a true family garden — intensively, by hand, with the kind of intimate knowledge that comes from decades of working the same rows. Canopy management, green harvesting, and selective pruning are all done by the family and their circle of friends. The goal is not maximum yield but healthy, balanced grapes that can support both the traditional late-harvest wines and the low-intervention kvevri and orange experiments. Every bunch is known; every vine has a history. This is not industrial agriculture; it is domestic viticulture at its most devoted.
Vinařství Měřínský is based in Žabčice, on the northern edge of the Velkopavlovická sub-region — the largest wine district in Moravia. The village maintains a strong community of family winemakers with deep cellar traditions. The estate farms 2 hectares of owned vineyards, producing exclusively from its own grapes. Žabčice benefits from the warm, dry Pannonian climate of southern Moravia while retaining the intimacy and scale of a traditional garden-vineyard village. The winery is listed for direct sales and cellar visits.
The family vineyards sit on the classic northern Velkopavlovická soil profile: wind-deposited calcareous loess providing mineral backbone, drainage, and warmth; overlain and interwoven with clay deposits that retain moisture and fertility. This combination is ideal for both aromatic white varieties — Riesling, Grüner Veltliner, Sauvignon — and red varieties that demand warmth and consistent ripening. The loess gives the whites their signature clarity; the clay gives the reds their depth and structure.
All 2 hectares are farmed by the family and a close circle of friends. There are no external workers, no contractors, and no purchased grapes. Vineyard work follows the seasonal rhythm of Moravian family cellars: winter pruning in freezing temperatures; spring de-budding and canopy management through the heat of summer; autumn harvest gathered by hand into small crates; and winter again spent in the cellar among barrels, kvevri, and bottles. The scale is small enough to allow absolute control; the tradition is deep enough to ensure consistency.
The cellar operates on two parallel tracks. The classical track produces zemské, jakostní, kabinet, and pozdní sběr wines with controlled fermentation, temperature management, and careful sulphur regulation. The experimental track — the family's true passion — produces kvevri wines in Georgian clay amphorae buried in the earth, orange wines with extended skin maceration in acacia barrels, and pét-nat made with minimal intervention. Red wines across both tracks are made with minimum sulphur dioxide. Some cuvées are bottled without filtration.
Kvevri, Orange & the Žabčice Experiment
The guiding philosophy of Vinařství Měřínský is vineyard authenticity with cellar courage. Every wine is made exclusively from the family's own grapes, allowing complete control over quality from bud to bottle. The production of each wine is individually adapted to the properties of the grapes that arrive from the vineyard — a flexibility that is only possible when the grower and the winemaker are the same people, bound by the same soil.
For the classical portfolio, this means careful, temperature-controlled fermentation for white varieties, preserving aromatic freshness and varietal precision. Grüner Veltliner is kept lean and peppery; Riesling is allowed to express its mineral backbone; Sauvignon is harvested early to maintain acidity and herbaceous lift. Reds are fermented with traditional techniques, aged in oak, and bottled with minimum sulphur — a deliberate restraint that preserves fruit purity without sacrificing stability.
But it is the experimental track that sets Měřínský apart from their neighbours. The family imports Georgian kvevri — clay amphorae buried in the earth — and uses them to ferment and age Pinot Gris and other varieties with extended skin contact. The result is a wine of amber hue, tannic texture, and ancient soul — a direct line to 8,000 years of Caucasian winemaking transplanted to Moravian loess. Their orange wines are macerated in acacia barrels, a wood chosen for its neutrality and gentle texture, producing wines of extraordinary aromatic complexity and grippy, tea-like tannin. And the Pét-nat Unicorn — a gently sparkling, fruity, unfiltered bottling with a touch of residual sugar — proves that the family is not afraid to play.
This dual philosophy — classical discipline and ancient experimentation — is not a contradiction. It is the expression of a family that respects the Moravian wine hierarchy but refuses to be imprisoned by it. The kvevri wines are not labelled as pozdní sběr or výběr z hroznů; they are something older, something that predates the Austrian wine law that shaped Czech categories. The orange wines are not white wines with a twist; they are a category of their own, born from curiosity and conviction. And the pét-nat is not a Champagne imitation; it is a bottle of joy, made for friends, made for laughter, made for the young people the family so deliberately courts.
Own Grapes Only, Kvevri Earth & the Family Covenant
The guiding principle of Vinařství Měřínský is that the wine is made by the vineyard, the family, and the season — and that the cellar is a place of both preservation and exploration. The calcareous loess provides the mineral backbone. The clay provides the warmth and depth. The Georgian kvevri provides the ancient voice. The acacia barrel provides the gentle frame for orange wine. And the Měřínský family provides only their labour, their laughter, their generational memory, and their absolute refusal to use anything but their own grapes. The cellar is not a factory; it is a family kitchen where classical Moravian recipes are cooked alongside dishes borrowed from the Caucasus — and where every bottle, whether kabinet or kvevri, carries the same truth: this is Žabčice, this is us, and this is wine that tastes of life.
Kvevri, Orange, Pét-Nat & the Žabčice Portfolio
Vinařství Měřínský produces approximately 9,000 bottles per year from their 2-hectare estate — a portfolio that spans the full spectrum of Moravian wine categories while making room for ancient and experimental techniques. The range is divided between classical whites and reds — Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Noir, Frankovka, Cabernet Moravia — and the family's signature passions: kvevri-aged Pinot Gris, acacia-macerated orange Traminer, and the playful Pét-nat Unicorn. All wines share a common foundation: grapes from the family's own hand-tended vines, minimum sulphur for reds, and a refusal to compromise on the joy of drinking. The result is a cellar that is as welcoming as the family who made it: classical, curious, and unmistakably alive.
Žabčice & the Generational Covenant
Vinařství Měřínský is not merely a winery; it is a generational covenant written in vine and clay. From the first vine planted by father and grandfather in 1976 to the kvevri amphora buried in the earth today, the project has been guided by a single, unbroken thread: this land, this family, this wine. In an era of expanding estates, purchased grapes, and industrial scale, the Měřínský family has chosen to remain small — 2 hectares, 9,000 bottles, one village — and to derive their strength not from volume but from absolute authenticity.
The legacy of Měřínský is the legacy of the Moravian family cellar preserved in its purest form. They have not abandoned the traditional categories — zemské, jakostní, kabinet, pozdní sběr — that define Czech wine law. Instead, they have enriched them from within, adding kvevri, orange wine, and pét-nat to a portfolio that remains rooted in classical technique. Their reds are made with minimum sulphur; some cuvées are bottled without filtration. Their whites are precise and varietal. And their experiments are not gestures of rebellion but acts of curiosity — a family asking what else their vineyard can become.
The future of the estate is tied to the future of the family. The children who once played among the vines are now learning the craft; the friends who once helped at harvest are now loyal customers; and the grandchildren who will one day inherit the cellar will find not just vines and barrels but a living tradition — a blog, a shop, a community of young drinkers who discovered wine through a bottle of Pét-nat Unicorn and stayed for the kvevri. As Moravia faces the pressures of climate change, rural depopulation, and the homogenisation of taste, Vinařství Měřínský continues to work as it always has: by hand, by family, by season. The story of Vinařství Měřínský is the story of a garden vineyard that became a philosophy — still growing, still experimenting, still proving that the best wine is the one made by the people who planted the vine.
"Our wine tastes good to young people."
— Vinařství Měřínský