20 Masters of Wine at the Ryzlink Hotel!

For the first time in history, the Czech Republic hosted an official visit by holders of the Master of Wine title. And during their visit to the Mikulov region, they stayed right here with us at the Hotel Ryzlink in Mikulov.

Why is this such a special visit? What does “Master of Wine” actually mean?

There are many titles, competitions, and awards in the world of wine. However, the Master of Wine—MW for short—is at the very top. This is partly because only 427 people worldwide hold this title.

The path to earning the two letters “MW” after one’s name is incredibly demanding. Among other things, candidates must pass three blind tastings of 12 wines each, during which they analyze the wines in detail and identify, for example, their origin, grape variety, production method, quality, and style.

In addition, they take five comprehensive theoretical exams covering viticulture, winemaking, wine processing, the wine trade, and current topics in the wine industry. Finally, they must complete an independent research project.

So when twenty of them arrive in Moravia at the same time, it’s the wine event of the year.

In addition, this was the first official Master of Wine study program in the Czech Republic, organized directly by the Institute of Masters of Wine.

During their visit, they explored Bohemia and Moravia, our wine regions, individual grape varieties, the terroir, and, of course, the wines themselves. We were honored that one of the places they stayed at during their time in Moravia was Hotel Ryzlink. In addition, our Vinařství Fučík team had the opportunity to present four of its wines to them during a tasting. And our multi-award-winning Pálava Diamond 2024 She was selected to participate in a specialized master class dedicated specifically to the Pálava variety.

We wanted to thank our guests for their stay at The Ryzlink Hotel I’d also like to say thank you. The question was what to give as a gift to twenty people who work with wine at the highest professional level and have tasted a truly extraordinary number of wines in their lifetimes. In the end, our Hanka She made the decision, and everyone received a bottle of Pálava Diamond 2024.

We were a little worried whether they would even take it with them. After all, every kilo counts when traveling, and they’d already seen and tasted plenty of wine over those five days.

But all 20 bottles disappeared into our luggage. 💛

And a few days later, we started receiving some lovely thank-you notes. The one from farthest away came all the way from San Francisco, from Susan Lin, MW, who praised our Pálava Diamond.

So, to wrap things up:

20 Masters of Wine at the Ryzlink Hotel.
4 of our wines for tasting.
Pálava Diamond 2024 in the masterclass.
And 20 bottles on their way out into the world.

Not a bad result for a single day in Mikulov.

Petr Fučík