Having committed to this journey of importing, we embarked on our first official sourcing trip. We had reached out to a number of wineries with whom we were either familiar from our initial trip or who we found through other research or recommendations. One that kept coming up was Vinařství Volařík. We reached out prior to our trip and set a meeting. Upon arrival we were greeted by none other than the winery founder and winemaker Miroslav Volařík himself. With impeccable English, he took us on a tour of their wines and shared with us the history of his vineyards following the fall of communism. All white, their wines were beautiful and the walls were plastered with awards. They were the local brand and he’d built it with a grand vision, focused on quality and the best representation of the region.

When we first visited them on the edge of Mikulov, the winery was an old, industrial building with very little pomp or glamour, however clearly functional. But that didn’t represent the vibe of the brand. We later learned that Volařík had a tasting room in town that was modern and inviting, fully embracing the vibe of the brand. Miroslav had also shared that they were building a new winery building closer to the town, that would be modern and capable of producing the volumes of wine they were achieving at this time. We were intrigued.

During our next visit, we were greeted at their newly opened winery building. It fully and clearly articulates the brand vibe that they are achieving with their wines. And the wines are pervasive throughout the region. Little delivery trucks would dot our morning walks through town making sure the local outposts were well stocked to support locals and tourists alike. They’ve built a brand, but behind that brand are award winning wines. It’s a beautiful thing.

And not to make a comparison with beer (especially not Czech beer), but coming from Boston, the best analogy to the brand that I can make is to Sam Adams - a well known entity that is always good, always high quality, and pervasive throughout the region. It’s a brilliant representation of a brand.

View their wines currently available in the US here.

Volařík, The Sam Adams of Mikulov