Wine tasting in Pivnica u Štefana in Devín. (source: Jana Liptáková)
In the past, Bratislava, then Pressburg, was a prominent wine town. Old maps and pictures of the city depicts the slopes of the castle hill covered with vineyards, while several historical houses in the city have preserved historical wine cellars to this day. Even though most of the vineyards have fallen prey to the development of the city, the growing of grapes and wine production have been preserved in the boroughs on the outskirts.
In late October wine lovers had a special occasion to taste wines produced directly in Bratislava during the first year of the Po Bratislavských Vínnych Pivniciach event. Nearly 30 wine cellars and wineries were opened in the boroughs of Rača, Nové Mesto, Vajnory and Devín.
Wine makers see the event as a good opportunity to build local patriotism.
“People from the recently built settlement of Malé Krasňany like the fact that when they sit on a balcony, they see the vineyard that produced the grapes for the wine they are drinking,” Ján Drobný of Poľnohospodárske Družstvo Bratislava – Vinohrady told The Slovak Spectator. “Such events like this contribute to building pride in the locality in which they live.”
The wine makers agree that the event has promoted local wineries and wines. Although Bratislava regularly participates in the largest wine tasting events on the Small Carpathian Wine Route, it competes for visitors with traditional wine towns such as Modra and Pezinok. People, since they do not want to deal with the traffic between the open cellars in Bratislava to Trnava, decide to go directly to Modra, for example, where more than 30 cellars are traditionally open.
“We have to promote Bratislava wine producers because during the events on the Small Carpathian Wine Route we are failing to gain visitors,” said Marián Vladár from the family winery Víno Vladár a Syn from Nové Mesto.
The added value of the event was the shuttle service between the boroughs. Visitors did not have to deal with the question of how to get from Devín to Vajnory, i.e. boroughs located on the opposite sides of Bratislava.
