The grapevines of Moravia grow on south-facing slopes — the side of the hill that catches the most sunshine. Farmers have been tending these vines for over a thousand years. Each row of vines is carefully pruned so that sunlight reaches every leaf, and the grapes grow fat and sweet by the end of summer.
The village of Mikulov sits at the centre of the region, on a rocky hill with a white castle. Its narrow lanes run between houses whose walls are painted in creamy yellow. Underground the town there are long tunnels and cellars cut into the soft limestone rock, where it is always cool.
Each autumn at harvest time, festivals fill the villages with music, dancing and colourful folk costumes. The traditional embroidered costumes of Moravian villagers are considered some of the most beautiful folk clothing in all of Europe — every village has its own patterns and colours.
The landscape itself is spectacular: rolling hills, field-side chapels, lines of poplars along country roads and wide views across into Slovakia to the east. Storks nest on the chimneys of farmhouses, and wildflowers fill the meadows between the vines in spring.