The Day of Open Wine Cellars 2010

The annual Day of Open Wine Cellars allows thousands of enthusiastic wine lovers from as far afield as Bohemia, Moravia, other parts of Slovakia, and even more distant countries, to each year taste the fruits of the Small Carpathian wine harvest. In 2010 the event witnessed the opening of 129 wine cellars to 6,000 visitors. Winemakers in the region have long found that opening their cellars is the most effective way to advertise their products and bring them face to face with existing and potential future customers. The Small Carpathian Wine Route has helped put local wine on the map and contributed to good sales. The wine route also shows how Slovak society is changing and how people's taste for wine has grown: the younger generation tends to prevail among the visitors. All of which goes to show that Slovak wine has a proud tradition and a promising future. The constantly increasing number of cellars provides new opportunities every year for regular participants who had thought they knew all the wines, all the winemakers, and all the wine cellars. But this is not so, because each year additional ancient vaulted cellars are being opened, along with beautiful new modern cellars and tasting rooms, the like of which you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in Slovakia, or indeed anywhere else in the world. What most attracts visitors to this, the most famous wine event in Slovakia, is its atmosphere. Adding the greatest allure to the tasting experience are the cellars: in their dark candlelit recesses, brick or stone arches painted with mould, drinking wine is a true sensation. This is an experience which you cannot buy in any wineshop; the only way to achieve it is to come back every year to the Small Carpathian Wine Route:

J. Majbová, Nitra, 27 cellars

The winemakers were welcoming and helpful, and provided us with a large selection of wine cellars.

T. Jonah, Senec, 16 cellars

Excellent atmosphere in the villages, good entertainment, access and guides, but cellars were full in Modra, Pezinok and Jur.

M. Habaj, Topoľčany, 13 cellars

It's great that we can visit small, family cellars. Excellent atmosphere and hospitality from people along the wine route. I always like to experience the great range of our wines.

J. Pomětický, Prague, 32 cellars

Great wines in the smaller wineries, which always have a nice atmosphere. Plenty of local delicacies. I would be delighted if I could talk with the winemakers about their wines and learn more. Ticket sales should be more limited, I feel, as 45-seat buses overwhelmed the cellars.

M. Ondková, Prague, 32 cellars

The winemakers improve their presentations from year to year. In some wineries (mostly large ones) staff could be better informed about the wines.

L. Imrichová, Považská Bystrica, 28 cellars

The perfectly baked cakes in Budmerice supplied a traditional atmosphere, like that of a small cellar.

M. Hojčiš, Bratislava, 48 cellars

Super as always, only the cellars are somehow too many... A great achievement in promoting Slovak winemakers and wines.

Š. Vlček, Bratislava, 32 cellars

Good organization, excellent promotion of wine and wineries, even in Devin – we were not surprised at the ever-smiling faces of each participant on the wine route. One small wish: arrange a wine route on which it never rains.

K. Bartáková, Pezinok, 21 cellars

The Karpatská perla complex was "awesome". Amazing wine, pictures, film and even burgundy chocolate. The lack of interest by some "some fillers" was sad; fortunately, this was the case only in some cellars.

E. Smidt, Hlučín, Czech Republic, 65 cellars

This is an excellent event; my wife and I have been taking part in it for ten years, and we have made a lot of friends. It is hard to find tickets.

The Lehockýs, Kanianka, 18 cellars

It is a pleasure for us to get tickets and attend; we are happy that there is such an event.