Czechia · Other producers

Sonberk

A Czech estate founded in 2003, Sonberk grows Rhine Riesling, Pálava, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris on elevated, sun-facing loess slopes.

The producer

Sonberk works approximately 40 hectares of loess at 230 metres, on slopes facing south and southwest. That shared site links dry Rhine Riesling with aromatic Pálava, while Chardonnay and Pinot Gris widen the range beyond a single grape. Riesling 2023 VOC is the direct, acid-led white; Pálava 2023 VOC and Silver Pálava 2024 show the estate’s aromatic side.

The estate began in rented cellars and moved into its Josef Pleskot-designed winery in 2008. Roman Slouk manages vineyards where most work is manual and all grapes are picked by hand, bringing hand-harvested fruit into wines whose annual production varies from 50,000 to 150,000 bottles with the vintage.

Known for

Hand-harvested Czech white wines from loess slopes, led by Riesling and Pálava.

Notable facts

The story

A royal request from Sonnenberg

A surviving record from 1522 places wine from Sonnenberg—the historic name associated with today’s Sonberk site—in a request involving King Ludvík Jagellonský and the Brno City Council. The king requested the wine through the council, centuries before the modern estate was founded in 2003 and before its winery moved into the Josef Pleskot-designed building in 2008. The document records a specific transaction: wine from Sonnenberg, requested by King Ludvík Jagellonský through Brno’s city institution in 1522.

From the atlas

Sonberk

At A Glance

Sonberk is a Czech estate founded in 2003 on a site where it says vines have grown since Roman occupation at the end of the second century AD. Its approximately 40 hectares sit at 230 metres on south- and southwest-facing loess slopes. That physical setting frames a white-wine range built around Rhine Riesling, Pálava, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, while annual production moves with the vintage between 50,000 and 150,000 bottles.

The Producer

The present-day estate began in rented cellars, then brought its work together in a Josef Pleskot-designed winery in 2008. That move put vineyard, cellar and bottling operations on the same site, giving Sonberk a direct connection between its loess slopes and bottles such as Riesling 2023 VOC, Pálava 2023 VOC and Chardonnay–Pinot Gris 2018.

Place

Sonberk’s vineyards face south and southwest at 230 metres, exposing white grapes to the afternoon and evening sun during the growing season. Those slopes support a range in which dry Rhine Riesling sits beside more aromatic Pálava, with Chardonnay and Pinot Gris extending the picture beyond a single variety. The label therefore starts with grape and vintage, but the hill remains the shared address behind the range.

Soil And Site

The estate describes approximately 40 hectares of loess soil. Loess is the ground beneath every documented Sonberk grape, from Rhine Riesling to Pinot Gris, and the south- and southwest-facing slopes give the vineyard a clear physical shape rather than a flat regional description. Sonberk does not reduce that ground to a single flavour claim; the useful fact is that its white wines come from one elevated, sun-facing loess site.

Story

Sonberk’s modern story is a practical one: a winery founded in 2003 had to begin in rented cellars before a permanent building was approved and completed in 2008. The new winery was designed by Josef Pleskot, and Sonberk describes it as a landmark of modern Czech wine architecture. The consequence for the bottles is not a style claim but a change of working conditions: the estate’s vineyard and cellar operations could finally be gathered at the vineyard that supplies its Riesling, Pálava, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.

Vineyards And Cellar

Roman Slouk manages Sonberk’s vineyards, where most work is done manually and every grape is harvested by hand. Manual work matters most on the sloping rows because it keeps the vineyard tasks close to individual vines and bunches rather than treating the site as a uniform field. In the cellar, the estate’s documented wines include a 2018 Chardonnay–Pinot Gris blend with recorded fermentation and élevage, alongside VOC-classified Riesling and Pálava from 2023.

Wines

The Great Sonberk range includes Riesling 2023 VOC and Pálava 2023 VOC, two wines with a formal VOC classification but different grape character: the Riesling follows Sonberk’s dry white-wine direction, while Pálava brings a more aromatic profile. Silver Pálava 2024 belongs to a separate Silver series, making it a useful contrast with the 2023 Great Sonberk Pálava rather than a duplicate bottle. Chardonnay–Pinot Gris 2018 changes the structure again: two grapes share the bottle, bringing a blend into a range otherwise led by varietal wines.

In The Glass

Sonberk’s range moves from dry Riesling acidity toward Pálava’s aromatic fruit, then into the broader body and texture possible in a Chardonnay–Pinot Gris blend. Riesling 2023 VOC is the dry line: acidity shapes the palate and keeps fruit moving through the finish. Pálava changes the opening aroma and fruit character through the grape itself. The Chardonnay–Pinot Gris bottle offers a different route, where two varieties and documented cellar ageing place weight and texture ahead of a single-grape reading.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Sonberk Riesling 2023 VOC. It is a dry Rhine Riesling in the Great Sonberk range, made from a grape that shows the estate’s white-wine direction without the extra aromatic lift of Pálava or the blended structure of Chardonnay–Pinot Gris. Its VOC classification, ageing potential and tasting profile make it a focused first bottle: dry fruit, acidity and finish provide a direct way into Sonberk’s elevated loess slopes and hand-harvested fruit.

Anecdote

A surviving record from 1522 preserves an earlier appearance of the site’s wine. King Ludvík Jagellonský requested wine from Sonnenberg through the Brno City Council, using the historic name associated with the present Sonberk vineyard. The request did not concern the modern estate, which would not be founded until 2003, nor the Pleskot-designed winery that arrived in 2008. It concerned wine from the hill itself, recorded through a city institution more than four centuries before Sonberk’s first vintage. The document places Sonnenberg, wine, the king and the Brno City Council in the same dated request.

Final Word

Sonberk is most useful as a site-led Czech white-wine producer: loess slopes, manual vineyard work and hand harvesting feed a range that shifts from dry Riesling to aromatic Pálava and a Chardonnay–Pinot Gris blend. The 2023 Riesling VOC is the clearest place to begin.

Sources

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