From the atlas
Vinařství Špalek
At A Glance
Vinařství Špalek is a family winery founded in 1992, working 12 hectares on Kraví hora near Znojmo. Three generations now handle estate-grown grapes from vineyard to bottle, so the range begins with one hill rather than bought-in fruit. Organic and partly biodynamic farming has shaped the work since 2012; the cellar was also the first in the Znojmo District to use gravity flow.
The Producer
Špalek began with a father and his two sons in 1992. Today, three generations work together, and every wine starts with grapes from the family’s own Kraví hora vineyards. That ownership matters at bottling: Cuvée Gryllus, Sur Lie and Edelspitz Grüner Veltliner are not assembled from purchased parcels, but carry different cellar treatments applied to the same estate framework.
The winery’s cellar is at Cellar 104/E in Nový Šaldorf. From there, the family makes around 75,000 bottles annually, combining a substantial small estate with hands-on control of the vineyard fruit. The defining practical link is direct: grapes are grown on Kraví hora, then moved through a gravity-flow cellar instead of being pumped from vessel to vessel.
Place
Kraví hora near Znojmo is the address behind Špalek’s wines. Estate grapes from this local hill supply the full range, which lets a dry Grüner Veltliner, a blend such as Cuvée Gryllus and a lees-aged bottling begin with fruit grown under the same family’s care. The difference between bottles therefore comes chiefly from grape choice and cellar handling, rather than a change from estate fruit to purchased wine.
Špalek is also a founding member of VOC Znojmo, established in 2005. That places the winery within the Znojmo wine community while its labels remain tied to Kraví hora vineyards. For the drinker, the useful detail is not a broad regional claim but a tangible one: the grapes behind the bottles come from 12 hectares managed as one estate.
Soil And Site
The supplied record names Kraví hora as the vineyard site but does not specify soil types, elevations or individual slopes. What it does establish is a close site-to-wine chain: all grapes are estate-grown there, and the family farms those 12 hectares organically and partly biodynamically. That makes vineyard work a direct part of the fruit entering each bottle.
Chemical weed control is prohibited in these vineyards, with weeds managed mechanically. Baking soda, vegetable oils, plant extracts, sulfur and copper are among the permitted treatments. These choices keep the farming programme focused on physical vineyard work and approved treatments before the grapes reach the cellar.
Story
The family founded Špalek in 1992, then expanded the work into a three-generation operation. In 2012, the estate began farming organically and partly biodynamically; its organic certification followed in 2015. The change is visible in how the family handles its own vineyards: no chemical weed control, mechanical work beneath the vines, and a limited set of permitted treatments.
The cellar followed a similarly practical path. Špalek became the first winery in the Znojmo District to adopt gravity-flow winemaking. Moving grapes and wine by gravity gives the estate a consistent way to handle fruit from Kraví hora across its range, whether the final wine is a dry Grüner Veltliner, a blend with fruit and tannin, or a wine shaped by extended lees contact and oak.
Vineyards And Cellar
Organic work begins in the rows. Mechanical weed control replaces chemical herbicides, while the estate’s stated treatments include plant extracts, vegetable oils, baking soda, sulfur and copper. Because all wines come from the family’s own grapes, that farming programme runs continuously from the 12 hectares on Kraví hora into every named bottling.
In the cellar, gravity flow reduces the need to pump grapes and wine between stages. Špalek then changes the wine’s shape through bottle-specific élevage. Sur Lie spends a full year on its lees, with stirring during ageing, and finishes that period in new oak. Lees contact and stirring build texture; new oak adds another structural element, making this a different proposition from the dry Edelspitz Grüner Veltliner.
Wines
The range has several clear lanes. Edelspitz Grüner Veltliner Bio 2021 is a dry Grüner Veltliner from a named vineyard, offering a focused white-wine reference for the estate. Its dry format keeps sweetness out of the equation, leaving grape, site and acidity to carry the palate and finish.
Cuvée Gryllus is the blend-led part of the range. Its wine material includes documented fruit character and tannin, so it offers a route toward a more structured style than the dry Grüner Veltliner. Sur Lie is cellar-led: a year on lees, regular stirring and new oak place texture, oak and tannin at the centre of its profile. The three bottles show distinct ways Špalek handles its Kraví hora fruit without turning the range into one repeated style.
In The Glass
Start with Edelspitz for dry white structure: Grüner Veltliner, a named vineyard and a dry finish give the wine a clean frame in which acidity matters more than sweetness. It is the least cellar-marked of the documented examples, so the grape and vineyard sit in the foreground.
Cuvée Gryllus shifts attention toward fruit and tannin. Its blend format brings those two elements together: fruit supplies the opening impression, while tannin gives the palate grip and a more structured finish. Sur Lie moves in another direction. Extended lees ageing, stirring and new oak point toward a fuller texture, oak influence and tannin rather than a simple fresh-fruit profile.
A Bottle To Understand It
Begin with Edelspitz Grüner Veltliner Bio 2021. It is a dry Grüner Veltliner from a named vineyard, made from Špalek’s own Kraví hora grapes. The bottle keeps the message direct: dry palate, grape-led fruit, acidity and finish, without the added lees and new-oak treatment used for Sur Lie. It is a useful first purchase because it makes the estate-fruit and vineyard connection easy to taste before moving to the more cellar-shaped wines.
Anecdote
In 2014, Vinařství Špalek was named Winery of the Year in the small-winery category by the Association of Winegrowers of the Czech Republic. By then, the family estate founded in 1992 was already working its own Kraví hora vineyards and had begun its organic and partly biodynamic regime two years earlier. The award was given to Špalek as a small winery, despite an operation that now reports around 75,000 bottles a year. It sits in the estate’s timeline between the 2012 farming change and its 2015 organic certification.
Final Word
Špalek is worth seeking out for the clear connection between Kraví hora fruit and distinct cellar choices. Try the dry Edelspitz Grüner Veltliner first, then compare its acidity and finish with Cuvée Gryllus’s fruit and tannin or Sur Lie’s lees, oak and texture.
Sources
- https://www.spalek.bio/en
- https://www.spalek.bio/en/onas
- https://www.vinvin.cz/en/our-wine-makers/
- https://www.umenivina.cz/en/vinarstvi-spalek/
- https://www.spalek.bio/en/product-page/cuv%C3%A9e-gryllus-bio
- https://www.spalek.bio/en/product-page/sur-lie-pinot-blanc-bio
- https://www.spalek.bio/en/product-page/edelspitz-gr%C3%BCnerveltliner-bio-2021