Melnik

Melnik stands on a bluff at the confluence of the Vltava and the Elbe, and it has grown wine since the ninth century - Charles IV, who had been raised in France, brought Burgundian vines here in the fourteenth century and gave the town privileges, which is why Melnik still produces Pinot Noir and Riesling and calls itself the Czech wine capital of Bohemia. The Lobkowicz chateau sits on the edge of the bluff with a terrace over the rivers, holding a picture collection and running a wine cellar in its vaults where the estate's own bottles are tasted. Beneath the church of St Peter and Paul is an ossuary holding the remains of some ten to fifteen thousand people, arranged into patterns and walls in the nineteenth century. The vineyards run down the slope and the confluence is watched from the terrace, the two rivers visibly different colours.

History

The name comes from the Slavic word mělnit, to crumble, first the name of a hill of crumbling Cretaceous rock. In the 5th and 6th centuries Slavic tribes lived here, and the Pšovans made Mělník their main settlement; Saint Ludmila, grandmother of Saint Wenceslaus, who married Prince Bořivoj I, came from this tribe. Coins of Princess Emma, who died in 1005 or 1006, are the first evidence of Mělník, and in November 1274 King Ottokar II made it a town, which later became a dowry town of the queens of Bohemia. In 1449 it gained the right to govern its own affairs through councillors headed by a mayor. Its viticulture goes back to the end of the 9th century, but the real development began when Charles IV brought vines from Burgundy, and in the first half of the 16th century the town became famous for its wine. It suffered in the Thirty Years' War, from fires in 1646, 1652 and 1681 and from plague, and the fire of 1765 destroyed 42 houses including the town hall and the Capuchin monastery, after which the town was rebuilt again in Baroque style. Mělník became a district town in 1850, a sugar factory was founded in 1869, the railway arrived in 1874, a bridge over the Elbe was built in 1888, and a transhipment depot at the end of the 19th century became the basis of the later port (Wikipedia, Mělník).

What's there

• A confluence from above - the Vltava and the Elbe meeting below the bluff.
• Burgundian vines - brought by Charles IV and still worked on the slopes.
• A chateau wine cellar - tastings in the vaults under the Lobkowicz house.
• An ossuary under the church - ten to fifteen thousand people arranged in patterns.

When to go

May to October; September for the vintage festival. A day.

Things to know

The ossuary is human remains and opens on limited hours. The chateau and cellars are separate tickets. The September wine festival fills the town completely. Czech wine is light and expensive by international standards.

Nearby

Nelahozeves and Veltrusy are upstream on the Vltava; Kokorinsko is north.

Key facts