2018 Primetime Emmy
& James Beard Award Winner

The Exhilarating Realization That You Can Drink Whatever the Hell You Want

The Exhilarating Realization That You Can Drink Whatever the Hell You Want

Rhyzling in Prague

Telling a Czech sommelier that you live in—and love—the heart of Germany’s Riesling region is like issuing a challenge.

You see, the Czechs make “Ryzling” of their own and they are damn proud of it.

“We have more than 800 bottles here. We’ll have one you will fall in love with,” my sommelier Ondřej told me.

When I told people I was headed to Prague for the weekend—my first solo trip in six years—the comment I got most frequently was to make sure I drank lots of beer.

My husband and usual travel partner loves beer and had enjoyed his fair share on his own trip to the Czech capital years earlier. But without him by my side on this adventure, I planned to savor a different side of Prague’s drinking culture.

I simply prefer structured sips to sour suds.

So I headed to Vinograf Wine Bar my first night in town and pulled up a seat at the bar. It was on.

Ondřej poured me my first Czech Ryzling. It was crisp and enjoyable, but nothing special. It certainly didn’t live up to his lofty promise. My second pour was better with a delightful hint of apricots. Pleasurable, but not a bottle I would take home.

As I sipped, Ondřej explained to me that that art of winemaking has largely been lost in the Czech Republic. Under Communist rule, family-owned vineyards and wineries were pushed out in favor of beer, so recipes and techniques weren’t passed down through the generations like in other European countries. As such, today’s Czech winemaking styles are fairly new and are largely the result of trial-and-error.

Unfortunately, the third glass of Ryzling my sommelier poured tasted like one of those errors to me. He could tell from my face that I didn’t enjoy it, but I was embarrassed to say so. When he pressed the issue, I repeatedly apologized for not liking the wine selection.

He turned sharply to me and said, “You should never drink wine you don’t enjoy. Wine, especially Czech wine, should only make you happy.”

It was like he was voicing the theme of my entire weekend in Prague. Solo travel affords you the opportunity to only do the things that you want to do, when you want to do them. So, much like with Czech wine, I only did things while exploring the city that brought me joy: sunrise at Vyšehrad Castle, the John Lennon Wall, eating ice cream-filled trdelníks for lunch.

Ondřej poured me a glass of bubbly as if in celebration of my empowering realization.

And it wasn’t a Rhyzling, as he had originally hoped, but Ondřej had finally succeeded in finding my perfect Czech wine.

Smooth as a cremant and laced with the taste of levity, Kutná Hora winery’s Sekt Kuks Brut Nature 2014 will always hold a special place in my heart.

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