Although Poland does not seems to be a land of viniculture, winemaking has a long tradition in our country. Winery culture in Poland was introduced by the nations, which brought Christianity on our soil, and the first vineyards were established by Benedictine and Cistercian monks, as they need wine for religious purposes (there was a vineyard even on a Wawel Hill!). Then the cultivation was expanding, but unfortunately, in the seventeenth-century climate has changed (it was called the small ice age), and also as the result of continuous war conflicts winemaking traditions have gradually disappeared. Nowadays thanks to the re-warming of the climate, and the increasing number of wine passionate people we successfully try to rebuild them.
The main wine areas are currently Lesser Poland with Kraków, Lower Silesia, Kazimierz Dolny, Zielona Góra, and Subcarpatian areas, but small vineyards can be found all around Poland. A lot of winemakers grow Vitis vinifera grapes but there is also a wide range of hybrid varieties, which can resist our adverse climatic conditions. You should remember that Poland is located in the same climate zone as Rioja, Piedmont, Burgundy, Loire Valley, or Austria - and there are some predictions that due to significant global warming this part of the world can become soon a leading global wine region.
Currently, only around Kraków there are ca. 100 wine producers, so while visiting our city you should absolutely try some local wines. And having some spare time you can even visit the vineyards! 15 min drive from the Kraków city center, almost visible from the Wawel Castle and reachable with the public transport, there is Winnica Srebrna Góra (Silver Mountain Vineyard, www.winnicasrebrnagóra.pl), one of the biggest vineyards in Poland, located near the historical monastery of Camaldolese monks. Here the wine-making tradition dates back to the 10th century! For the last several years, they have been growing Vitis vinifera and hybrid grapes on a total of 28 hectares of land, and from these, they are making wines, which attract the recognition of connoisseurs. One of our favorite vines from their vineyards is charming Cuvee Blanc - unfiltered, full of flavor coupage of Johanniter, Hibernal, and Solaris with the smell of Polish orchard and white chocolate and the rich pear-apple mineral taste.
Winnica Wieliczka (Wieliczka vineyards, www.winnicawieliczka.com) lays only 10 km from Kraków and 3 km from the famous Salt Mine and it is the only biodynamic vineyard in Poland. The owners - Monika Rousseau and Piotr Jaskólski grow only the classic European grapevine species – Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet, Muscat, Gruener Veltliner, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir. What we can suggest you is their wine Jantar - so-called amber wine, the delicious result of the long maceration of light grapes or Cuvee Seraf – an aromatic blend of muscat Chardonnay clones along with Sauvignon blanc which is the white wine with intense aromas of tropical fruits, and white flowers, perfect for an aperitif, salads, and spice food.
The other place to visit can be Winnica Kresy (www.winnicakresy.pl), located in the Polish Jurassic Upland, 32 km from Kraków, and owned by Robert Zięba. He uses 8 grapes categories: Regent, Rondo, Cabernet Cortis, and Monarch for red and rose wines and Solaris, Hibernal, Johanniter, and Seyval Blanc for white and orange wines. The bottle we can recommend you from his collection is the red wine called Transfiguration 2015 made from Regent, rondo, and Cabernet Cortis grapes with very intense, strong body and balanced acidity with rough tannins in the ends.
Next vineyard - Winnica Jura (www.winnicajura.pl) is located 30 min drive from Kraków Main Square on a south-facing slope of Kraków-Częstochowa uplands, amidst protected landscape park. Owners Joanna and Marcin Miszczak grow their wine organically, without herbicide and synthetic pesticide use. Almost 70% of its area is occupied by varieties for white wines: Chardonnay, Hibernal, Johanniter, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Seyval Blanc, and Solaris and the red wine varieties are represented by Cabernet Cortis and Pinot noir. Grape processing and wine production take place in Joanna's family farm a few kilometers away in Sanka, where they offer also a vineyard and wine tasting tour. Try their Cabernet Cortis 2018 - strong structured feisty wine with blackberry at the forefront, with notes of red and smoked paprika.
If you would like to know more about local Kraków wines check the Lesser Poland Wine Route website (www.malopolskiszlakwinny.pl). It is the recent enotourism project that brings together vineyards from our province, providing a short description of each place that can be useful when planning your trip there.
If you are in Kraków only for few days and you have no time to visit the vineyards, don’t be afraid that you will miss something - it’s very easy to run across the Polish wines in most of the good Kraków restaurants and specialized wine bars. If you are planning the elegant dinner choose Art Restaurant, Albertina or Filipa 18 Restaurant, where their sommeliers will propose the best local wine paired with the excellent food based on the ingredients from Lesser Poland organic farms. For the less formal evening, we can recommend you Bar a Wino on Mostowa Street or Lipowa 6F – Kraków Slow Wines bar in Zabłocie where you can spend all evening trying different kinds and eventually buying few bottles, that will be the best memories of your Kraków trip during the long winter evenings on your sofa.
Other Wineries in Krakow
Gródek
One of the more ambitious winemaking and enotourism projects that have appeared in Lesser Poland in recent years is undoubtedly the Gródek Winery in Zbyszyce at Rożnowskie Lake. This venture has not yet been completely completed, but it promises to be promising today. Large vine plantings located in a very attractive tourist location, a well-equipped processing plant, convenient facilities for visitors, and wines produced under the watchful eye of the most successful oenologist in the country suggest that we will hear about this vineyard more than once.
The Gródek vineyard was established in Zbyszyce (near Rożnowskie Lake) in 2014. The project started on the first hectare, which was planted with five thousand seedlings (mainly roundabout, regent, and Solaris).
The Dunajec Valley, proximity to the lake creates favorable conditions for viticulture. The Gródek vineyard is nicely situated, grows on gentle southwestern slopes.
Winnica Słońce I wiatr
It is worth keeping an eye on this vineyard, especially since it has already officially started selling wine. The Sun and Wind Vineyard are two hectares of crops. The vineyards consist of three plots - they are all located on the north-east side, several kilometers from Krakow.
Goja vineyard
Wojnica Goja borders the Ojców National Park, it is located in Smardzowice. Several strains are grown, including seyval blanc, solaris, regent, maréchal foch, léon millot. Winnica conducts enotourism activities. The area where the Goja Vineyard is located is quite a special place on the wine map of Poland because, at a distance of at most a few kilometers from it, there have been about a dozen other vineyards. Of these, three have already registered official commercial activities, and several others are on their way to join them soon. Slowly, on this patch of the Jurassic plateau, a real wine microregion with specific features grows. This area is distinguished not only by the considerable density of vineyards by Polish standards but also by specific conditions for viticulture and - it can probably be said - the seeds of its own wine traditions.