By Helena Baker

A proportionately long winter in both the Bohemian and Moravian wine regions led to a late budbreak of the vines in the spring of 2005. Since this was followed by a cool, wet summer, there did not appear to be much hope for the 2005 vintage.

When it persists, such weather creates ideal conditions for rot and fungal diseases, requiring remedial action on the part of the winemakers simply to have any healthy fruit at all. Had this weather trend continued right up to the end of the growing cycle — or even if conditions had turned out to be seasonally normal — the grapes would have been given no chance to ripen properly.

However, all was saved by warm and sunny weather later in the year, endowing the grapes with excellent ripeness and natural sugar levels far above anyone's realistic expectations. Without enough natural sugars, the resultant wines would have been extremely thin and acidic, with very low aging potential — a depressing state of affairs for any winemaker anywhere, seeing an entire year's work spoiled by the weather.

Now, though, everyone agrees the 2005 vintage should be excellent.

Young wines already on the market have proved promising, as evinced by the medals awarded to midsize Moravian wineries Radomil Baloun (four silver) and Znovín Znojmo (one gold) at the highly influential Vinalies Internationales wine competition, which closed Feb. 28 in Paris. The 2005 vintages that are now on sale are slowly maturing, and we will be monitoring their progress. Meanwhile, there is much that remains unbottled, as these are still relatively early days.

And the good news is not confined to the Czech Republic. Above-average vintages are expected more or less across the board, especially in the classical European regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy, and in Alsace, Loire and the southerly Côte du Rhône or Languedoc-Roussillon. Neighboring Austria, with growing conditions similar to ours, is raving about its 2005 vintage. In California, the year produced Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with an almost unbelievable dark color. And the classical Pinot Noir of Oregon is expected to be delicate, yet elegant.

Winery of the Month

Every month in this column, we will be spotlighting some of the top Bohemian and Moravian winemakers, along with recommendations of their most interesting products. Also, with more wines than ever being imported, we will feature some of the more interesting foreign wines available on the local market.

Sonberk, a.s., is a new, technically modern winery situated in Pouzdřany in the Mikulov region of south Moravia. It was set up by Oldřich Drápal, an award-winning young winemaker who was the first to successfully produce and market straw wines in the Czech Republic.

The term "straw wine" refers to a special method for making wine by laying out the ripe grapes on straw mats in a cool, dry environment, typically over winter, during which time they dry to become raisins, concentrating the sugars much as withering on the vine does for ice wine. The resulting wine is fantastically sweet, though it must contain sufficient acidity to provide a balanced palate as opposed to a syrupy taste. Emphasis is put on working only with the highest-quality grapes.

Sonberk Traminer straw wine vintages 2001 and 2002 were the most successful Czech wines ever in world wine-tasting competitions.