Valtice is the wine capital of the Czech Republic, and it looks the part. A large baroque palace dominates the town, built by the Liechtenstein family, who held the estate for centuries and made it a showpiece of their wealth. The palace has a grand courtyard, a riding hall and enormous wine cellars beneath it, and part of the cellars now houses the National Wine Centre, where visitors can taste a hundred of the best Czech wines, chosen in an annual competition. For anyone who enjoys wine, this is the place to learn about the country's vineyards.
The town centre is compact and pleasant, with a baroque square, a church with twin towers and a number of wine shops and taverns. Valtice lies just a few kilometres from the Austrian border, and in the days of the Iron Curtain the border zone here was closely guarded; today the line is open, and cyclists and walkers pass freely into the Austrian wine villages across the fields. A few kilometres to the south stands the Rendez-vous, a small colonnaded hunting pavilion, and the Colonnade at Reistna, a long curved structure on a hill, both part of the estate's park.
The region is the heart of Czech wine country. Vines cover the low hills in neat rows, with small cellars and presses scattered among them, and in autumn the villages smell of fermenting grapes. A local tradition is the burčák, a cloudy, partly fermented young wine sold in the early autumn, sweet and fizzy and stronger than it tastes. The food is hearty, with duck, goose and dumplings.
The roads in the area are flat and quiet, often lined with cherry or apricot trees, and they are well suited to a relaxed ride between cellars and castles. Drivers are used to cyclists, but patience is needed in summer and on weekends, when visitors fill the lanes. With under four thousand people, Valtice has food and small shops, but fuel is better taken in Břeclav, about ten kilometres to the north. Keep an eye on your own limit when tasting, and remember that the Czech Republic has a strict zero tolerance policy for alcohol on the road.