Publication details
Viticulture in the Czech Republic after 1989 as a Result of Socialist Government
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | In my contribution, I’d like to point out the problematics of vinicultural development in Czech Republic after the year 1989. During the 40 years of socialist government, there had been vast changes in agricultural politics, such as the destruction of the ancient economy system and a ban on private ownership of land. This had, of course, immense influence on the farmers’ life. The political disruption of the ties between the farmer and his source of livelihood was a blow to the classic definition of the countryside. The regime not only severed the ties of ownership, but transformed the agricultural system as well, which often resulted in disrupting of whole natural ecosystems. The consequences of field-merging and heavy, large-area implementation of chemical fertilizers, that showed only decades later, are still observable even today. This problem, however, was a problem of not only the viniculture, but also of the general agricultural situation. The regime’s fall was presaged by a stark economic situation and over-dimensioned, unsustainable state of the agriculture. What was typical for western vinicultural areas, e.g. the “terroir” of wines, was practically non-existent in Czechoslovakia. The wines were of a fluctuating quality and the origin of the grapes was ambiguously somewhere from the Soviet Union. While there were wines distributed by the regional companies, and their names are to this day inherently tied to the vinicultural locations, it is questionable whether they truly were of the top quality. After the take-off of democratization in 1989, the viniculture finally had a chance to develop, even though the situation wasn’t easy. Large wine-producing companies found themselves in a great uncertainty, while the small producers were returned the land that was taken away from them during the collectivization. With the extinction of the massive state-owned companies, that shielded establishments across Czechoslovakia, came a discussion on their future. They were handed over to private operators under new laws, specifically as joint-stock companies or limited liability companies. With the disbandment of JZD (a cooperative agricultural unit) and state farms came a rapid decline in the agricultural workers. Building a new relationship to the land, founding family businesses, planting new vineyards and waiting for the first harvest. Centrally planned economic system was replaced with market system, hence it was necessary to "kick-start" the economy with a privatization process. Long awaited new law on the viniculture, that would help both the viniculture and the trade with wine was being continuously postponed, and his release was also complicated by the separation of Czechoslovak federal republic. It came into force in 1995, when the Czech economy was trying to come close to maastricht criteria, to which the new legislature on viniculture was supposed to contribute. New opportunities opened up to steadfast farmers, especially in the ecological direction. To go around full circle, let us conclude that in the present day, wine-makers are returning to the traditional ways, and not even the small vineyards, but also the larger wine producers. The popularity efforts to participate in these traditions grows also in the wine consumers, which is possible to deduce from the numbers of visitors on wine-related events both in countryside and in urban areas. |