It could remind you of similar event celebrated in France a week later, “the Beaujolais Nouveau”. But it dates much before !According to folk tradition, St. Martin arrives in November atop a white horse. This means that it should snow very soon, not just on the mountains, but also in the lowlands. A traditional feast and young wine celebrate this change of weather. So come over with sampling young wines and fragrant, golden-roasted goose! 

The tradition goes back to the 18th century, during the reign of Emperor Joseph II, when vineyard owners would visit their winemakers on St. Martin’s Day to sample the new wine and decide whether to extend their contract with the winemaker for another year. Legend says St. Martin was originally a Roman soldier who later accepted the Christian faith, becoming a missionary and eventually a bishop. According to the legend, gooses interrupted St. Martin while he was preaching and they are now being punished on the roasting-pan.
Where to find Saint Martin (Svatomartinské) wine?In Prague vineyards, of course !

The best location is the wine shop in the St. Clare’s Vineyard, near Troja castle. This is the traditional spot for the celebration of wine from the new vintage. The first young wines from Moravia and Bohemia will be sampled from 11 o’clock on 11 Nov. in the vineyard cottage at the St. Clare’s Vineyard.You can enjoy St. Martin’s wine and various culinary delights even aboard ship while sailing  
n the Vltava River. You can try wines from South Moravia and a special menu put together just for the occasion of the feast of St. Martin while admiring views of the famous panorama of Prague. There will also be fun on the banks of the Vltava – specifically at Náplavka. A section of Rašínova Riverbank, just above the surface of the Vltava, is a place well known to every inhabitant of Prague and to some who don’t live there.

But also everywhere in Czech wine regions.Especially in Brno, the capital of Moravia. First, the young wine of the season will be blessed in the local cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, where a parade will commence with Martin in the lead atop a white horse.
As throughout the rest of the Czech Republic, the first bottle will be opened at precisely 11:00 AM. The traditional feast then begins. Concerts, events, culinary and wine-tasting actions are being prepared for St. Martin all over the country.