Moravsky sklipek v satove, Part 2. The painted cellars.

We followed our noses from the previous winery, heading through town, and up around the hilly streets, following the signs...

to this small winery perched on the hill. All of these wineries are on a bike trail, so numerous people were slogging up the hill on this hot, hot afternoon.
Everyone's ready to go inside (note the green roof!), cool off and taste a bit of wine and see the paintings!

First, to sign the guest book and then pay 30 Kroners for a tour and a sip of Ryzlynk Rynsky, a somewhat sweet white wine that tasted good after being out in the heat.  Mark seems to be enjoying it!

Then a bit of history about this painted wine cellar.  The cellar dates prior to 1884, no one knows when it was first dug or by whom. In 1884, Jakub Peschka owned it and numerous other owners since. It is now owned by the Znovin Znojmo (the one we just came from!). From the grape press room (where we are now), you will descend on a long stone staircase into the wine cellar dug into the sandstone. The cellar is 12 m underground; the main corridor is 26 m long, with a curved passage corridor 20 m long and numerous side rooms. The wine is actually stored below this level (no one could go down there, it was a tiny staircase).
The artist doing the painting and chiseling in the cellars was Maxmilian Appelteuer (1904-1972), who worked in the Moessner Winery, the Wine and Fruit Cooperative and in the state-owned winery in Satov (1953-). He did all of this on his leisure time from 1934 - 1968, spending another four years correcting mistakes and doing maintenance. He had only one arm (his left arm was amputated below the elbow), painting without lights (candles on his hat!).
Here he is!

Let's descend the stairs....because, after all, "In vino veritas"!