The house at Hlinky No. 56 is the lowest building in the street, and the wine tradition has left indelible marks here in the form of an extensive cellar labyrinth. This is the house where Alois Reissmann founded his wholesale wine business in 1868.
The descendants of this family business related the interesting history of the production of a famous Brno delicacy, a spiced dessert wine that was later known as Metropol. During the company’s existence, however, the special sweet wine was called ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and was very popular among consumers. The original recipe for its production was brought from Italy by Felix Reissmann. The product was made from a claret wine, to which macerates from 32 different types of herbs were added in a special proportion. It was classified as a vermouth. The alcohol content ranged from 15% to 18% and the main ingredient of wormwood, with its bitter taste, provided beneficial and stimulating effects to the digestive tract. However, the product had to mature in barrels for several weeks before it could be bottled. The cellars of the Reissmann production were well equipped with such barrels, but as the barrels exceeded the dimensions of the underground access corridors, they had to be assembled directly in the individual cellar cubicles. However, the thriving company had to close down in 1948.
Cellar cubicles and corridors with a total length of almost a quarter of a kilometre originated during the 18th century. In 2006, the cellars were still equipped with giant barrels and wine technology. But it was the last moment of their long history. The mould-covered wood was no longer able to withstand the ravages of time, and the barrels gradually disappeared from the once cold and unspoilt environment in which the star of Brno's restaurants and wine bars had previously matured.