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July 5th, 2008

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Around Town

Burčák is here: Drink up!

By Beth Potter
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 12th, 2007 issue

A word to the uninitiated drinker: Burčák is a wine cider that’s unique to the season.

It’s a cloudy, greenish-yellow, drink that is the first product of the wine fermentation process. And it’s definitely not wine. It is, however, a fruity taste to toast the start of fall.

Nearly every vinotéka, or wine bar, across the country is boasting this year’s early arrival of burčák, and it’s a darn good excuse to get out and sample the year’s harvest.

It’s also commonly sold at roadside stalls, but take note: Experts say you should never buy it from such places, as burčák must be stored in cold, dark rooms. The roadside varieties come with no guarantee that the cider is not diluted with water, apple juice or has sugar added.

We’ve heard all sorts of burčák lore in recent weeks, including the idea that a 2-liter (0.5 gallon) bottle will “clean out your system” and cure any ailment. Sounds almost like a spa cure.

Back to the basics: The first burčák we tried came in a paper cup and tasted more like very yeasty apple cider than like grapes.

In the bottle was a line of white yeast pooling into a glob at the bottom, which made me worry that it might make a similar glob in my stomach.

That 2-liter plastic bottle was from one of those roadside stands in the well-known Moravian wine region of Znojmo.

We got a tasting party together (minus a friend who chose a hops festival with its day-long beer belching over the more refined burčák) and scouted the best vinotékas around Prague.

At our first stop, the proprietor nervously waved away our six-person party, apologizing that the garden terrace was closing “soon.” (We met at 5 p.m., the vinotéka posted hours until 6 p.m. on its Web site.)

There we were, six ready burčák drinkers with no immediate place to quench our thirst.

We decided to hang our hats temporarily at the Peach Pit pub in Vinohrady, which featured memorabilia from the pop-culture TV show 90210, with records hanging on walls painted orange.

There was no burčák to be had, but the waitress was friendly.

Then it was back to our quest. A block away was a semi-basement restaurant with genuine beer steins.

The friendly owner wanted us to buy a liter of burčák to share.

We happily complied. He brought out a tray of juice glasses and started pouring.

This burčák tasted smoother than the first one and more refined. But the muddy color and a funny smell in the room stopped us from having more than one pitcher.

All in all, it was a good pre-dinner drink.

Some of our Czech friends talk nostalgically about burčák seasons come and gone, while others have no qualms telling us that they can’t stand the stuff.

Try it for yourself at local vinotékas — most will have enthusiastic signs outside proclaiming “Burčák už je tady!” (Burčák is here!)

Or head to one of the wine festivals in Moravia this weekend: Burčák days at Loucký monastery, Znojmo’s historical grape harvest, a tasting in Písárký, the Hradecký “wine cup,” and the grape harvests in Stará Břeclav and Kuks.

For more information on these and other upcoming wine-related events, go to the official CzechTourism Web site on wine, www.wineofczechrepublic.cz.

Beth Potter can be reached at bpotter@praguepost.com

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