Prague wine harvesting festival

It was a beautiful day last Sunday. It would have been a waste to stay home, so we decided to participate in the Prague wine harvesting festival. Our participation consisted of only our young fermenting wine tasting . It is called "burcak" in Czech and the tasting and drinking of it has been part of Czech fall since I can remember. Basically, burcak is very young grape juice that is just starting fermenting. It is high in sugar and low in alcohol, but throughout fermentation the ratio between them is changing in favor of alcohol and wine is being born. I'm no expert at wine, but I know a little about flavor, color and taste. The most productive part of the Czech Republic for wine growing is the southeast part of Moravia. Although we do have some vineyards in the other part of the Czech Republic called Bohemia and there are a few vineyards even in Prague, the location of Moravia with its plentiful sunshine, fertile soil and the right amount of rain gives grapes an excellent color, flavor and taste that give the wine the best quality that can be compared to quality of French and Italian wine . The only disadvantage of Moravian and Bohemian wines is that they are not as known as the French and Italian wines. It is very hard and I would say almost impossible to get a bottle of wine from the Czech Republic in the States, but if you have a chance to get it taste at least, and please, don't hesitate! The wine was among a few things I missed in the U.S.

I start today's pictures with a photo of St. Vitus Cathedral taken from the main street in our neighborhood near our apartment. St. Vitus Cathedral is the view point of the whole Prague Castle premises.

The next one was taken from a street leading to Prague Castle.

The last one of St. Vitus Cathedral was taken from the Prague Castle premises near the Royal Garden where the festival took place.

The welcome board in front of the Royal Garden gate states: "The third annual Prague Castle wine harvesting during the weekend of 4 - 5 October 2008 from 11am to 5pm at the Royal Garden.

There is no need for a comment about the next picture, but for those who may not know. Two nice young men are actually and finally tasting burcak.