August 20
At the end of the wine tour we stopped in the village of Pezinok to some wine tasting. It was interesting to know that we are located in the middle of the wine region. Because of the carpathian foothills and the nice climate there are many wine makers in the area. They make mostly white wine and only until recently as temp gets warmer they are making some red wine.
Even more interesting is that most of these wine makers do this as a hobby or make it for their own consumption or sell it locally to restaurants. That's why most houses are built with their own wine cellars. Even though we see vinyards throughout the hills you don't see big wineries in the area. With that said, our wine tasting took place in the home of P. Borik. I have to say I had my doubts in the beginning. Our van stopped in front of this modest house in the middle of a regular looking neighborhood. Our guide rang the doorbell and a few minutes later a robust looking man come to the gate with some giant dogs flanking him. He takes us round the back and still I only see a regular backyard with a herb and tomato garden. He then ushers us down some stairs to his basement and I'm thinking this looks suspicious! He could chop us up and bury us in his garden and who would know?!
But all is well as we sat down at a table in a small but nice brick line cellar. He had laid out plates of h'ordeurves of pates and pickled onions filled with local cheese to eat while we drink. I had no intention to drink much wine but they all tasted so good! We tasted a total of 3 whites and 2 reds. Granted, each tasting was only 1/4 of a glass. After the first I didn't feel anything so I kept going. It occurred to me later that he started us out with the lightest wine and it continued to be heavier and stronger. By the time we got to the reds I was starting to feel it and had to stop when he brought out the cabernet. Everyone told me that I wasnt REALLY red but this picture told me that they lied! Our host was such a nice man. He was curious about where we were from and what we did. He was fascinated by arizona and kept turning to me and saying bad snakes! At one point he asked me what special alcohol came from our state and I couldn't really tell him so I said we generally drink wines from other places! He actually studied culinary in school and worked in germany for 20 years before moving back to slovakia. His winery is small but he makes 15,000 bottles a year and exports about 20%. The 2 australian girls from london (who claimed that the guys in bratislava are cuter than in london) were loving the wine and were bummed that they couldn't bring back any with them. When I found out a bottle only cost 5 euros I bought 4! One for me to sip for the next 3 weeks (we'll see) and the other 3 for the guys on my team. We spent almost 2 hours in peter's cellar drinking and chatting (our tour group was only 5 people) it was a lot of fun. The couple in our group was from belgium and were proud to boast that even though they might not have good wine they have over 600 brands of beer. Now that's a lot for a country that small! Peter didn't want us to leave and kept offering more drink. At one point he brought out his "slovakian moonshine" to share with us. I had said no because by that time the alcohol had caught up with me and I was feeling dizzy and drunk! As he poured the moonshine into these small glasses (see the picture above) I was too curious and wanted to check it out. I took a whiff and the strong smell of alcohol was enough to get me drunker! I took a small sip and it tasted like rubbing alcohol! Everyone drank it like a shot but there was no way I would drink that, it would knock me out for sure!
On the way out we were all a little tipsy and very quiet, I was comatosed. It was a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment