Borcak (boar-chock) is young wine. It is fruity, bubbly, and “is very good for the body.” Yes, as most liquor cleans you out after a liter or so.
Wine is a huge Czech industry, but has a great history, too. The best wine is made from grapes grown in Moravia, in south-east CR. Back when I visited Prague in 1994, there were two types of Czech wine: red and white. It sucked, really.
But twenty years later, the industry has resurged, and the varieties available are very good. Some are even excellent.
The borcak season lasts hours, not days, in fact. There is a point in the vermentation process where the wine goes from very sweet and bubbly but without high alcohol content, to closer what we find as finished wine a few months later. Traditionally, vintners will literally keep townspeople posted hour by hour, and then by the minute, until he proclaims the young wine is ready to drink.
Borcak festivals celebrate wine, wine culture, food, and the harvest season. In Prague’s larger squares, festivals set up arts & crafts booths, BBQs and sweets vendors, and music stages. At Jiriho z Podebrad, near my flat, a big one-day shin-dig brought thousands out to party, eat, play games, and generally get Czeched up.
