Tea at Trianon: Balkan Wines

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, August 20, 2018

Balkan Wines

From Balkan Insight:

Croatia is geographically very diverse and has two climatic regions, Mediterranean and continental, so is home to many varieties of grape and a wide range of good wines.

The country has about 60 vineyards and the majority of are small, with relatively few big wine producers. The production of white wines dominates. Croatia’s eastern region, Slavonia, with its wine centres of Kutjevo and Ilok, is the motherland of grasevina, a dry white wine with a medium alcohol content and a strong bouquet, very similar to riesling.

Some Slavonian wine producers have opened their cellars to visitors so the impression so people can get away from the heatwave, take a rest in a chilled cellar and taste freshly-tapped wine from the barrel. Another popular wine from another part of the country, plavac mali, is the leading variety in the Dalmatia area. It has a strong taste which recalls the sweetness of blackberries or dark cherries with some notes of spice and pepper.

Although Croatian wine is very often associated with summer, the seaside and plates of seafood, the country’s biggest wine celebration happens in the autumn. St. Martin's Day is celebrated on November 11, and in Croatia is known as Martinje, “the day when must turns into wine”, marks the end of the farming year and the beginning of the harvest. Martinje is mostly celebrated in continental Croatia where people enjoy dishes such as goose with mlinci (dried flatbread soaked in water), chestnuts, sausages and sour cabbage, all accompanied by young wine. (Read more.)