Dinner in Prague. After leaving Austria, I met up with a friend in Prague. Out of my own ignorance, I didn't have high hopes for the food there. (Only later did I read that Czech chefs were much sought after in imperial Austria.) Even the bar at the hotel had decent fare at a low price. The "Czech pocket" turns out to be a potato pancake served with pork, green onions and, OK, a gallon of butter.
     The real surprise, though, was a place called Cervena Tabulka ("Red Tablet"), located in Nove Mesto not far from the hotel. The atmosphere was comfortable and relaxed -- at least on a Tuesday night -- and the food was pretty sophisticated. I had a loin chop with barley risotto and "tempura-fried cellophane noodles." The dish was delicious.
     We decided to order an inexpensive Czech wine, the 2002 Dobra Vinice Frankovka Kabinett. Frankovka, like Blaufränkisch, is another name for Lemberger, a grape that's also grown in Washington state. The Dobra version had a cranberryish flavor to it; in that respect, it reminded me of a Cabernet Franc. Not my favorite wine ever, though I preferred it to the Austrian Blaufränkisch I tried in Salzburg.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 6:29 PM
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Wine in Austria. I recently spent a week in Salzburg, which isn't particularly close to Austria's wine-growing regions. And I wouldn't recommend the house wines of the place I was staying.
     But the city does have a number of wine bars, and one afternoon I stopped by a really good one: a place called Weinschmecker ("Wine Taster"), located at Linzer Gasse 39. The owner, Martin Stadlmann, offers a tasting of five wines for 10 euro ($12 or so). And since there was no one else in his bar at 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon, he had time to talk at length about the wines.
     I started with the 2003 Lobner Grüner Veltliner Kabinett from Weinviertel in Lower Austria. Costs about $11.25 per bottle. Clean, pleasant, appley.
     Next came the 2003 Domäne Muller Sauvignon Blanc, from Gut Am Ottenberg, Südsteiermark, Styria. About $16. Very light and delicate -- much more so than the New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs I'm used to. I bought a bottle.
     The 2003 M. Forstreiter Riesling, from Donauland, was fairly dry and smelled a little like balsa wood. Also like pizza spices, and not in a bad way. About $15.
     On to the reds. The 2003 Paul Lehrner Blaufrânkisch from Mittelburgenland goes for about $11. Only very slightly oaky; the bar owner says it's made in a big wood barrel. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. The grape also goes by the name Lemberger.
     Finally, I decided to try the 2002 Lobner Cabernet Sauvignon, because I was curious what an Austrian Cab would taste like. Apparently Lobner doesn't make this wine every year, because sometimes the grapes just aren't that great. The '02 was OK -- very perfumy, with a hit of coffee on the end. Reasonably tasty, but orders of magnitude lighter than a California Cab. And not worth $25.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 8:03 PM
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