New Delhi, Oct. 18 -- At the dinner table at Vinium Galeria Bozen in the town of Pezinok, Slovakia, where a charming and well-spoken Eddy serves us with generosity, a distinguished gentleman walks up to our table. Dressed in a smart chequered shirt, his silver hair neatly parted, he enquires if we are from India. The gentleman had recently been to Delhi-Jaipur-Agra, so his curiosity seemed natural.

He delights at our answer, immediately orders for us a burčiak, a partially fermented drink that's somewhere between grape juice and wine. Its equivalent would be the urrak in Goa, the first distil of feni.

The burčiak, available only in autumn in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, tastes like lemon liqueur, with a tangy, refreshing f...