Code | Context

    function parse_description($content='') {
        Configure::write('debug',2);
          require_once('libs/simple_html_dom.php');

$content	=	"<p>This is fortuitous.</p>

<p>Wandering around Prague without a clue, we stumble upon the pop-up Jak Vino wine festival.</p>

<p>The sandwich board on the sidewalk on the Legion Bridge across the Vltava River announces the festival and invites passersby to descend&nbsp;three flights of stairs to Strelecky Island.</p>

<p>My wife, Kerry, and I oblige.</p>

<p>After all, we were simply out in the Czech capital as tourists, sightseeing and completely unaware a wine festival is on.</p>

<p><img alt="&lt;who&gt;Photo credits: Steve MacNaull/NowMedia Group&lt;/who&gt;This giant inflatable wine bottle welcomed us to the pop-up Jak Vino wine festival in Prague." class="img-responsive" src="/files/files/images/Jak%20giant%20bottle.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" /></p>

<p>As wine lovers, this scenario is happy happenstance -- a vinous coincidence we&#39;re delighted to fit into our day, which, by the way, is gloriously sunny and full of possibilities.</p>

<p>When we step foot on Strelecky Island, along a leafy promenade, are a giant, inflated wine bottle acting as signage for the festival, booths with wineries pouring samples, picnic&nbsp;and bistro tables in the shade to sit and sip said wine and enjoy the live Czech pop music coming from the stage.</p>

<p>Our first stop is the booth of Zaviska Winery where&nbsp;Pavel Drapal pours us samples of Sauvignon Blanc sparkling wine for 45 Czech koruna each (about $3 Canadian).</p>

<p>The Sauv Blanc is fresh and bright and bubbly and a varietal we&#39;re familiar with (even if it usually isn&#39;t a sparkling).</p>

<p><img alt="&lt;/who&gt;Pavel Drapal from Zaviska Winery." class="img-responsive" src="/files/files/images/Pavel.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" /></p>

<p>Then, we hit the booth of Vinarstvi Volarik Mikulov Winery where we got into unfamiliar territory.</p>

<p>Winemaker Alex Koudelka explains to us that the Palava white wine we&#39;re tasting is very much like Pinot Gris.</p>

<p>It&#39;s delicious on this warm day in this idyllic setting.</p>

<p>The Palava grapes come from South Moravia, Czech&#39;s main grape growing and winemaking region, about 230 kilometres southeast of Prague.</p>

<p>Koudelka describes South Moravia as the &#39;Czech Sahara&#39; a reference to the locale being hot and dry for Central Europe and ideal for growing grapes.</p>

<p>Next, we try Vinarstvi&#39;s&nbsp;Veltinska white wine, which is a little bit like Riesling, lush and off-dry and also a delight on this beautiful day.</p>

<p><img alt="&lt;/who&gt;Winemaker Alex Koudelka from Vinarstvi Volarik Mikulov Winery." class="img-responsive" src="/files/files/images/winemaker%20Alex%20for%20story%20smile.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" /></p>

<p>Sadly, you can&#39;t buy any of these Czech wines in British Columbia.</p>

<p>So, the moral of this story is to try local wines wherever and whenever you are on holiday.</p>

<p>Be spontaneous while on vacation and fit a pop-up wine fest or any other activity that presents itself.</p>

<p>Czechia is best known for its beers (Pilsner Urquell and Kozel, anyone?).</p>

<p>But, it does have a wine industry that&#39;s small by European standards, especially compared to France, Italy or France.</p>

<p>To put it in perspective, Czech wine production, mostly from the Moravia region,&nbsp;is about 60 million litres per year off 44,500 acres of vineyards.</p>

<p>In British Columbia, annual wine production, the majority from the Okanagan, is about 15 million litres off 13,000 acres of vineyards.</p>

<p><img alt="&lt;/who&gt;The sandwich board sign that lured us to the Jak Vino wine festival." class="img-responsive" src="/files/files/images/sandwich%20board.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" /></p>

<p>By the way, I picked &#39;The Accidental (Wine) Tourist&#39; as the headline for this wine column because it tied in nicely with the name of the 1988 Oscar-winning movie The Accidental Tourist.</p>

<p>The film is about turning life&#39;s accidents into opportunities, much like how we, as tourists to Prague, revelled in an unexpected wine fest.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Also, by the way, Jak Vino, the name of the festival translates literally to &#39;how to wine&#39;.</p>

<p><em>Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca" target="_blank">smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca</a>. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.</em></p>
"

ApiController::parse_description() - COREpublic_html/app/controllers/api_controller.php, line 1191
ApiController::parse_description() - COREpublic_html/app/controllers/api_controller.php, line 1191
ApiController::rss() - COREpublic_html/app/controllers/api_controller.php, line 1166
Dispatcher::_invoke() - COREcake/dispatcher.php, line 204
Dispatcher::dispatch() - COREcake/dispatcher.php, line 171
[main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 99