This story grew as it was told, writes John Ronald Reuel Tolkien in The Two Towers, the second part of The Lord of the Rings. So did the story about the Gemischtss as it was told until it became a tale of two bottles that could hardly do without each other. The famous Victor Hugo wrote that God created water and man created wine, and there is little that can be added to his words. Perhaps just a quote from the beginning of the beautiful book The Philosophy of Wine, a kind of prayer book for atheists written by the Hungarian philosopher, writer, journalist and dissident Bela Hamvas: In the end, only two remain: God and wine.
Bottled since 1828
The wise thought should be heeded, so divine water and human wine should be combined into gemišt. In Croatia and neighboring countries, this German word, slightly adapted to the Croatian language, has for centuries meant a drink made from white wine and mineral water. It is reliably known that gemišt in the current sense of the word was drunk in Croatia as early as the 19th century: Every house has its own wine. Many people like to mix wine with sour water from Jamnica. Most sour water is consumed in the summer, writes Samobor teacher Milan Lang in the book Samobor, life and customs from 1915. At that time, wine analyses were not performed, but the first chemical analysis of water that originated in Jamnica was performed in 1772 thanks to Empress Maria Theresa. The water was immediately included in the register of mineral waters of the Viennese court. It went on sale widely in 1828.
Wine or water: Something always left over
Bedcause of that bottle of Jamnička kiselica many good guys countless had sleepless nights. I played hundreds and hundreds of games of billiards with my best man until we managed to evenly distribute the liter of wine and liter of water and empty both bottles at the same time. At first, there was always either wine or water left. Just when we had mastered the skill of pouring properly, both the wine and the water would disappear, and there would still be a few balls left on the billiard table. What could we do but order another round? When liter bottles of wine seriously gave way to volume of 0,75, more than thirty years ago, the problem became literally insoluble. It is fortunate that we settled down in marriages and could no longer practice as often as before. Today, thanks to different bottles of water, the problem of equal amounts of wine and water is easily solved.
Everyone has their own ratio
Team that drinks half and half can take two bottles of wine and water in a one and a half liter bottle. Those who like a real gemischt, with water and wine ratio two in eight, will take a bottle of wine and a two deciliter bottle of water. Lovers of škropec, in which a deciliter of wine is sprinkled with a few drops of sour water, do not need to pay special attention to the ratio. Wine is poured into a škropec glass up to the line that indicates a deciliter and water is added as much as it will fit. This culture of mixing different ratios of wine and water was especially developed by the people of Samobor. Almost every tavern there offers special glasses for each of the aforementioned mixed drinks. But the different ratios are neither a Samoborian nor a modern invention. Even the ancient Greeks had as many as six mixed drinks.
Hesiod, Alexis, Diocles, Nikokares...
A quarter of the wine should be mixed with three nymphs, says a Greek record from the fifth century BC. Such a mixture was called Hesiod. Alexis was a mixture of four parts water and one part wine. Diocles had one third wine and two thirds water, Nikokares had only one sixth wine, and half-half was called strong wine. Homer even wrote about mixing wine and water in a ratio of one to 20, as if he was also blind to the delight of wine, but there is no doubt that he still saw the divine in it. If God really created water and man created wine, their mixture is a semi-divine drink. And the story about it, in the course of telling, grew into a tale of the harmony of the divine and the human. And in two simbolic bottles.
