Indonesia is a Southeast Asian country in Oceania, made up of 33 provinces spread across more than 13,000 individual islands. The archipelago straddles the equator, spanning latitudes between 11 degrees south and six degrees north.
Unlikely as it might seem, there are wines made in Indonesia: not from imported must or juice but from grapes grown in the island's small number of vineyards. The most significant winery in Indonesia is Hatten Wines, located at Sanur Beach, one of the longest-established tourist destinations on the island of Bali. The winery is owned and managed entirely by the local Budarsa family, who began producing brem (a rice wine akin to the arrack for which Indonesia is known) in the 1960s. In 1994 the family branched out into grape-based winemaking, although the original brem facility still operates next to the Hatten winery. Two new wineries have now been established, and their distribution remains entirely local.
Belgia Muscat and Alphonse Lavallee are two of the preferred varieties here. Both are large-berried varieties whose thick skins help to protect the flesh from airborne infection in the moist atmosphere. Few grape varieties would thrive in the hot conditions which make Bali such a popular tourist destination, and the high humidity here leads to rot and fungal disease in all but the most resilient of grapes. The finest of these grapes come from the Singaraja region, at the far northern edge of Bali.
Arrack is Indonesia's best-known alcoholic drink, and is not to be confused with arak, the anise-flavored spirit made in the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa. Arrack is made from fermented flowers, grain or fruit, depending on its provenance. The presence of arak in many Islamic (and theoretically alcohol-free) states is something of a paradox, as the spirit typically has a strength of 30–50% alcohol by volume. However, when made from flower sap (usually those of the coconut palm), arak slips through a loophole in Islamic anti-alcohol law: some interpretations of the Koran outlaw alcohol made from grain or fruit, but do not mention flowers or sap.
The name arrack is thought to be derived from the Arabic word arak ('condensation') and has obvious links to the physics of distillation. The largest producer of arrack in the world is Sri Lanka, 1000 miles (1600km) away from Indonesia, westwards across the Indian Ocean.
