Most people don’t know about Blatina, Herzegovina’s workhorse red grape. It and its white partner in wine, Žilavka are by far and away the most heavily grown grapes in this small wine region of Southern Bosnian & Herzegovina. Gradually, more French-y varietals are sneaking their way in and that, is a shame as these two grapes produce wonderful wines from this quite undiscovered region.
It’s true that there are some wineries there that don’t really do much with the grape and they produce what is little more than a basic table wine. Krš (Vinarija Škegro) however makes some of the more higher-end takes on the grape and at reasonable prices. I was reminded up this when tasting an unexpected glass of their Žilavka at Zagreb Wine Gourmet. Later, when picking up a couple of bottles at Vrutak, I came across this very nicely redesigned bottle of Blatina and brought it back to lounge in for awhile.
