In a week, I’ll be touching down at Pleso International in Zagreb to dig in to three days of Croatian wines *. While I’m not a huge fan of queuing up to tables and rushing through piles of winemakers (a single bottle of wine should be enjoyed over an evening after all) it’s a great opportunity to see the new wines that have popped onto the scene since my last visit.
The steadily pounding waves of winery modernization have completely swept over all of Croatia at this point and it will be interesting to see if they’ve become more uniform or still maintain their unique character, especially in the case of the Dingač wineries. Also, just getting to hang out with winemaker friends like Alen Bibich is always an opportunity I’ll take.
I’m really hoping that there will be at least some Bosnia Herzegovina wineries in attendance. Many of them make splendid wines, they rarely get much press, and are quite difficult to taste short of going there. Sadly, this trip won’t allow a hop down to Herzegovina. There are cousins to see in Slovenia and new wines to try there as well.
More than anything, I’m just happy to heading the Zagreb again. It’s been some time since I’ve seen my family and friends there and it was of great relief when I found out that they’d moved this festival from February to April. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, Europe, even Southern Europe is not terribly pleasant in February. This year was particularly harsh with snow in places that rarely saw it, like Split. April is most assuredly not July, but at the same time, you generally have a little rain and then some sun which is decently warm.
Undoubtedly there will be plenty of roštilj and sitting out on Tkalčićeva taking in an Ožujsko or three after a hard day of drinking wine.
Read the coverages of Day I, Day II, and Day III.
* Note that I also visited in 2013 as well but the vibe was very different and the event ceased from that point onwards.
2 responses to “One week to Zagreb and the Wine Gourmet Weekend”
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I understand your dislike for any sort of wine festivals. I find it less and less appealing and not fair to “non-festival” wines, those that are not able to catch your attention at first sniff and sip. Wine needs time and patience, as you say, to be enjoyed in good company during a good dinner (I hate to drink wine alone).
Miquel, I would really love to get to know you finally on ZGWG, I am really enjoying your writings here. I’ll be there with other Croatian bloggers so I hope we’ll have few glasses together.
Contact me on my email!
Goran
Yes, I suppose my dislike of wine festivals grows largely out of those on West Coast which are typically a zoo, with about half the people being those in the food or wine business and the other half just looking to get drunk, but being quite pushy about getting their glass filled. Those I’ve been to on the East Coast or in Europe seem to be a great deal more controlled and professional.