By: Ivana Mlinarić
The history of this festival is really interesting. The event that began in 2014 as a regional wine festival with the aim of promoting wine culture and autochthonous varieties of grapes of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Thanks to the great interest of the targeted but also the general public, three years later it became an international festival, opening its doors to the participants far beyond the boundaries of the county.
Organizers have prepared a rich program in which everyone can find something for their tastes. The festival begins with the Dubrovnik Wine Week, within which numerous citizens of Dubrovnik and guests visit restaurants, taverns and wine bars labelled Wine Friendly, and try the best wines that flawlessly blend with the fine delicacies of the Dubrovnik area.
The central event is the wine exhibition of this year’s Dubrovnik Festiwine, which will be held on Friday and Saturday, 20 and 21 April 2018, in the beautiful setting of Sunset Beach in Lapad Bay. During the wine exhibition, along with meetings of wine professionals and winemakers, there will be lectures and tastings, as well as very attractive wine and culinary workshops such as Gault & Millau, a master class by Japanese chef Ippei Uemura and the Sparkling Table Salon.
“This year, Dubrovnik FestiWine is marking its fifth birthday, with firm steps we continue with our strategy of developing wine growing and winemaking in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. We look forward to all exhibitors and their wines, to all visitors and wine experts, we look forward to a healthy competition in which our county wines can even better validate their excellence,” said Nikola Dobroslavić, county prefect of Dubrovnik Neretva County.
In addition to the above-mentioned events, traditional activity during Dubrovnik FestiWine is blind tasting of wines that best fit with the autochthonous delicacies – Ston oysters. Accompanying the attractive Blind date: In love with Ston Oysters is the Dubrovnik FestiWine Trophy – wine rating in which the internationally recognized jury, made up of domestic and foreign judges, enologist, led by the president Bojan Kobal, will choose the best wines of the festival.
Another curiosity of the festival is the gastro-spectacle, the Dubrovnik FestiWine Gala Dinner, on 19 April 2018 at the Excelsior Hotel. Along with seven winning wines from the last year’s festival, the Gala will present the creative cuisine of young but proven chefs: guest Igor Jagodic and host chef Petar Obad. As in the past years, all the proceeds from the event are intended for scholarships of young talents from the field of culinary arts.
All the details about the festival, exhibitors and how to visit it can be found at http://www.dubrovnikfestiwine.com/en/ and by following the Facebook page of the festival. Save the dates in your calendar for the 5th anniversary of Dubrovnik Festiwine, meet with hard working winemakers, try fine wines, join interesting workshops and lectures and learn all you ever wanted to know about wines!
