Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović, Photo: Mihovil Štimac (left)
I’ve spent the entire last week (the one before this one), in Dubrovnik, for the FestiWine, to which I was invited by Tilda Bogdanović – the woman dragon who with her team organized a perfect event. As I was away from Sarajevo for a full week, upon my return I was greeted a lot of work, and since Monday I’ve been trying to find a way to write a diary log and dedicate it to Dubrovnik, but the work around Woman.Comm portal and the eponymous Conferences is piling up with every passing day.
And as it usually happens, you don’t do something, and you don’t know why you hadn’t done it, until one day everything suddenly becomes clear. The same happened to me today. As I was walking toward the parking lot and thinking about the text I have to write, I first encountered Ante Ramljak, Commissioner for Agrokor, returning from a meeting in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, soon after came Dubravka Jusić. In a brief conversation she told me she was appointed executive director of marketing at Agrokor, that the job is very exciting and interesting, that she has the support of the Board, and that now she’s completely focused on new challenges. We talked about the Woman.Comm Conference and she promised she will come.
Anyway, it took an encounter with a woman from Dubrovnik for me to find the strength and time to write the diary log about Dubrovnik.
I was introduced to the Dubrovnik FestiWine a year ago by Ksenija Renko, who sent me great emails from the last year’s festival and recently she connected me with Tilda Bogdanović, owner of not-quite-big PR agency from Dubrovnik, who mustered the courage to ask the County of Dubrovnik-Neretva to take over from them the organization of the wine festival. We offered media support to Dubrovnik FestiWine, and since we had some suggestions for the 2018 edition, Tilda asked me to come to Dubrovnik and ‘taste’ the Festival first hand.
During the week of Dubrovnik FestiWine, Dubrovnik hosts its Vinska Setemana. This is when two dozen or so of the most respected restaurants and wine bars in Dubrovnik offer authentic menus and wine at promotional prices and thus gain the title FestiWine Friendly.
The first three days at the Dubrovnik Palace hotel there was the panel wine evaluation by the jury of 16 members. The first three years festival accepted only wines from the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. From this year, they accept entries from all over Croatia and the European Union, so the jury had their hands full.
On the second day, I was invited, together with two Dutch journalists, to visit the winery Rizman, about 65 kilometers from Dubrovnik towards Metković. We were met there by Mihovil Štimac, Director of the Rizman Winery, and Josip Volarević, Director of the Volarević Vineyards – a younger man who will soon be defending a doctorate on the subject of wine Plavac. At our comment that we came to visit the Winery Rizman, and were greeted by a director of competing winery, Mihovil said with a smile: “It was supposed to be more of us, but the others couldn’t come because of obligations. You are in the area of Komarna vineyards. For now we are four wineries here, and three more are waiting for their first wines. We are not each other’s competition. We cooperate and jointly promote this vine country and its wines. You will now taste both Rizman and Volarević wine brands, so decide for yourself. We don’t compete, we just want to provide you an opportunity to enjoy wine.”
Winery Rizman is named after the grand-grandfather of today’s generation of family Štimac, Mihovil Mijo Popich, who in the early 20th century planted the first vineyards. After the vineyards were devastated by a disease, Rizman moved to the US. He came back to Opuzen in 1918, when he went on planting new vines. In his vineyard he cultivated eight thousand vines.
Winery Rizman re-launched production in 2006, skipping an entire generation in the family Štimac. A new vineyard was planted on new locations, the necessary infrastructure was built and a whole new wine region in Croatia was created.
I tasted several excellent wines with my colleagues from the Netherlands, and enjoyed for two hours over some excellent food.
We would’ve stayed in the very cozy atmosphere of the winery for a long time, but we had to go to Mali Ston. There we were in for a Blind Date – the selection of wines that best loves Ston oysters. Fantastic. It took us four hours to taste 22 different wines and three champagnes, all the while judging the wines so we could finally select the one that goes best with oysters. The jury consisted of international judges, representatives of the sponsors and the media, friends of the Festival – about 50 of us. Together with us the wine and oysters were enjoyed by Nikola Dobroslavić, Mayor of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, whom we often encountered since he carefully watched over the Festival giving it added importance with his presence. In these four hours of tasting to pairing the right wine with oysters, I learned a lot about wine listening to the comments of international judges who were sitting around me. I learned the most from Mira Semić, who is originally from Banja Luka but has been living for a long time in Slovenia where she is among the top professional sommeliers, and Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, who in early June in Šibenik is organizing a large wine and culinary event Taste the Mediterranean. My pal, Dragan Sakan, used to say that 99% of any wine is water, and that the remaining 1% is an idea, and that, depending on the idea, the price of wines made from the same grape variety can vary several times. That’s how I tasted the wines. I tried to find in each of them that magical idea. I have never been in such a situation, but now I begin to envy the sommelier. I thought this what I do was the best job in the world, but their job is better, and leaves you with better taste in the mouth. There are no clients.
OK, every wine is made from an idea. But we should not neglect the role that name, label and the bottle play in its appeal. That’s why I suggested to Tilda that together next year, in the context of Dubrovnik FestiWine, we organize a selection of the best names, labels and wine bottles and an exhibition of labels. We already have an idea for the jury which would be composed of poets (name), art director (labels) and industrial designers (bottles). All of them together in one jury, which could be chaired by the legendary poet from Dubrovnik, Luko Paljetak. That’s what Tilda and I thought about, and these days we will start working on it.
Central social event of the festival was FestiWine Gala dinner, a dinner prepared by the team of renowned chefs and sommeliers. Dinner was held at the Dubrovnik Palace Hotel, and all proceeds went to scholarships for young culinary talents. I’m sorry that I did not attend this dinner. It was Vedrana’s birthday and I wanted to treat her with a dinner in an intimate restaurant in Dubrovnik.
Dubrovnik FestiWine ended with a two-day exhibition Lazareti at which 71 wineries exhibited their products. Along with the exhibition there were also several lectures and workshops. Winners were also named, and you can find out all about them on www.dubrovnikfestiwine.com.
Everything comes to an end, however, and so did this unforgettable week in Dubrovnik. I’m grateful to Tilda for the hospitality and for enabling me to enjoy wine for an entire week, and discover its charms which I know so little abut before. Now I will first buy a couple of books about wines, and will return next year prepared.
And you? How do you stand with wines? If you want to enjoy the best, come next year in April to Dubrovnik for FestiWine. It’s worth it, I guarantee.