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Articles about 'Zilavka'
Looking out over the town and vines of Međugorje in the heart of Herzegovina.
There is a great deal of truth in the saying that "good things come to those who wait". About two years ago, I discovered what a great wealth of wine was on offer in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Unfortunately, beyond what I could pack in to my suitcase for the flight home, I was unable to taste it since.
This has all changed now that the wines of Vinarija Čitluk are available to be purchased here in the U.S. And from our travels in 2007 you can read all about a visit to Čitluk here.
The best part in all of this is that Blue Danube Wine Co. was able to get a hold of most everything Čitluk produces, thus providing a great taste across the core varietals of Herzegovina.
A Roman carving in Herzegovina This includes several of the white Žilavkas, several of the red Blatinas, and even some Vranacs which people will find is a bit different than what is being made across the border in Montenegro. For those looking to try a bit of everything, there are the Premium Mostar and Value Herzegovina Six-Pack Samplers as well.
Finally, if you want to read more about the region as a whole, take a look at the wine guide I wrote, Vinologue: Dalmatia Herzegovina.
Herzegovina is Here
Posted 04 08 2009 by miquel 0 CommentsLooking out over the town and vines of Međugorje in the heart of Herzegovina.
A Roman carving in Herzegovina
The First Wine Guide to Dalmatia & Herzegovina: Vinologue
Posted 11 21 2008 by miquel 0 Comments
I walked through Pile Gate in Dubrovnik, my friend Ivana leading the way down the Stradun and then off on a side street that I hadn't yet discovered in the Old Town. We arrived at a bar named Carpe Diem, sat down in the early evening and ordered. I had no idea what to order. I didn't speak Croatian and so I was ordered a glass of red wine. At this point, everything changed. The wine was the Zlatan Plavac from Zlatan Plenković.
That was in 2004 and I remember thinking it would be fantastic to learn more about these deceptively good Croatian wines, but there was nothing to be found. While beach tourism was taking off in Croatia, there were no wine brochures and there were no wine guides. People in most of the shops didn't really know all that much as wine was wine. Frustrated and stubborn, I dug and started to read every scrap of news I could find. I drank more wine. I learned Croatian. I found importers in the US like Blue Danube Wine Company, learned more, and drank more wine.
In 2007, I met my future wife who helped me to focus my interest in the wines (as she also loved wine and the Western Balkans) and plan out a trip to the region with two purposes: drink even more wines and finally write an English language book about them. After finishing the research, the writing began and over a year later, Vinologue: Dalmatia Herzegovina has emerged.
While Jasenka Pilac has the honors of writing the first English language book that is specifically about the origins of Zinfandel, we have the honor of writing the first guide to the region. It culls together everything that we learned the hard way while traveling and tells the history of the regions, the winemakers, and of course, the wines. In Croatia, we travel to North Dalmatia, the Islands, and South Dalmatia. The we head in to Bosnia & Herzegovina, specifically to the Herzegovina region. You might be asking why Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Well, that's one of the things about the Vinologue series that we're starting. We focus on a region of winemakers who all produce wine in a similar manner with similar varietals. This can easily transcend borders as we see in this case.
But, enough about the history of everything as it's all in the book. For those looking to learn more about the region or prepare for a trip to see the viticulture, the book is available now by ordering through the Vinologue site and costs $15 plus $4 shipping to the US and Canada or $7 shipping everywhere else. It's 135 pages with 20 pages of color photos as well as region maps.
Hercegovina Produkt Delivers
Posted 07 13 2007 by miquel 0 Comments
Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe
Barrels in the main cellar area
Hercegovina Produkt is the rather forceful sounding name for a winery that started out as a family-run operation. In 2002 the Barbarić family took their 150 year-old tradition of making wine from being a small affair to being one of the bigger wine producers in the Herzegovina region. While it comes across as a very large company when you come up to the building from the road, there are only seven people running it. One of them is enologist Mirela Gudelj who was nice enough to take some extra time to show us around and give us a taste of their two main wines: Blatina and Žilavka.
Blatina and Žilavka
We started with the 2006 Žilavka which was quite typical of the region. It had nice soft fruit on the nose and was very fresh. The body was similar and gave of a sense of fresh cut vegetables and fruits, pointing to it being good, paired with salads and other appetizers in a meal. There is also a touch of apricot and peach to the body, which leads in to something of a tannic finish on it.
The 2006 Blatina was a tasty bottle. There are these sweet stripes to the nose that get sandwiched between minty, dark aromas. The closest thing I could compare the nose to would be a Dingač, but obviously it is a much, much different wine. All of the sweetness to the nose drops off in the body and you get some good mineral tones to it. This then changes again in to something a bit more dry as it finished off, but then leads out in to a nice smoothness.
While these two wines are but a sample of the greater product line of Herzegovina Produkt, they stand out as good wines produced on a large scale.
Barrels in the main cellar area
Blatina and Žilavka
Vitai is Different
Posted 07 12 2007 by elia 0 Comments
Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe
Sanja Juricić samples the wines of her family
Vitai is the company name for the brand of wine in Bosnia Herzegovina that most people know as Gangaš. It is a very different winery in the region for several reasons. The first being that it is run by three women: Olivera Juricić and her daughters, Sanja and Anđa. This is unheard of in this area because men are the wine makers and that is the end of the discussion. Women may be the enologists for a large company, but men make the wine.
Blatina big and small
Obviously it was not always the case that women ended up making the wine in this company, and it was the untimely passing of Sanja and Anđa's father that brought this about. But, instead of folding or selling to another winery as was often the case in the past, they took up the reigns and have become one of the biggest family-owned wineries in Herzegovina producing 75,000 liters last year and having a capacity of 150,000 liters. Not bad for a place that really started in earnest, in 1995 and was built out of a small, 150 year old cellar.
Another reason why they are unique is because in addition to the regional standards of Žilavka and Blatina, they are also trying to make a bit of rosé and champagne.
We tasted both their 2006 and 2004 Žilavka. The 2006 is still a bit young, but you can't taste it. There is some oak to it from the Slavonian barrels that they use, but overall it is very mellow. There is a strong dose of citrus to the nose as well as some green apple. The body is smooth and doesn't betray the rather high alcohol (for this area) of 13%. The 2004 is much more oaky, which is natural given the amount of time in the barrel. It is quite a bit heavier than the 2006 and has hints of the herbs that are used in travarica, a high-octane popular Croatian spirit. The very palpable meatiness to the body gives way just a little bit in to the finish. Trying to decide which of these years is better is impossible though as they are both quite good, albeit nearly completely different wines.
The old family house
While we didn't get to the rosé, we did try the 2005 Blatina. It is good, but also very young. There is a good deal of tannic strength to the body, but the nose has good fruits. More air doesn't really change it all that much, but it will be interesting to see how it progresses with more time in the barrel.
It will also be interesting to see how this winery will progress. Sanja has been studying at the enology institute in Zagreb and is well versed in the craft of wine. These women are doing a great job with their wine and only time will tell how the wine will mix with local patriarchal ways. We hope it will somehow mix well and we will definitely pay them another visit in the future.
Sanja Juricić samples the wines of her family
Blatina big and small
The old family house
Vinarija Čitluk Keeps Aging
Posted 07 11 2007 by miquel 2 Comments
Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe
A few of Čitluk's top quality wines
Čitluk is a smallish town in Herzegovina that has a surprising number of wineries in it. The biggest one is naturally the one that was the former collective for the area under Communism called, Vinarija Čitluk. While the name and the drab building aren't the most exciting things in the world, they do produce a good number of wines of good quality. This is no small feat considering that they buy grapes from a massive area of 400 hectares in Herzegovina. They first fired up the barrels in 1960 and currently have 85 employees and a capacity of 11 million liters, although they produced a "mere" five million in 2006.
Tihomir Prusina led us through a tasting of a few of their wines, starting with the 2005 Blatina. It had good fruit in the nose, but was rather light overall. The body was very dry and had a bit of sharpness to it. This did clear out though in the finish as well as with a bit more air in it.
Main processing tanks
We also had the 2005 Blatina Barrique, which apparently spends a minimum of a year in the bottle before they sell it. This does seem to make a difference, as it is quite a good wine. There are a lot of deep berries and sweet aromas to the nose. A hint of mint, spice, as well as the oak of the barrels comes out in the nose as well. This then transfers in to a deep, meaty body that is great on the palate. There is buttery smoothness to the finish that lets out something of a blue cheese flavor and is very, very tasty.
While Vinarija Čitluk produces a great number of other wines and spirits, we only got to taste these two. They pointed to a good level of quality in the wines, which many of these former collectives don't usually have and we appreciated that a good deal.
A few of Čitluk's top quality wines
Main processing tanks
Podrumi Andrija Expands on the Classics
Posted 07 11 2007 by miquel 1 Comment
Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe
Andrija's family sharing wine, meat, and cheese
Our first stop along the Vinska Cesta of Herzegovina was at Podrumi Andrija. Like most wine makers in the area, the family has a tradition of wine that formed the foundation of the company. They were a bit different, though, as they actually started making wine to sell in 1971, which was not allowed under the Communist government. Apparently, family and friends worked to hide their wine making operation. Proving that they were a crafty group, they were able to continue growing during the war with their wine being routed through other countries with some fantastic scheme that we think we were better off not knowing about.
Andrija's Žilavka Barrique
But now, in the 21st century, the winery is a full-fledged operation, producing from four hectares of their own and buying from 400 other people who grow on an additional 80 hectares. This allows them to have a well-appointed tasting room where they treated us to an extensitve tasting of their wines as well as some locally made pršut (smoked ham), which we always accept gladly.
We started with the 2004 Žilavka. It is a light white wine at 12% alcohol. There are mineral tones to the nose and body and a slight grapefruit to it as well. Citrus flavors come out in the body as it opens up and these continue in to the finish.
From there, we moved in to the 2005 Blatina. This was a very nice sample of this local varietal. There were cherries and berries in the nose and a tad bit of syrupy fruit to it. It wasn't sweet though and gave a nice, pleasing balance of aromas. The body presented much more earthy flavors that presented the wine as bold and enjoyable. The finish was clean and overall, it was a solid wine.
Andrija's wines in his shop
To close, we had the 2004 Blatina Barrique. The nose had both mineral and earthy notes to it as well as being fresh and dewy. All of this we liked a great deal. The best part was that all these aromas carried directly in to the body, which made for great drinking. There was a little spark to the finish that sticks with you and makes the wine a real winner and as it gets more air, it gets more complex, presenting some sour cherry in the finish.
Andrija was a great start to the Vinska Cesta that made us happy and very excited to move on and taste more.
Andrija's family sharing wine, meat, and cheese
Andrija's Žilavka Barrique
Andrija's wines in his shop
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