MEĐUGORJE – Several thousand wine lovers gathered on Thursday evening, 27 August, at the Međugorje Sport Centre for the 11th edition of the BLAŽ Enology festival, an event that over more than a decade has grown into one of the most important wine happenings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the wider region.
This year’s festival once again placed the indigenous varieties Žilavka, Blatina and Trnjak at its centre as the three cornerstones of Herzegovinian winemaking, while visitors could also enjoy a rich gastronomic offer, music and the pleasant garden setting by the Sport Centre pools. Some thirty wineries presented their wines, giving visitors the chance to discover the diversity and quality of the local wine scene in one place.
Numerous guests
The festival drew several thousand visitors, among them wine lovers and representatives of business, sport, diplomacy and culture. It confirmed once again that BLAŽ Enology has outgrown the classic wine event: alongside wine enthusiasts, sommeliers and oenologists, it brings together people from a range of sectors who contribute to the promotion of Herzegovina. Guests included athletes, entertainers, politicians, diplomats and business leaders whose presence, and in many cases direct involvement, helps Herzegovina stand out as an unmissable wine destination. During the day a diplomatic harvest was also held, with numerous ambassadors from all corners of the world symbolically picking the first grapes to officially open the new vintage in Herzegovina. The host of this year’s gathering was the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, who welcomed more than 40 representatives of the diplomatic corps in the country, ambassadors, heads of missions and representatives of international organisations.
Atmosphere and gastronomy
A special atmosphere during the evening came from the musical performances of the klapa groups Sebenico and Intrade, while the traditional gastro offer rounded out a festival programme that saw the first presentation of Poyatha, a new concept designed as a platform for connecting local food producers with contemporary gastronomy. Products such as cheeses, prosciutto and olive oil found their place in the offer, with chefs and students of the Dr. fra Slavko Barbarić Secondary School involved in preparing the food.
Wine quality comes first
It is worth noting that the eleventh edition of BLAŽ Enology showed wine quality to be growing steadily despite the great challenges winemakers face. Žilavka is showing enormous potential and delivers excellent results both in its fresh and its aged form, which gives producers welcome room for manoeuvre and easier planning of market releases. Blatina shows great progress and an ever better understanding of the variety: winemakers now grasp that Blatina is delicate rather than robust, and approach it accordingly. The wines are less and less burdened by oak, allowing varietal aromas of ripe morello and black cherry to come to the fore, with rounded tannins and generally good freshness. Still made in small quantities, but ever more present, is Trnjak, the fastest riser in quality terms, which is understandable given that serious work on the variety only began some ten years ago, so some winemakers have only just come to market with this exciting variety that is very much on the rise. Wines from the Bordeaux varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot), which achieve great results in Herzegovina, also showed traditionally well.
This year, once again, BLAŽ brought people and tradition together through fine wines in the most beautiful way possible.
