At the Dubrovnik Palace hotel in Dubrovnik, the Agroturizam Konavle association hosted the professional masterclass “Award-Winning Wines of the Konavle Subregion“, accompanied by an En Primeur tasting of young Malvasija Dubrovacka, as an example of an integrated approach to promoting regional viticulture. The event drew some 80 prominent stakeholders of the wine sector, winemakers, sommeliers, restaurateurs and distributors, with the aim of analysing the qualitative achievements and market position of the Konavle winegrowing area.
The masterclass was structured as a guided tasting of a selection of award-winning wines, with the emphasis on the imprint of terroir, stylistic diversity and consistency of quality. Through this format, both the evaluation of individual wines and the development directions of the wine region were presented. The programme was expertly led by the respected wine experts Ana Bitanga and Ivan Bozilov, together with the organiser Zeljko Paskovic. You can view the wines presented at this link.
En Primeur as a window onto the new vintage
In the evening part of the programme, an En Primeur tasting of young Malvasija Dubrovacka was held, open to the wider public as well. Visitors were among the first to taste wines of this key indigenous variety of Konavle and to form an impression of the direction and potential of the latest vintage. The young wines showed freshness, aromatic intensity and good balance, pointing to a quality harvest. It is especially important that the professional audience gained a fairly detailed insight into a variety that remains under-explored and whose ultimate potential is still unknown. The impression is that, like all serious varieties, time works in its favour, and that it calls for a certain amount of ageing to fully knit together and move away from intense fermentative aromas. It is also noticeable that with a slightly later harvest the grapes accumulate a great deal of sugar, resulting in high alcohol and a certain imbalance in the wine. Malvasija Dubrovacka is, incidentally, one of the most exciting and noble indigenous white varieties of Dalmatia, with a strong historical identity and a very specific expression, so its revitalisation and serious return to the wine scene, after being seriously threatened at the end of the Homeland War, is of great importance. It is by no means a light “summer” wine, but a serious, structured white of high concentration and complexity, which must be understood as such and approached correctly, from the winemaker in the cellar to the restaurateur, for in a gastronomic sense it is very versatile, pairing with a whole range of dishes from seafood, fish, veal and pork roasts to octopus baked under the peka.
Steadily strengthening Konavle’s position
Events like this play an important role in strengthening the recognition of the Konavle winegrowing area. Beyond promoting the wines, they enable the exchange of knowledge and experience and directly connect producers with the market. Although the Konavle vineyard area makes up only about one per cent of Croatia’s total vineyard surface, it is increasingly clearly emerging as a winegrowing region with a pronounced identity, in which the combination of indigenous and well-adapted varieties, together with a modern approach to production, yields wines of high quality and distinctive character.
The importance of this project has been recognised and supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, the Dubrovnik-Neretva County Tourist Board and the Konavle Municipal Tourist Board.
