“Trs Is Ours” – a pun on the historical slogan about Trieste (a city in the northern Italy) is the slogan of the 3rd International Wine and Food Festival WineRi 2019, to be held on March 8-9, from 1 pm to 7 pm at the Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka (Governor’s Palace, Museum Square 1).
WineRi is the venue for the promotion of indigenous Kvarner wine varieties and a kind of En Primeur for Žlahtina, Jarbola and Kastafska Belica. In total, 67 exhibitors will be present with over 250 wine labels from Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, while 18 exhibitors will present Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The exhibitors, in addition to 50 winemakers, will feature six producers of brandies and liqueurs, six food producers (cheeses, olive oils and cured meat products), two manufacturers of wood and recycled paper products, two craft beer producers and one chocolate producer.
The festival ticket costs 60 kuna, while the glass deposit is 20 kuna. Due to limited space, all workshops will also cost 60 kuna. The festival traditionally has a charity character, and all exhibitors will donate their products which visitors will be able to buy for donated 50 kuna, with the proceeds going to “I Want – I Can” association from Pazin, which works with children with special needs.
As part of the festival, eight professional workshops will be held, and UNESCO-protected Zvončari and Bakarski Baškot groups will be presented. The workshops Making Love with Wine, Jarbola? Belica? What Is That, Rose Wines of Istria and Kvarner powered by Pink Day, Wine and Cinema, Sparkling Kvarner, Wine’s Indiana Jones, will surely attract numerous participants, since they will be hosted by experienced experts and sommeliers Filip Savić, Tomislav Pavlešić, Darko Lugarić, Jelena Bulum from WOW association, Marija Vukelić and the winemaker Ivica Dobrinčić. Part of the organisational team is the PAR Business School with its student practice department, the PAR Incubator.
Two parties will also take place. On Friday, March 8th, on the International Women’s Day, the WTF (Wine Tasting Festival) party will be held at Marina Botel, while on Saturday, 9 March, starting from 8 pm the central WTF party will be held at Bačva club. The organisers believe that this year the number of visitors will surpass last year’s and that the festival will become a meeting point and a gathering of producers on the one hand, and wine fans and representatives of the catering industry on the other, a kind of an ode to the often-mentioned Mediterranean lifestyle.
The partners of this year’s WineRi festival are Vino s okusom soli Crikvenica, Vino.com Zagreb, Salon pjenušavih vina Zagreb, Pink Day Zagreb powered by WOW, WineOs Osijek, Kvarner Wine Fest Opatija, Zadar Wine Festival and Grand Tasting Belgrade. The associations supporting the festival are the Žlahtina Association, the Belica Association, the Jarbola Association, the WOW/Women on Wine Association, and the AHA association. The organiser of the festival is the marketing agency Aha Marketing from Selce, while co-organisers are the Centre for hilly and mountainous agriculture of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, i.e. Kašetica Primorsko-goranska – the Centre of autochthonous products of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
The wine godfather of the festival is a participant of the Croatian MasterChef competition finals Časlav Matijević. The festival is held under the auspices of President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić, Minister of Tourism Gari Cappelli and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Darko Horvat.
The sponsors of the festival are Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Osijek-Baranja County, Požega-Slavonia County, the Town of Rijeka, the Kvarner Tourist Board, the Rijeka Town Tourist Board, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Chamber of Crafts and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Rijeka County Chamber, which will promote brands “Croatian Creation” and “Croatian Quality”. The media sponsors of the festival are Novi List, La Voce del Popolo, Gastronaut.hr, vino.rs, svijetvina.hr, GetReport, fiuman.hr, rijecanin.rtl.hr, torpedo.media, crikva.hr.
In cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Rijeka County Chamber and Gastronaut.hr, more than 2,000 representatives of the Kvarner catering industry will be invited to the festival, while GetReport from Zagreb will bring the most significant Croatian wine and gastronomy journalist.
More news about Croatian wines can be found in the Lifestyle section.
