They say that the Plavac Mali wine variety has a thousand faces, that its nature is wild, that it is unbridled and rustic, but also that in the hands of a good winemaker the variety produces wines of exceptional quality. The truthfulness of these claims was confirmed in Zagreb recently as part of Jelena Bulum’s programme entitled Wine&Cinema held at the Bornstein wine shop and wine bar, which paired wines and films.
The guests tasted wines of different stylistic expressions: on one hand, Stina’s modern wines – Bogondon 2017, Plavac Mali Barrique 2013, Plavac Mali Majstor 2015; and, on the other hand, the wines produced by the winemaker Željko Ledinić from Pelješac, more focused towards fans of the traditional Plavac – Plavac Mali Selection 2013, Plavac Mali Prestige 2011, and semi-dry Plavac from 2011.
The tasting was accompanied by clips from psychological thrillers, and the selection of the films was explained by the event organiser Jelena Bulum who said that such complex and serious wines such as Plavac can found their pair only in films whose protagonists are equally complex.
A ballerina who “breaks down” under the weight of expectations in Black Swan, the talented Tom Ripley from the eponymous film who thinks that “it is better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody,” the pathologic liar and kleptomaniac Marnie, a creation of master the of the suspense Hitchcock.
Marnie was paired with the Majstor wine. Stina’s wines were tasted accompanied by the well-known snacks from Bornstein’s kitchen, and Ledinić’s wine with fresh oysters from Mali Ston and authentic Croatian cakes “Granma’s Kisses”, with all ingredients coming from family farms.
The audience showed its support with active participation and by commenting on the films and wines, with applause repeatedly heard for the Stina wine labels, the spontaneity of Željko Ledinić, and the film knowledge of Martin Milinković who, together with the selected films, presented some of the trivia about them. The organisers say the Christmas edition of the Wine&Cinema programme is already being prepared.
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