At Basement, one of the more prominent Zagreb wine bars, two projects were announced – ZG Wine&Food and Zagreb Bubbles – for the end of May and beginning of June. The smaller of the two will take place on June 3rd in the Klovićevi Dvori Gallery in the Upper Town, the first specialised international festival of sparkling wines, Zagreb Bubbles. Around a hundred exhibitors are expected, including the best domestic producers of sparkling wines, as well as the best foreign sparklings available on the Croatian market, with 15 champagnes. Currently in Croatia there are over 140 registered producers of sparklings, with 500 domestic and foreign labels on store shelves, undoubtedly one of the fastest growing segment of the wine industry.
Festival organisers Dražen Lazić and Dean Radinović pointed out the goal of the festival is to establish quality business contacts between winemakers and visitors, i.e. the sales and placement of sparkling wines on the domestic and international markets. Therefore they will invite significant regional buyers – owners of restaurants and bars, F&B managers of hotels, sommeliers, distributors, supermarket chains representatives… On the day preceding the festival there will be several wine workshops and guided tastings, with an accent on Plešivica sparklings (the leading region in sparkling wines production), as well as masterclasses with renowned foreign wineries such as Antinori and Tribaut Schloesser. Apetit City Restaurant will hold on June 1st a wine dinner with the Antinori Winery.
A day ahead of the Zagreb Bubbles festival, the same location will hold from 17-21h an introductory event Fine Wine Tasting where guests will be able to taste a selection of wine chosen by organisers, including some archive harvests and rarities. Standard tickets will not be on sale for that evening, with the Entrio Company introducing an innovative electronic cashless payment system Glownet which the guests can use to pay for wines they taste. The list of wines and exact principle will be announced soon.
Before and after the Zagreb Bubbles Festival on the Gradec Plateau next to Klovićevi Dvori Gallery, from May 26th to June 11th, the restaurant festival ZG Wine&Food will take place where guests will meet the catering offer from seven leading local restaurants. Every evening will have an ample music programme with concerts and DJs on the festival stage overlooking the city and Zagreb cathedral. The final schedule will be announced in mid-May.
The main festival partner is the Nissan Croatia company, with sponsors PBZ, Croatia Airlines and G3 Spirits, the official water is Cetina, while main media partners are RTL Television and Soundset – national radio group. The festival is also supported by the Tourism Board of Zagreb and Croatian Chamber of Economy.
