As Total Croatia News has already written about, later in April 2017 the first “I am Tribidrag” conference will be held in Split. In a five-star Split hotel Park, on April 27th and 28th some of the world’s leading experts will gather to discuss the wine variety that likes to be called all different sorts of names: Tribidrag, Pribidrag, Crljenak Kaštelanski in Croatia, Primitivo in Italy and Zinfandel in the USA (and basically the rest of the world).
“I Am Tribidrag” Conference is organized by the Tribidrag Association of Zagreb, founded by wine enthusiasts Davorka Krnić-Trick, Fani Prodan,and Iva Drganc, in collaboration with Edi Maletić and Ivan Pejić.
And when we say “world’s leading experts”, we are not kidding: the conference will include lectures by Professor Carole Meredith of the University of California, Davis, the most important person in the quest to find the European origins of Zinfandel, which was eventually resolved in Kaštela over 15 years ago (and that was one of her many successful studies of grape genetics), her colleagues from the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Professors Ivan Pejić and Edi Maletić, leading Croatian grapevine researchers and geneticists, Professor José Vouillamoz, Swiss grape geneticist trained with Prof. Meredith at UC Davis, one of the world’s leading authority on the origin and parentage of grape varieties through DNA profiling, Jancis Robinson, wine critic and book author described by Decanter magazine as ‘the most respected wine critic and journalist in the world’, co-author of Wine Grapes, the first book in English to introduce Tribidrag as the prime name for this variety.
Her logic in deciding that Tribidrag should be used as the prime name for the variety is that the oldest name gets the title! While the first written reference to the name Primitivo dates from 1799 and to Zinfandel from 1837, the first reference to Tribidrag dates all the way back to the 15th century, so that’s what everyone should be using. The organizers of the conference have agreed with her, and during the conference’s two days those attending will get the chance to hear the Story of Tribidrag, told by Professors Meredith and Pejić, hear about the Zinfandel in the States with the tasting (that will be a very unusual tasting, as it is supposed to take place at 10 am – not sure if it’s legal to drink wine that early in a day, though it is Dalmatia, so it probably is), about Primitivo in Italy with tasting, about Croatian Tribidrag with tasting and finally about the variety as it is made all over the world. Over 20 different wines made from Tribidrag grapes grown all over the world.
If you wish to participate in the conference, you can still register here.
