After a modest start three years ago and two years of dragging through corona rules and restrictions, the fourth edition of Traminac (Traminer) Festival in Ilok (Croatia) will be held on June 10th and June 11th, 2022. The venue is still the same, Ilok, but the location of all events, from gala dinner, workshops to the exhibition segment and the afterparty, will this time be in the beautiful and fairy-tale setting of the Dunav Hotel.

We dare to say that Traminac Festival in its fourth edition will be the most spectacular and strongest in terms of the names of the participants and the exhibited Traminac wines at the tastings, some of which will have their world premiere in Ilok.

This year's "selector" of the gastronomic part of Traminac Festival, the gala dinner that will be held on June 10th, is Marin Rendić, owner and chef of Bistro Apetit restaurant from Zagreb. Marin will introduce himself on Saturday at one of the workshops, where he will present his collection of French cheeses - camembert, tomme blanche, brie, reblochon, produced in Lika region in Janja Gora, not far from Plaški.

Lovers of Traminac and chocolate will have their fill at the workshop run by Belgrade chocolatier Miloš Stojaković from the Aguara chocolate factory. For Miloš, Traminac means a lot and it was not difficult for him to try his best to come up with three special chocolates for three different predicate wines of Iločki podrum - Auslese, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese. Visitors to this interesting workshop, where Miloš will explain why Traminer wines and chocolates are an ideal combination, will see how milk chocolate with goat cheese and orange, white chocolate with caramel, apple, lemon, melon and cinnamon and white chocolate with orange peel, melon, peach, cinnamon and ginger work in a perfect combination with Traminac wines. An extraordinary and unusual event that will be a first-class treat for every lover of chocolate and Traminer that they will talk about for a long time!

Slavko Kalazić will tell the story of his rare Traminac from 2017 with as much as 18.5 percent alcohol, Vlado Krauthaker will premiere Muštra, a blend of Traminac and Muscat, and guests from Fruška Gora winery Vinum will talk about a similar blend, Mustra. From Baranja, Zajec Winery will present its Graminac, a blend of Graševina and Traminac, and Marko Baković Kosalj from Tomislavgrad and Vinko Zovko from Žepče will talk about their first wines made from this variety.

Đorđe Bikicki, a regional star from Fruška Gora, originally presented his wines to Croatian public at the first edition of Traminac Festival with the reputed fantastic orange traminac Uncensored. This time, Đorđe will present the entire range of his Traminac wines - Petnat Victor 3, Makana 2016, Traminac 2017, Uncensored 2020 and Moma 2020, and explain why Fruška gora is the ideal climate for that variety. His mentor and closest collaborator is the great Oskar Maurer from Hajdukovo, not far from Subotica.

From the United States of America, from the Aquila Cellars winery, comes probably the rarest Traminac in the world, produced from grapes grown at the highest altitude in general at which anyone has ever planted Traminac. Brandt Thibodeaux and Courtey Geyer, biodynamists from Paonia, Colorado, blended their Traminac from a 1920s vineyard at 2,000 meters above sea level with Pinot Gris and kept it on the skin for about 20 days.

In Italy, Luca Gardini is called The Wine Killer, and his ratings, combined under the name of his website Gardininotes, are considered a reliable guide to the fate of the wines he writes about. Italian Robert Parker! Thanks to the maximum score, 100 points, which, for example, he awarded to Opoka's Chardonnay, sales of Marjan Simčić's wines in Italy exploded. Luka writes the weekly column Gazza Golos in the Gazzetta dello Sport, and together with Luciano Ferrara he edits the Vignaioli e Vini d'Italia guide published by the Corriere della Sera. Luka adores Alto Adige, and since that's the case - why not share his love for Traminers from that region with us. And this will happen through a big masterclass where you can taste the best traminer wines from Alto Adige region.

Mark Tempé, along with Domaine Weinbach and Zind-Humbrecht, is the only winery from Alsace that Robert Parker awarded the Grand Cru Mambourg Selection de Grain Nobles with the maximum 100 points! Robert Parker, by the way, in his career rated a total of 250 wines from France with 100 points. Mark Tempé and his wife Anne Marie began their wine story in 1993 by taking over several plots of land with vineyards from their parents. From the very beginning, they uncompromisingly opted for biodynamic vine cultivation on thirty plots distributed in St. Hippolyte, Hunawihr, Sigolsheim, Kientzheim and Zellenberg, where their winery is located. Marko enthusiastically accepted the invitation to come to Traminac Festival where, in addition to four Traminac wines, he will also present his best Riesling, Silvaner, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. After the earlier guest appearances by Michel Ginglinger and Julien Trimbach, and the masterclass by Eric Zwiebel, master sommelier, this is a continuation of the great insight into the Alsatian Traminer scene that we provide at every Traminac Festival.

Great Vera Zima, after retiring and leaving Iločki podrumi, continued to produce wines with her son Robert. She will tell you why Traminac is a very important variety in her new family winery. And from Kutjevo d.d. you will find out why last year they decided to start more ambitiously Traminac wine production.

And last but not least, Tomislav Ivanović, the author of Vinopedia, will present the best Tamjanika of Serbia, which will be the guest variety of this year's Traminac Festival.

This year, on June 11th, Traminac Express bus transport will be organized for all visitors to Traminac Festival from Osijek, Vinkovci and Novi Sad, transportation by bus to Dunav Hotel to the exhibition section, which will last from 4 p.m. until midnight.

 

 

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