It should be noted that Traminer is a variety that easily accumulates a lot of sugar, but can have problems with acids. The Ilok Cellars team, led by chief enologist Ivana Radoš, created a very harmonious, fresh and cheerful sparkling wine with a delicate, but varietal-typical floral aroma with a hint of fruit, primarily white peach, and fine, small and long-lasting bubbles.
Nine Traminer wines and one brandy
This is their tenth product from the variety they are proud of, nine wines and one brandy. This was followed by fireworks with 16 still Croatian Traminers of different styles selected by Željko Gramaz. They arrived from all over continental Croatia and were introduced by two more sparkling wines that also contain Traminer.
The 2007 Čobanković Extra Brut sparkling wine was the most beautiful surprise of the presentation. It was produced using the classic method, with 50 percent Chardonnay and 25 percent Pinot Gris and Traminer each. It has a delicate aroma with a hint of Traminer, an expectedly mature taste, considering that it has 18 years, but without any signs of fatigue. Moreover, it is lively, not just alive. And the family of the former Minister of Agriculture still has several thousand bottles of it.
Friend with Chardonnay
Younger, somewhat simpler, but also fine, was the only foreign wine: Vaneja Dišeča Penina Extra Brut by Danilo Steyer from the banks of the Mura River in Slovenia, It is made of Traminer spiced with 20 percent Chardonnay and was aged for three years on fine lees after a second fermentation in the bottle. The floral aromas of Traminer nicely rounded off the liveliness, freshness and fruitiness of the Chardonnay.
The still Traminers started with a gentler style. Conditionally speaking, of course. The dry expression was expressed by Traminac mirisavi 2024 Vina Erdut, Traminac Kast 2023 and Traminac 2022 Vinarije Zima from Ilok, and Traminac 2022 from Vinarije Knebu from Tomislavgrad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which the grapes were grown at 900 meters above sea level.
From the Danube to the Sutla
The second group served fuller and/or more mature Traminers Rosamal 2015 from the Papak winery in Ilok, Traminac Amber selection 2022 from the Jagunić family from Plešivica, Krešić Castellum Athya Traminac 2023 (Šarengrad on Danube river), Gewurtztraminer 2021 Private Collection from the Trdenić winery from Moslavina, Traminac 2023 from the Žnidarić winery from Hrastina in the Marija Gorica municipality near Zaprešić, and Traminac 2015 from Saša Časić from Pakrac. The third group was dedicated to the heavyweights.
njingi's semi-dry 2009 Traminac of selected berries showed power with a beautifully blended 15.7 percent alcohol. That's how much there was for analysis, and today there is almost certainly more. It surprised many with its harmony, simply youthful liveliness, and clearly shows that wine can truly be food: it invigorates and refreshes. Two Baranja wines followed: 2021Traminac from selected clusters from the Kalazić winery in Zmajevac and Kolar's 2017. Suza Baranja Personal collection Selected clusters from Suza.
Selection of the dried berries
The final touch was the range of typical, very sweet predicates: 2019 Selected berries from Iločki podrumi, Traminac Ice Wine 2020 from the Bodren winery from Rusnica near Hum na Sutli and the legendary Fragrant 2013 Trockenbeerenauslese Traminac by Požežanin Ante Miličević, out of grapes from the famous Kutjevo location Mitrovac.
The extremely sweet story continued with the presentation of sweet Traminers from Zagorje. Nikola Grozaj from Pačetina near Sveti Križ Začretje, who studied winemaking in Istria and graduated with Traminer, told a short story about the Starohrvatska belina. This variety is known worldwide by its German name Heunisch Weisser or French Gouais Blanc, and we also call it the Casanova of Zagorje. It is the parent of about 80 varieties, including Chardonnay, Moslavac or Furmint and Frankovka, and through crosses with Traminer and wild vines it also gave rise to Rhine Riesling.
Legendary sweet wines from Zagorje
Nikola then presented the family Traminac from the 2020 berry selection harvest, and boasted that he made his first ice harvest at the age of 14 at the Bodren winery at minus 21. Then his neighbor Stjepan Đurinski presented set of the the wonderful sweet Traminers. In addition to the selection harvests, they also included the 2018 berry selection harvest, the 2011 ice harvest, and the 2015 dried berry selection harvest.
After all these wines, lunch and a short break were really welcome before the introduction of the international guests of the festival. Marion and Martin Gojer, from the biodynamic winery Pranzegg from the Bolzano area in the Italian region of Alto Adige, brought six wines. They do not bottle them under the names of the varieties but as Bianco, Rossato, Rosso and Frizante, meaning White, Pink, Red and Sparkling. They started the story with a blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Viognier and Manzoni.
GT is for GewürzTraminer, not for races
The name of the wine is Caroline, harvest is 2022, and wine was macerated for five days and aged in oval barrels, including some made from Slavonian oak. This was followed by the Traminers GT 2022 and GT 2021, whose names are an abbreviation of GewürzTraminer, and the reds Demian 2022 made from the Lagrein variety, Campbell 2020, made from Vernatsch, and Laurenc 2020, again made from Legrain. Strange wines, to put it simply.
The Alsatian winery Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss in Ilok presented six wines. Au Dessus de la Loi Riesling 2022 is recognizable by its pronounced petroleum scent, the blend of Riesling and Pinot Gris Clos du Val d'Eléon 2022 was dry and Wiebelsberg Grand Cru 2020 was an excellent Riesling that noone will forgot. Clos Rebgarten 2022 is a macerated wine that contains 80 percent Traminer, enough to make you think it is a single-varietal. Kritt Gewurztraminer 2020 has 15 grams of unfermented sugar, but high fine acids perfectly match that sweetness.
Međimurje for the end
From the Kritt vineyard is also the Vendanges Tardives (late harvest) Gewurztraminer 2018. The harvest date and sweetness differ, but the quality in both cases shows that this is an exceptional winery. The Međimurje winery St. Jerome from Štrigova rounded off the working part of the Traminer Festival.
Director Karlo Kramar first presented four non-Traminers: Pušipel Charactere 2024 is a classically good Moslavac, Šipon or Furmint, and last year's Sauvignon Charactere is excellent, but it will certainly be even better. It has a calm aroma, with slightly green notes, and a lively and playful taste. They worked quite hard with it, picking it several times to get what they wanted in aroma and taste, and it paid off. Grüner Sylvaner 2024 is light and fresh, as the market demands, and Cabernet Sauvignon Borealis 2023 shows that this demanding red variety also has a future in Međimurje.
Controversy and surprise from 1998.
Sweet Traminer Prestige Polemika (Controversy) is a blend of the 2021 and 2022 berry selections, absolutely deservedly crowned with Decanter gold, and from the archives of the former Štrigova Cellar, Karlo also brought an excellent Traminer from the 1998 berry selections. Time has nicely calmed and rounded out its aroma, and its taste is appropriate for its age, full of tertiary notes, but still varietally recognizable.
Writing about wine, I have already used the album titles of the legendary band Queen, and now I simply have to repeat them. There were 42 wines there, if I counted correctly, so at times it resembled A Day at the Races, but the evening was as peaceful as a A Night at the Opera. In the beautiful courtyard of the Old Cellar of Ilok Wineries, Sing Song Swing and DJ Bobo were in charge of providing beautiful music, and visitors could enjoy different wines from 12 wineries.
Traminers took us into a new day
In addition to the hosts from Ilok Cellars, there were wineries Papak, Čobanković, Zima, Krešić, Dragun, Trs, Kast, Buhač, Barbarić, Kalazić, K55 and Danubio from Podunavlje olus the guests from Slovenia, Renaissance. Time passed quickly, and the Festival easily moved into a new day.
Photos: Festival traminca