The Wine, Olive and Heritage Festival 2019 will be held in Jelsa on Hvar Island for the first time, on May 23-26. Over the four days local and foreign participants will showcase Hvar Island’s culture on various levels, with local wines and olive products taking pride of place in cooperation with the Festival’s guests. Aimed at both Croatian and foreign tourists, the Festival’s aim is to promote local Hvar producers under the banner of ‘the Mediterranean Diet‘, a concept which comprises “knowledge and skills related to the careful relationship with the natural resources of land and sea which is vital not only for obtaining food, but for ensuring quality for living conditions and for a stable ecological system”.
The idea of the Festival is for local people to create it through their products, visions and desire for communal progress, at the same time learning something new together with the guests / visitors. The Festival aspires to promote “everything that is best about Hvar” in an entertaining and educational dimension.
#najbojeodHvara #JelsaWOH
The official opening of the Festival will be in the Jelsa Park on Thursday May 23 at 7pm, followed by a Gastro-Show by students from the High School of Catering, who will present their Mediterranean food dishes, alongside products by members of the local association ‘Trim’ and Cooperative ‘Faria’. Ivana Krstulović Carić, dipl.ing.agr, representing the association ‘Sustainable Island’ (‘Održivi otok’), will present event Through the four seasons in our vineyards on Hvar – The Mediterranean Diet’, explaining more about the direction the island is taking, with interesting details relating to the dishes and .
On Friday and Saturday, 24th and 25th May from 8pm onwards, all the participants in the Festival will be represented in a tasting of local wines and olive oils (the list of wine producers to date: Carić Wines, Pinjata Wines, the Svirče Agricultural Cooperative, Mario Carić, the Plančić Brothers, Huljić Wines, Plenković Wines; olive oil producers: Radojković and Curin).
During the day on Friday a workshop by Mirella Žanetić on extra virgin olive oil in Mediterranean food is planned, as well as a guided tour around the best-known Hvar wineries and oil mills, with tastings in Hvar’s exquisite surroundings (tour price 250 kn, bookings via: Info@tzjelsa.hr).
Within the Festival is a celebration of the local Chakavian dialect, and there will be a special variety programme of recitations, acting, dancing and singing by local children. On Saturday morning the Festival programme will start with a workshop by Professor Marija Vukelić titled “The Mediterranean in a glass of wine (and in verse)”, followed by a tour of the wineries. From 7pm there will be a special event called ‘the Bonkulović Evening’, with a range of Mediterranean culinary specialities on offer, prepared by Jelsa’s restaurateurs. The programme will last until midnight, with guest appearances by the Đakovo folk dancing group and tamburica players.
Apart from local participants, the first Wine, Oil and Heritage Festival will also be welcoming guests from Bulgaria. The well-known Bulgarian oenologist Galina Niforou (Wine MBA, BIWC Managing Director) will conduct a workshop titled “Diversity is Our Treasure – indigenous Bulgarian and Croatian grape varieties”.
The Festival closing ceremony will take place on Sunday 26th May at 11am, and will include the distribution of certificates of thanks.
All the workshops are free of charge, while the winery tours cost 250kn, reservations via: Info@tzjelsa.hr .
We look forward to welcoming you on your visit to discover the local treasures of Hvar Island. #eatlocal
Festival Organiser: Jelsa Tourist Board, Info@tzjelsa.hr
