The Somm Journal
Mijenta
Mijenta

Bottled History: The Wines of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Obscure wines from a lesser-known region start to get recognition in the States thanks to ambitious wine writers, importers, and restaurateurs

by Thomas Molitor

Wine Has Been Made in the Monastery Tvrdoŝ in Bosnia-Herzegovina Since the 13th Century, yet the Country’s Wines Might as Well Be in the Witness Protection Program.

The Serbian Orthodox Monastery Tvrdoš has been making wine since the 13th-century. PHOTO: THOMAS MOLITOR

In America, Bosnia-Herzegovina wines are a steep learning curve of history, geography, culture, and cuisine. There’s the hyphenated county name, the obscure native grapes, and the messy pronunciation of producer names, which linguistically challenges sommeliers, retailers, and consumers alike.

Yet when SommSelect—a wine importer and online retailer started by Master Sommelier Ian Cauble (of SOMM-movie fame)—offered its first Bosnia-Herzegovina wine for sale, cases of 2015 Monastery Tvrdoš Vranac flew off the loading dock.

“We’re talking about an obscure red wine from a Serbian Orthodox monastery in southern Herzegovina—not a Left Bank Bordeaux,” says Cauble. “Our expectation was somewhat muted when we hit ‘send’ on the offer.”

Before 1992, the Southeastern European Slavic region was known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Balkan Wars and their independence movements in the 1990s changed all of that, and now the former Yugoslavia is six separate countries—Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The population of Bosnia-Herzegovina is close to 3.5 million with Sarajevo its capital and largest city located inland, near the middle of the country, slightly to the south. Bosnia-Herzegovina wine production is mostly centered on two main hubs in Čitluk and Međugorje which are both situated so deep in the southwest and near the border of Croatia, that if you take a wrong turn, you’ll likely to end up in Dalmatia.

Since 1999 the wine regions of Southeast Europe and Central Europe have seen a modern renaissance, including the introduction of so many unfamiliar native grapes to the world, ampelographers can hardly keep up with their DNA charts.

The two main indigenous grapes of Bosnia-Herzegovina­­—Blatina and Žilavka­­—are unfamiliar to most sommeliers, never mind the average consumer.

The Brkić Winery is located near the city of Mostar. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRKIĆ WINERY

The Vranac grape (thought to have originated from North Macedonia) is an important grape in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is one of those red grapes with such a dark color you expect a wine of massive structure, a wine with the full-bodied strength of an Olympian powerlifter, yet the grape typically produces a very bright, medium-weight wine with lively acidity and fairly soft tannins.

The Monastery Tvrdoŝ is located in the river valley city of Trebinje, just 20 miles from the Adriatic coast, and is the southernmost city in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Danch & Granger Selections, an importing company devoted primarily to Central and Eastern European wines, imports Monastery Trvdoŝ wines.

The biggest challenge in selling Bosnia-Herzegovina wines into America isn’t the unfamiliar pronunciation of the grape varietals, but overcoming geographic ignorance.

“If I’m sitting down with a chef/restaurant owner and have 20 minutes to pitch my portfolio,” says Eric Danch, co-owner of Danch & Granger, “I can’t spend the first 15 minutes explaining where the country of Bosnia-Herzegovina is located on a map.”

Danch explains his selling strategy as one that simply associates the unfamiliar with the familiar. “There are tons more Greek, Turkish, Hungarian, and German restaurants than restaurants serving Bosnian cuisine, so I link my wine portfolio to cuisines more familiar to Americans.”

Cauble agrees. “Vranac is plenty ripe and pairs well with a lot of dishes,” says Cauble, “and is most definitely a ‘food wine’ as opposed to a ‘standalone wine.’ Vranac is loaded with dark fruits and lots of Old World soul.”

Bistro SF Grill, in San Francisco, offers Balkan wines by the half-glass and full-glass to cultural explorers. “It’s the power of sampling,” says co-owner Hasim Zecic, a native of Bosnia. “We offer wines from Bosnia-Herzegovina in tasting parties and pair them with Bosnian dishes such as Bosanski Lonac (“Bosnian Pot”), a national dish of meat and vegetables stewed for hours. But we also offer eight different gourmet hamburgers on the menu and Vranac pairs exceptionally well.”

Danch & Granger imports one other Bosnia-Herzegovina producer: Brkić Winery. The winery is situated 50 miles north of Trebinje, an area just outside the historic city of Mostar.

Josip Brkić. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRKIĆ WINERY

Josip Brkić and his family focus on producing wine from the native grapes Blatina and Žilavka. Josip is committed to organic and biodynamic practices, including many non-interventionist methods. Gravity is used in order to avoid pumps. The grapes are pressed on rubber rollers to avoid damaging the stalks and seeds. Made with natural yeasts and aged in large local Bosnian oak barrels, the wines are bottled unfiltered and thereby retain their lees.

Wine writers are starting to take notice of these grapes. “Most Somms don’t know about Blatina,” says writer Miquel Hudin, “and its white partner, Žilavaka. Those two native grapes make wonderful wine from this quite undiscovered region.”

Andelić Wines is a family-run winery in Trebinje producing Vranac, Žilavka, and several red blends using international varietals. Bojan Andelić and his family-run winery, Andelić Wines, also follow organic farming practices. “The major difference between winemaking in Trebinje and Čitluk is the red grape Vranac,” says Andelić. “Vranac is more common in Trebinje, which holds its acidity very well in warm temperatures.” He characterizes weather during summer months as warm and mostly dry. “Winters are cold but without snow,” says Andelić, “there’s no threat of spring frost in Trebinje.”

The Andelić family has been cultivating and producing wine for generations. Its forefathers have been producing wine and grape brandy of recognizable quality for more than a hundred years.

Andelić owns about 30 hectares of vineyards located in Trebinje’s finest location. Although it puts a production emphasis on authentic grape varieties Vranac and Źilavka, Andelić also plants Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Syrah.

Increasingly, more and more sommeliers and wine writers are beginning to chart the uncharted. Matthew Horkey, wine blogger at the Exotic Wine Travel website and author of Cracking Croatia Wine, recently attended the Blaž Festival in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was the third year of the annual festival in which producers gather together and showcase Blatina and Źilavka wines.

“We’re big fans of the region and these wines, so it was a no-brainer for us to attend when we received the invite,” says Horkey. He added that nearly all of the quality producers in Bosnia Herzegovina were present at Blaž.

The wines of Bosnia-Herzegovina may be in the witness protection program today, but with a growing legion of fans like Cauble, Hudin, Danch, and Horkey, and the wakening support of the government to help develop export markets, they may be released very soon.