Pairing wine and blue fish with top chefs in Poreč restaurants

At today's press conference held in Poreč at the Hrast restaurant, the second edition of the wine and gastronomy event was announced. "Cabernet Sauvignon & Bluefish, with love".

They talked about the topic Nenad Velenik, director of the Tourist Board of Poreč, Loris Peršurić, mayor of the city of Poreč, Emil Perdec, sommelier and F&B Manager of Blue Lagoon, Sandy Paris, head sommelier and beverage specialist of the Valamar hotel and member of the executive board of the Croatian Sommelier Club and Ph.D. Marijan Bubola, from the Institute for Agriculture and Tourism in Poreč. The first dinner will be held on November 8 in the Hrast restaurant, which has been tailoring the family tradition and the offer of local food since 1971, with a magical ambiance in the immediate vicinity of the sea and close to the old town of Poreč.

"This event was born out of a creative meeting and was organized with a lot of love and care in order to complete the offer of the program in the postseason. The first edition showed that there is an exceptional interest in this kind of content, so we continue in the same tone, with excellent collaborators, restaurants and chefs. Our is the desire to provide our dear fellow citizens and guests of Poreč and Poreština with additional content and programs and to intrigue them to try something new, something that is woven into our identity. Every year we rotate restaurants and chefs because we want to give all winemakers and restaurateurs the opportunity to participate in the creation of this unique gastronomic content. As the month of November is ideal for discovering this exciting story, this will be a great opportunity to get to know the interesting history of this wine variety that shone in Istria. On behalf of TZG Poreč, I invite you to come on time you reserve a place for dinner in the desired restaurants so that they can enjoy the menus put together with a lot of attention", said the director of the Tourist Board of the city of Poreč Nenad Velenik.

"This event is dedicated to local flavors and traditions, because blue fish has been a symbol of food in Istria for generations, along with the wine through which we pay tribute to our valuable winemakers. Three well-known Poreč restaurants are participating in the event, so I invite all our fellow citizens and visitors and our dear guests to join and support our local caterers", pointed out the mayor of the City of Poreč Loris Peršurić.

Project named Cabernet Sauvignon and bluefish with love was created by joining like-minded people and top chefs, sommeliers who saw and tried this combination of a special wine variety and the simplicity that a dish made from blue fish brings to the table. But, of course, in this eno-gastronomic story, wine and fish are presented in a different and interesting way that will guarantee unforgettable taste and smell experiences for all participants. Dishes for these special evenings dedicated to Cabernet Sauvignon and blue fish will be prepared by some of the most important Croatian chefs such as Zdravko Tomšić, Goran Hrastovčak and Robert Benzia and Jurica Obrol.

Emil Perdec he emphasized that blue fish and red wine are an ancient love and this combination has been sung in many songs, and the idea for this event was born in 2020.

"As Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted wine variety in the world, and it came to Poreč in 1884, we wanted to tell this topic to the general public and present it in a modern way. Through this story, we tried to play with gastronomy and move a little away from the standard pairing and to revive this historical connection between blue fish and cabernet sauvignon and show the potential and breadth of our region. We try to involve external collaborators and always give the audience something new, and in this way we ourselves discover the beauty of combining these foods and selected wines.", concludes Perdec.

"I am very glad that we are now traditionally involved in this event and I believe that this will continue. This year, Valamar will continue with our well-established team led by chef Goran Hrastovčak, and the wines will be presented by sommelier Zoran Gregorović. I am sure that this team in front of the Spinnaker and Valamara restaurants do it with love. It is interesting that through this event we give the blue fish the attention it deserves, and I hope that it will be found more and more on the menus of consumers.", he stressed Sandy Paris.

He talked about the winegrowing characteristics and interesting things from that segment Ph.D. Marijan Bubola, saying that red wine prevailed in Istria in the 19th century, unlike today. pointing out that the characteristic of this wine is a particularly lush variety that starts growing late and the grapes ripen late. He listed several important characteristics, such as the fact that it gives the best results in well-drained and sunny locations and on acidic soil (such as reds), the character of the wines of this variety is particularly strong thanks to the small berry and thick skin, so the wines are full-bodied and have intense and deep color, high proportion of tannins and relatively high acidity (which is also a prerequisite for long-term aging of the wine).

Cabernet Sauvignon was created almost 500 years ago, by an accidental crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon white, its homeland is of course the French Boredaux, and today Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted grape variety in the world. It has a long history in Istria, as much as 150 years, as well as the tradition of catching and eating blue fish, the first records of which date back to the 14th century.

The restaurants included in the project in 2024 are: Restaurant Hrast, Restaurant Spinnaker and Restaurant Sv. Nicholas.

At the end of the presentation of the event, the director of TZG Poreč invited all lovers of good food and wine to book an appointment at the mentioned restaurants and thus find out if blue fish and red wine really go together. The contacts for reservations are provided below, and each dinner will start at 19 p.m.