These articles were published in the Spectacular Slovakia travel guide, published annually by The Slovak Spectator since 1996. The latest editions can be obtained from our online shop.

New wine in old bottles

Vinobranie 2006

By Zuzana Habšudová

September 2:
Goose specialties and restaurant open house, Slovenský Grob, Tel: (033) 647-8225

September 15-17:
Vinobranie 2006 Pezinok, Malokarpatské múzeum, M.R. Štefánika 4, Pezinok, Tel: (033) 690-1102, wine tasting at Radničná vinotéka, M.R. Štefánika 1, Tel: (0905) 405-434

September 22-24:
Malokarpatské vinobranie 2006 Modra, Tel: (0903) 322-495

September 30:
Vinobranie Rača, Tel: (0905) 468-943, also wine tasting bus trip leaving from Bratislava, Tel: (0905) 571-232

	The grape is valued throughout Slovakia, but in the Small Carpathians it is worshipped.
	Photo Pavol Funtál

"The reign of Maria Theresa and Joseph II [1740 to 1790] was a golden era for Slovak viticulture, a time when there were 57,000 hectares of vineyards on the territory of modern-day Slovakia," said Ján Krivčík from the Bratislava-Rača municipal office.

"The wine customs from that period have been preserved and continue today. Among them are the oberačkové slávnosti [harvest celebrations], which people later began to call vinobranie."

Every year, as summer turns to autumn, the vinobranie celebration rewards the sweat and hard work that vintners expend on their crops year-round. The heavy bunches of grapes are picked and pressed and left to ferment in barrels, soon to disclose the first taste of the season's produce, against a backdrop of rich cultural programs.

Vinobranie traditionally opens with ceremonial accolades, when regional vintners or town mayors are adorned with wreaths of grapes. People in folk costumes then parade through the streets. Some wine cellars throw open their doors to visitors in what is known as Open Cellars Days.

The highlight of vinobranie is burčiak, a thick, sweet, half-fermented grape cider. Good only for two or three days before it turns into young wine, it perfectly complements the traditional foods on offer, such as baked goose and duck, and various potato or flour-based lokše (pancakes), pagáče (buns) and osúchy.

"The Pezinok vinobranie is also about meeting people," said Eva Lupová of the Pezinok municipal office. "It's said that even if you haven't seen a certain person for a year, you're sure run across him at vinobranie."

As vibrant a celebration as it is, however, vinobranie is actually still recovering from the distortions introduced by four decades of communism. In particular, traditions practiced by the older generations were warped to suit communist propaganda, which celebrated the quantity of what was produced rather than its quality.

"The winegrowers' celebrations held during the communist regime were often artificially organized. They lacked the original concept of the quality of the wine," said Daniel Balko of the Nitra regional association of Váh-Dunaj-Ipeľ.

After the regime collapsed in 1989, farmers and winegrowing municipalities needed time to recover economically before restoring the festivities. When vinobranie was renewed, however, it was in the spirit of its forebears.

"It's true that in many cases [the fall of communism] dealt a blow to the organization of rural life," said Balko. "But at the same time I have noticed an opposite phenomenon, that people are taking a greater interest in their original traditions and customs. I believe this trend will continue."

The most faithful reenactments of early traditions can be found in west Slovakia under the Small Carpathians range along what has become known as the region's "wine route" - the Bratislava suburb of Rača, and the towns of Pezinok and Modra (www.mvc.sk).

The two latter towns take turns hosting the main vinobranie celebration; in 2006 it will be staged in Modra from Friday, September 22 to Sunday, September 24.

	Bacchus, the God of Wine, is a mainstay at vinobranie events, wherever they are held.
	Photo Pavol Majer

Rača officials moved to renew the tradition of harvest celebrations back in 1992. "The vinobranie tradition is tied to the country's economic, cultural and social past. It forms a heritage that must be developed and preserved for future generations," Krivčík said.

According to Lupová from the Pezinok municipal office, an economic recession at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries damped communal feasting, "but inside vintners' houses the feasts still continued." The town's council renewed Pezinok's vinobranie in 1934 but shortly before 1939 the tradition ceased. With the arrival of the communists, the traditions became infected by ideology, and the foreign elements are still being weeded out."

Each year we add more facets of the town's past to the program," Lupová said.

Last September, the three-day celebration opened with a ceremony decorating the Pezinok zemepán (landowner) and an allegoric parade through the town. It featured an international cooking contest, a wine exhibition and a craft market. Grape pressing was demonstrated using traditional instruments.

"Slovakia has historically had strong ties to land ownership, and these were cut for a long time. Renewing these ties has proven more complicated than we expected at the beginning of the 1990s," said Rača's Krivčík.

"But I am happy to say that the return of Slovakia's historic wine traditions has been warmly welcomed by locals and vinobranie visitors alike."

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