The Promise, a one-hour documentary about the premium wine growing region of Rogljevo, Serbia, will be shown at the Sweet Cheeks Winery Tasting Room at the 5th St. Public Market, Wednesday, June 21st. 7:00 PM. Suggested admission: two cans for Food For Lane County. Reservations are required. Visit the Sweet Cheeks Winery Tasting Room or call (541) 600-8972 to make your reservation.
Cyrille and Estelle Bongiraud, a prominent French winemaking family, have made an impassioned commitment to restoring the Rogljevo region to its glory of past centuries. Cyrille is a vineyard site specialist and has also studied the soils for some of Oregon’s top wine grape growers.
So important was wine from some 300 cellars in Rogljevo to French wine connoisseurs, that a railroad was constructed between that village and Bordeaux during the reign of Napoleon III. Today, Cyrille Bongiraud has led his effort with Obecanje, a wine from the Gamay petits grains grape. Its name means “promise” in Serbian.
Obecanje has been placed in a few top restaurants in Paris and Tokyo, but most wine drinkers have not yet accepted the fact that premium wine can come from Serbia. Rogljevo is nearly deserted as a result of past communist economics, inhabited today by aging grape growers. This is a wonderful film about culture, community and a family’s love for making premium wine.
A film by Serbian Producer, Director Zeljko Mirkovic. He is presently an instructor at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA.
