VinoCroatia

It is there that on hard, poor, stone based soils, but in ideal climatic conditions, Plavac mali is grown. This is the most precious of all Croatia’s indigenous varieties, which yields wines that can become a prestigious Croatian export product. As luck would have it, those very locations, on which some of the best Croatian wines are being produced, are at the same time the most attractive parts of this land touristically speaking.

Notably, for several successive years now Hvar and Dubrovnik have been the champions of Croatian tourism and the most favoure Croatian destinations for the world’s jet set. Private wine production in Central and Southern Dalmatia has been witnessing a serious impetus only in the last seven to eight years, but already very good results are being achieved. Apart from the ever more varied range of Plavac wines on offer, with those from Hvar, Brač and Pelješac being by far the best, this part of Dalmatia also produces several premium white wines, mostly from Pošip, yet another indigenous variety.

Two other indigenous varieties, Grk and Vugava, also possess great potentials. Prosecco is a special dessert wine from Dalmatia produced from dried raisins and/or cooked must, and can be absolutely fascinating. With further investment in vineyards and related technologies and with continuing raising of standards, Central and Southern Dalmatia could become wine destinations of world significance.

Badel of Zagreb, whose range of wines offered to the market is restricted mostly to those of mediocre quality, sometimes with labels of wineries from prestigious wine growing areas (like Ivan Dolac, a red wine from Hvar), has embarked on an exceptionally significant, almost revolutionary enterprise of reviving vineyards in Northern Dalmatia. Specifically, in the hinterland of Zadar Badel has initiated the planting of vineyards on an area extending to 400 hectares, which is probably the most ambitious campaign for vineyard revival in Croatia, the grapes in question being mostly of red international varieties.

It will take five to six years for us to see whether Northern Dalmatia, and in particular the areas around Zadar, do have a potential for the production of serious red wines. Whatever the case may be it is quite clear that wines from Northern Dalmatia will not be able to compare favourably with wines from Hvar and Pelješac for a long time, either in prestige or in price; in other words wines from the Zadar hinterland will play second fiddle within the range of red Dalmatian wines for some time to come.

Realistically speaking, the only (and very important) objective at this point in time is to plant vineyards and to establish reasonably modern and clean vinification. Anything of a more ambitious nature is of secondary importance. And so we stress once more: Badel’s investment in vineyards in Dalmatia is possibly the most ambitious project of its kind in Dalmatia and deserves unconditional praise.

Babić is unarguably the greatest wine attraction of Central Dalmatia, as much for its famous vineyards as for the true potential of this indigenous black variety. The largest producer is Vinoplod, the Šibenik winery, which also bottles a whole range of other wines: red, white and rosé. Barrique aged Babić with a white and red label can, in some years, be a very, very impressive wine.

This is the only Dalmatian wine which can be compared with wine produced from Plavac mali. Babić is also bottled in one-litre bottles, but such wine is totally inferior to premium Babić, a wine with a high alcohol content which can, at times, be not only rich but sumptuous too. It is regrettable indeed that so far no private wine maker sufficiently ambitious has come forward either in Šibenik or Primošten who could realize the full potentials of this variety.

The company near Skradin, owned by Alen Bibić, produces a range of wines characteristic of Northern Dalmatia and the Dalmatian hinterland. Bibich riserva (two stars) is vinified from Babić grapes, from the less known local varieties Lasina and Plavina, and from the international varieties Grenache and Syrah. Bibich riserva is allowed to mature in barriques for 12 months. This is a smooth, light, quite charming and correctly produced red wine which could go well with grilled or salt pickled sardines, prosciutto, or with pasta served with tomato-based sauces.

It is one of the rare Dalmatian wines which can be drunk as a thirst quencher. Regrettably, in the last few years we did happen across several bottles of very poor quality. In addition to Bibich riserva, Alen Bibić also bottles several types of Debit and a red, non-barriqued Bibich produced from grapes harvested from his three-hectare vineyards and from grapes procured from the areas of Promine and Benkovac.

Those vineyards of the Babić variety are a protected world monument of culture: planted on small terraces of red soil, fenced with step-like walls which, viewed from a distance, give the impression (as Professor Sokolić wrote in his Golden Book on Wines) of an orderly chess board. Sadly, the vineyards of Primošten, which once covered about 200 hectares, have been in decline for years, but they still remain undoubtedly the most attractive wine location on the whole stretch of coast between Zadar and Trogir.

But Northern Dalmatia, particularly the hinterland of Zadar, also possesses great potentials for wine production. There was a time when Maraština, a quality white grape variety, was widely cultivated in the area of Benkovac and around Zadar and Biograd. It is interesting to note that it was around Benkovac that, in the 1980s, the first serious attempts were made to plant vineyards of Grenache and Syrah/Shiraz in Croatia, from which wines of the same names were produced and bottled.

The Homeland War hit Zadar and Šibenik hard, as well as their hinterlands, effectively halting the development of wine growing and the wine industry in that region. Nowadays however, bearing in mind a tourist industry which is growing from strength to strength, it is realistic to expect a revival and an advance in the wine industry in those two cities and in the areas close to them. Šibenik already has a large wine producing company (Vinoplod) which, in addition to producing a premium Babić, has the capacity to process over 100,000 litres of wine per year.

In the spring of 2005, Badel, a Zagreb based wine industry, began a grapevine planting campaign involving an area of over 400 hectares in the Zadar hinterland, the area known as Ravni kotari.

The Vrbnik Agricultural Cooperative is one of the largest producers of Žlahtina. At the time when this wine was still very fashionable, Zlatna Žlahtina produced by PZ Vrbnik was the best selling wine in the restaurants of Zagreb. It is light, reasonably refreshing and easy going.

The Katunar family were among the first private producers to appear on the island of Krk. They capitalized on the once great demand for Žlahtina, a most definitely thirst quenching wine, and have built a modern winery and restaurant and tasting bar in Vrbnik. Katunar’s Žlahtinas are typical wines that Krk has been producing over the past ten years.

Frajona is a company located on the island of Krk, although most of its vineyards are in Western Istria. On the island the company produces one of the numerous local Žlahtinas, and a sparkling wine based on Žlahtina. Of the Istrian varieties, Frajona vinifies Malvoisie and a relatively interesting Merlot which is allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation, matures in barriques and while young it has a raspberry aroma. This is one of the more drinkable red wines from that part of Croatia. This is a relatively large producer (over 60 hectares), offering a stable level of quality in the lower spectrum of the market at low prices.

The wine industry on that island experienced a boom some ten years ago when the whole country literally went mad for Žlahtina, the indigenous grape variety which yields light, relatively refreshing wines of low alcohol content and which are successful thirst quenchers. Suddenly, five or six producers of Žlahtina appeared on the market and in restaurants, both at the seaside and in Zagreb, the country’s capital, sold more Žlahtina than any other bottled wine.

Over time, Žlahtina lost some of its popularity, but some of the major producers, such as PZ (Agricultural Cooperative) Vrbnik, Katunar and Toljanić, are still doing quite a successful business. Žlahtina is a must on the tourist offer of the island of Krk.

Another island worthy of mention in the littoral area, alongside Krk, is Susak. Some 50 years ago, of the island’s total area of 375 hectares 288 hectares were under vineyards, and going still further back to the beginning of the last century over 300 hectares (87% of the island) was covered with vineyards. Today, the Italian winery Cosulich is cultivating Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, white Muscat and Cabernet Sauvignon on some 14 hectares.

Ortonero is a brand from the Istrian village of Brtonigla, which is owned by the Italian company T.E.A. and the Italian Union of Rijeka. Wines bearing the Ortonero label are in fact the product of local wine makers, and they are processed in the cooperative winery. The most important Ortonero product for the time being is the reliable, refreshing, relatively inexpensive and very dry sparkling wine produced exclusively from Malvoisie. In addition to the Ortonero line the Brtonigla cooperative produces Otium Coli de Verteneglio Malvoisie from the best local positions.