The Zelina Kingdom is back in Zagreb! Saturday, April 16th, 2016, was the date when the first bottle of the Kingdom Zelina brand was opened. The Cheese Bar in Zagreb was the meeting place for many on this occasion.
The wine is a brand of Zagreb County so it’s no wonder the guest list included Zagreb County prefect Stjepan Kožić, head of the Zagreb County Administrative Department for agriculture Gordana Županac, Zagreb County Tourism Board director Ružica Rašperić, as well as the mayor of Sveti Ivan Zelina, director of Zelina Tourism Board Marinka Zubčić, to mention a few.
We were offered six different Kingdoms to taste from the following winemakers: Puhelek-Purek, Kos, Žigrović, Ljubekov gaj, Kos – Jurišić and Jarec – Kure. It’s worth noting that all six wines are really good, with two being better; most likely due to a better choice of harvest, but we won’t single them out – all should be enjoyed, although they’re not in abundance. The hardworking winemakers of Zelina have raised the Kingdom to a truly high level. It is now an excellent, light wine, slightly more bitter which is fitting for such warm days. Simply, nothing can be said against the wine. In any case, I believe the Zelina folks have done more with their Kingdom, than the Plešivica folks have with the Portugieser, regardless of their recent success in Pečuh. And the design… Well, the Zelina folks have moved miles ahead of all county and other brands in our homeland.
The labels are modern, different, standing out in every way; flowery and springy while being distinct and telling their story. I believe the label is spot on. Yes, there were comments, when they were first presented, that they’re not good, not for wines, not recognizable and similar. Now all of that is behind us and everyone is satisfied. Individual winemakers’ labels differ in nuances of color, with subtle differences in motives, but you can’t see those at first glance. As you can see in the photos, the hostesses that poured the wines, were dressed to match, so the entire wine story had an air of a wonderful performance.
I can’t escape the feeling that the driving force of this Zelina wine rhapsody (since they have other great wines, besides the Kingdom, with more and more sparkling ones), is the young and ambitious Ivana Puhelek-Purek. Zelina winemakers fared well before her, but she elevated that work to a higher level, especially in the presentation of Zelina as a wine region. Naturally, she has great support from Marinka Zubčić of the Tourism Board, other winemakers, the town, which is great, with the greatest support coming from her, if not better half, then certainly the tireless one – talking about Kruno Antolković. Ivana’s greatest success is in the ability to gather other winemakers around an idea and keep them there, and we all know how hard that is in Croatia.
The Zelina wine region deserves more attention, as well as investment, but I believe that will come, Why shouldn’t, for example, several Zagreb wine bars have “Kingdom Saturdays” in April and May? I believe they would quickly agree with winemakers on a promotional price and all would be satisfied, especially us, the consumers. Around the world people rather buy local and regional, only we prefer everything foreign. Let’s change that, let’s support our own!
So why not start with the Kingdom from Zelina?
