I met Miodrag Mićo Kruškar many years ago, while he was the main enologist in FeraVino, with Ivana Nemet at his side. Today neither of them are there anymore. Ivana is an enologist in another winery, and Mićo… well, that’s another story. He left the large company structures and went on his own, joined by a colleague, Krešimir Hren. They first went into enology consulting and it was a successful story. They began to form a team with Jelena Puh Miloš and some other fine people.
When the Eno Expert Academy began their wine courses, it seemed like a logical step and so, bit by bit, mini festivals started up or wine gatherings.
The last one they did was Wine & Music in the courtyard of Vlaška 78, precisely on the terrace of caffe bar Finjak.
It was excellent; it think this team is great and great things will come from them.
Here are a few lines from Wine & Music.
The Wine & Music tasting of wines from selected Croatian wine makers offered to Zagreb wine lovers some familiar names, but also a few eno-stars on the rise.
“The Zagreb wine market is the largest and most demanding in Croatia, which is why at the first Wine & Music tasting we attempted to bring together Croatian wine makers who produce wines with passion and love and can appreciate just such a passionate wine audience. Our partners, prosciutto producer from Drniš AgroMaleš and world renown Pag dairy, combined their products with the wines of our presenters. I believe this is a good formula for future gatherings,” said Miodrag Hruškar, director of Eno Expert.
What did the wine makers offer to Zagreb wine lovers?
A wine premiere was the doing of Badel 1862 with their new superior Korlat Rose from 2015.
Wine cellar Polovanec, closest to the Zagreb central square of all the wine makers that presented, prepared their well known Cabernet Sauvignon.
Their new wine, a fresh Graševina was presented by the youngest winery Agris, while wine lovers had the opportunity to taste their awarded Malvasia.
Vineda cellar, the most awarded winery of the Virovitica area, brought their wines grown on sandy soil so visitors had the opportunity to taste the difference in wines from sand and other terroirs.
Ivica Dobrinčić from Krk winery Šipun offered a tasting of indigenous wines of Vrbnik; along with the well known Žlahtina, wine lovers could try Sušćan, an old Croatian sort Dobrinčić helped save from oblivion.
The often awarded Cabernet Sauvignon was presented by Masvin from Zadar along with their cuvee, a coupage of indigenous red Dalmatian sorts, grown on the broken rock of Zadar karst.
Matković Honest Wines from Slavonian Orahovica again did not lie with their fantastic Cabernet Franc; this was confirmed by red wine lovers.
Puhelek Purek winery showed how one hundred years of wine making tradition in Zelina was poured into the Kraljica sparkling wine, showing off their Kraljevina too, a favourite Zagreb summer wine and a fantastic Sauvignon from the last harvest.
On the other side of Zagreb’s mountain, Filipec family from Samobor, another old wine making family, presented their unique Bermet, Gray Pinot and gray cuvee.
The Brod wine region is represented in the best light by the Čaldarević family with their Graševina full of small surprises, along with Chardonnay’s from two harvests.
Tomislav Voštinić from the Voštinić Kalsnić winery, which presented their predicate Škrlet, their first to bear the superior title, say how Wine & Music is dead on: “Such tastings allow us to meet our customers, tell them our story and production philosophy. With that, it’s always nice to meet colleagues with good wines and hear the opinions of our buyers.”
Guests had the opportunity to try products from Dutch producer Vacu Vin, while wine enjoyment was supported by the inspired music of jazzy duet Small Change, singer Ana Lovrenčić and guitarist Eduard Jimmy Matešić.
“Positive impressions and comments have given us great will to organise more such events,” said the Eno Expert team and are looking forward to new Wine & Music gatherings, where wine lovers will again have the opportunity to meet their wine favourites.
For the original and more from the G.E.T. Report, click here.
