Miljenko Grgić, known as Mike Grgich, is the most awarded winemaker of the third season of Wine Stars, the broadest and toughest wine rating in Croatia
The tiny but famous 93-year-old born in the Desne village near the Neretva river owns the Grgich Hills winery in California’s Napa valley. His Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown 2012 won the Great Star, meaning 99 out of a 100 points and was the second best of all rated red wines. The first, with the same number of points, was the Folly Syrah 2010 of the Chilean winery Montes.
Grgić’s Croatian wine, Plavac Mali 2013 from the winery in Trstenik on Pelješac peninsula, run by Krešo Vučković, won five stars (between 95 and 98 points) and the award for the best wine from a Croatian indigenous variety, with another two of his “Americans” with four stars. They are Zinfandel 2012 Estate Grown and Chardonnay 2012 Estate Grown.
Next in the number of awards behing Grgić and Grgich is Ivan Enjingi from Vetovo. His Venje 2008, a mix of Riesling, Traminer, Grey Pinot, Sauvignon and Graševina from the same name vineyard, is the best of the rated white wines. This incredibly young and fresh wine has the “friendliest” price of all awarded ones. A bottle is around 80 kuna. In the regular review this Venje won four stars as did Enjingi’s Rhine Riesling late harvest 2012 and Zweigelt Barrique late harvest 2011.
Wine Stars are a year-long wine rating from the Croatian market. At each of the dozen meetings are seven reviewers handpicked among wine critics, sommeliers, enologists, winemakers and traders. A total of 250 wines are rated, around two thirds of them Croatian, with the price range from 30 to 1.500 kuna per bottle. Near the end of the year wines are rated as best white or red wines as well as the best Croatian sparkling wine. A special award, the Crystal Star, is given to the best wine from an indigenous Croatian variety.
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