For five months that span through the tourist season (open from early May until the end of September), there is a wine bar in the wonderful central Dalmatian town of Šibenik dedicated to promoting mostly local wines, made by the winemakers from the region with strong emphasis on the indigenous varieties to Central Dalmatia. Located a couple of minutes walk from the famous Šibenik cathedral it’s called Vino&Ino (meaning wine and other stuff). The owners Vedran Gulin and Nikola Krasić, neither of them in the wine game for long, have gotten in the business at various festivals, where they offered great wines, home-made liquors (rakija) and cocktails to the festival-going crowd.
After that proved successful, they decided to open a wine bar in Šibenik, dedicated exclusively to Croatian design and Croatian wines, and are very proud of the fact that just about anything you can get in their wine bar is Croatian, including some of the craft beers they have, the liquors and the food platter they offer to help you with the wines. The outlier in the “all Croatian” concept is the coffee; however, although coffee is not grown in Croatia, the coffee they offer in the bar is from Ellis Caffe, blended and roasted by the best Croatian barista, Nik Orosi.
The wines are all Croatian, they offer around 50 of them and 70% of their wine list is the wines made in the Šibenik-Knin County. The other 30% are mostly the wines made in the other seaside counties. So, in Vino&Ino you have a perfect chance to taste and compare some of the indigenous vine varieties: debit, maraština, lasina, plavina and babić. And all of those varieties are made by various local producers, such as Bibich, Sladić, Gracin, Birin, Džapo… The prices of the bottles are very affordable, and most of the wines offered are available by the glass as well.
As we mentioned, the food offered at the bar is mostly simple finger food, local charcuterie products such as pršut and pancetta, and local olives, olive oil, rock samphire etc. Every weekend (and many other days) during the summer there will be a live band playing in the bar or on the terrace, and you guessed it right – most of those bands will be local as well! So, if you want to immerse yourself fully in the Central-Dalmatian experience, a visit to Vino&Ino in Šibenik is a must! And during the non-tourist season, when they’re closed in Šibenik, you can still find them at various festivals, street-food and similar events throughout Croatia.
Vino&Ino
Fausta Vrančića bb
22000 Šibenik
Phone: 091 250 6022
http://www.vinoiino.hr/
