The beginning of the last year’s tourist season brought to the Dalmatian town of Trogir its first wine bar. In early June Vintage Wine & Cheese bar was open, hoping to offer tourists and locals during the summer tourist season the spot to sit and enjoy some Croatian wine and highest quality cheeses. It is located in the centre of Trogir, a very vibrant and popular tourist centre, and decorated in vintage style, to match the very old-fashioned building where it sits.
The wine bar has a wonderful and very popular terrace, holding over 50 drinkers, and the central decorative item of the interior is the shelf presenting all of the wines offered in the shop: during the last open season, there were around 70 Croatian wines on their wine list, and almost half of those could have been ordered by the glass. The bar is run by Maja Škiljević and Vinko Buble who understand the importance of the staff in such a bar. They do not want to be perceived as just another bar with somewhat stronger wine-list, so they are paying a lot of attention to detail, as well as to the proper education of waiters, who need to be able to give good advice and help customers.
Being located in Dalmatia, they have an emphasis on local, Dalmatian wines, but of course you will be able to find and taste wines from other Croatian regions as well. They have exclusively Croatian wines, with the exception of a few French champagnes, however there are quite a few Croatian sparkling wines on the list as well: Bibich, Grabovac, Roxanich and Tomac, whose Diplomat Extra Brut is the best-seller in the bar. The reds are mostly Dalmatian, including the very local crljenak (crljenak is by Kovač, there is Kiridžija, Kairos, Plenković, Miloš, Mrgudić, Saint Hills plavac), with several Istrian great reds (Meneghetti, Benvenuti, Matošević…). The whites are less predominantly Dalmatian, of course, but there are a few great ones on the list: Grabovac kujundžuša, Duboković bogdanuša, Bibich debit, Bire grk, Stina Vugava, Volarević pošip etc, with a few Istrian malvazija and, of course, a couple of wines by Krauthaker. They also offer several different dessert wines, including an amazing Mrgudić prošek.
Most of the wines can be bought at the wine bar as well, to take with you and enjoy on your own terms. The prices in the bar are appropriate for a major tourist centre, and probably not meant for an everyday lounging by the locals. They offer various cheeses from all over Croatia, famous cheese from Pag, Dalmatian cheese, cheese from Livno (not Croatia, but well-known for its quality) and cheese with truffles from Istria, by Zigante (the most renowned Croatian producer of products made with truffles – his product are also sold at the bar). On the various cheese platters home-made fruit jams will be served, along with some of the best Croatian olive oil.
Vintage Wine & Cheese Bar
Hrvatskih mučenika 12
21220 Trogir
Phone: +385 (0)21 881 574
http://vintagewinecheeseb.wixsite.com/trogir
