“Almost 80 percent of visitors of The Great Sparkling Exploration festival were aware of Croatia as a wine country and were honestly interested in our sparklings,” said Tomislav Tomac, upon returning with his wife Martina form London, where the editors of Decanter Magazine placed them among 60 presenters from around the world at the first invitational festival of sparkling wines. The criteria for participation was at least 95 points at the Decanter wine tasting, the largest by number of wine samples in the world, or a publication in a magazine as the best sparkling in a category. Tomac Amfora sparkling was on the list of 75 most exciting wines in 2016, chosen by Decanter editors, with only six sparklings listed.
“We were surprised as we do not have an importer in Great Britain. Decanter’s people were at the Vino.com festival in Zagreb, tasted our wines and procured some through their channels. Besides the Amfora 2010 sparkling, we also had the Diplomat sparkling from 2014 in London, in a hall adjacent to Westminster Abbey,” said Tomislav Tomac at the traditional June presentation of young wines.
The Tomac family is not rushing to reach the market, as they wait for wines to be in optimal form, but every June they surprise us with something. This year the novelty is Zelenac. An Austrian variety locally known as Rotgipfler, made into excellent dry and predicate wines by Vlado Krauthaker.
“Franjo Jambrović was the first to produce it on Plešivica, we all learned how to make wine from him. Vladimir Nežić and I watched him do it. They are both deceased now, unfortunately, and we bought a hectare and a half of Nežić’s vineyards with 800 vines of Zelenac. We made a wine which I dedicate to my professors,” said Tomislav’s father, Zvonimir Tomac.
They will have another harvest of Zelenac, and then replace it with red Veltliner, whose seedlings they have already reserved in Austria.
They also presented Sauvignon 2016. It has a nice varietal scent, not strong as it can be with Sauvignons, and the Rizling 2016 was also very welcome. It is very tasty and has a great potential for aging. Next came a mineral Chardonnay 2015 and a Pinot Nero from the same harvest.
“It’s not easy with him. Grapes ripen quickly and if picked too late, the wine gets jam notes, which do not fit the variety,” said Tomislav, adding it fermented in amphora and ripened in a barrel of 2.000 litres. He could not avoid mentioning 2016 was an excellent year for sparklings, the best ever.
“We harvested on September 10. Grapes were perfectly ripe, and with only 10 grams of acids per litre. Just like in Champagne. Acids can drop in August to seven grams, so the harvest must take place although grapes are not quite ripe,” he said. Was the harvest really that good, we will see in two years. Then the sparklings from last year will be ripe.
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