January the 13th, 2025 – The 10th WineOS by Graševina Croatica held this past weekend has well and truly exceeded expectations.
The weekend spanning the 10th and 11th of January saw the tenth WineOS by Graševina Croatica event. It attracted a large number of exhibitors, business visitors and other guests to the Economic Centre of Osijek-Baranja County. The largest and most important wine event in all of eastern Croatia once again established itself as a fair that sets both trends and standards, and not only in Osijek and its surroundings, but on the wider stage.
Over 150 brands presented their products and services at 125 exhibition stands and on the main stage. Over the course of two days, 4,000 people passed through the 10th WineOS by Graševina Croatica, from exhibitors and business visitors, to guests, journalists and end consumers. Thanks to the direct involvement of the Graševina Croatica association, the focus was primarily placed on winemakers from the Slavonia and Croatian Podunavlje wine regions, and everything was spiced up by guests from other Croatian regions and even from abroad.
“I’d like to to all our partners who supported us in the organisation of the event, to the exhibitors who played a leading role again, to the institutions that supported us and, of course, to all our dear visitors who responded in large numbers this year as well. I’m glad that we received praise from everyone, as well as criticism and advice. All this information will help us to be even better next year,” said Boris Ocić, president of the Dekanter association, the project’s leader.
“It’s very challenging every year to offer something better, more attractive and interesting, it requires a huge commitment and lots of fresh ideas. In terms of production, we’ve become leaders and every year we set new standards for all others who organise similar fairs and other wine events, not only in Osijek but across Croatia and beyond its borders. It’s nice to hear the praise, but in just a few days we need to knuckle down and start thinking about how to be even better, more current and more attractive to all segments we address next year,” stated Denis Despot, the fair’s producer and the vice president of Dekanter.
“Attracting such great exhibitors and highlighting local winemakers in the best way possible is no easy task. Alongside that, we also need to make sure we’re paying enough attention to guests who come to us from other regions of Croatia and from abroad. We always have plenty of ideas, but we need to translate them all into such a large event. The increased participation of Graševina Croatica helps us a lot in this because we’re primarily dedicated to their members and other local wine producers. We already have a lot of plans for the eleventh edition of WineOS, but we’ll first take a short break and then, before spring, dedicate ourselves to preparations for next year. Thank you to everyone who supported us,” said WineOS’s conceptual initiator and operational director Vinko Ručević.
“The cooperation has existed since the first edition of the fair, which was a festival back then. This year, by directly involving ourselves in the organisation, we wanted to improve our visibility and further highlight the importance of our producers. I’d like to thank our partners from Dekanter who, with their ideas and experience, have done a lot to make us more recognisable to the public and to highlight the importance of our members in the overall wine story of Croatia,” commented the director of Graševina Croatica, Tomislav Panenić.
WineOS by Graševina Croatica once again offered several novelties to visitors this year. In addition to Graševina Croatica’s top-notch Wine&Dine workshops, fantastic masterclass workshops and Dean Kotiga’s eno gastro quiz, the biggest novelty was the People’s Choice. For the first time ever, the audience had the opportunity to choose their favourites and visitors voted for the best products showcased. Although this was the premiere of voting like this at wine events, the organisers have said that they’re more than satisfied with the fact that during the two days of the fair, on average, every visitor gave at least one vote for one of the favourites.
In the white wine category, the best was awarded to Lara 1/6 from the Roxanich winery, among the rosé wines, the Almáš winery K55 was celebrated, while among the red wines, an award went to the Istrian winery Roxanich for Superistrian.
Among the sparkling wines, victory was won by Lanson organic green bio champagne presented by Luma, and in the distillate category, victory went to the Moostra distillery from Đakovočka Satnica for their plum brandy. The three luckiest voters will also remember the 10th WineOS by Graševina Croatica, as they received gifts in the form of a three-litre bottle of Graševina, which the sponsor Belje equipped with a special label solely for this occasion.
The 10th WineOS was organised by the associations Dekanter and Graševina Croatica, with the co-organisation and sponsorship of Osijek-Baranja County, the Croatian Agency for Agriculture and Food, the Croatian Chamber of Economy, the Osijek-Baranja County Tourist Board and the Osijek-Baranja County Economic Centre.
The special sponsors of the 10th WineOS by Graševina Croatica this year were the Croatian Government and the Croatian Parliament. The organisers also thanked the media for their coverage and all the exhibitors and visitors who were present over the two days of the fair.
See you in 2026 at the 11th WineOS was the closing message from the team.
