As part of the promotion of Croatian wines under the Wines of Croatia – Vina Mosaica brand, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce organised a promotional wine dinner in Vienna, Austria. Hosted by the director of the Vienna Wine Academy, Josef Schuller, ten Croatian wineries presented their best wines – Badel 1862, Degrassi, Dvanajščak Kozol, Feravino, Iločki Podrumi, Krauthaker, Kutjevo, PP Orahovica, Stina and Vina Belje, reports Večernji List on December 16, 2018.
“The quality of your wines is obvious, the problem is their insufficient recognizability,” Schuller pointed out, adding that the problem could be solved thanks to the fact that many Austrians love to spend their holidays on the Croatian coast, where they have an opportunity to taste Croatian wines.
“And, in your country, almost every island has its wine. With good promotional activities like this dinner, bright future awaits you,” said Schuller, especially emphasising Malvasia, a wine variety which cannot be found in Austria. “The red wines from Dalmatia are a little bit more well-known among the Austrians, but I am afraid that not everybody is aware just how great these wines can be. Your Graševina is also better than the Austrian, but unfortunately, it is not well-known,” said Schuller.
Raising awareness is precisely the goal of such promotional events. “We try to use the potential we have and brand Croatia as a wine country to ultimately make the job easier for our exporters. If our autochthonous varieties win so many prizes at international competitions, why would not they be offered at the best restaurants,” asked Luka Burilović, the president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).
“The export trends to Austria are positive. After Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany, Austria is the third largest export market in the wine sector. In 2017, we exported 8,500 hectolitres of wines, worth 1.2 million euro. We can reasonably expect exports to grow further,” said Burilović.
The basic idea of this kind of promotional events is to enable direct contact between wineries and customers, distributors and restaurant owners. The wines of Iločki Podrumi have found their buyers in Austria since 2017, and the Austrian market now accounts for 15 per cent of the company’s total exports.
“Our export strategy is not focused on volume, although the share of exports of our wines increases year by year,” said Karmela Tancabel, the wine export advisor at Iločki Podrumi. “Events such as these can greatly contribute to this since the structure of guests is aimed at developing business links and above all at raising awareness about Croatia,” said Tancabel.
In addition to being extremely demanding when it comes to gastronomy, the long-time wine distributor Ivo Peršinović said that the Austrians are very closed when it comes to importing foreign wines. “It is not easy to break through the Austrian market. They import only seven per cent of the wines sold, the rest are their wines,” said Peršinović, adding that the number of Austrian buyers had doubled in the last two years. “Wine dinners are the right way because gastronomy is the main promoter of wines,” concluded Peršinović at the event held at the Kornat restaurant.
More news about Croatian wines can be found in our Lifestyle section.
