On Thursday, the Graševina Croatica, Wines of Dalmatia and Hortus Croatiae associations, together with the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), once again hosted the popular wine event En Primeur, which brought together more than 60 winemakers who presented Graševina, Pošip, Pušipel and other Croatian autochthonous varieties from three wines regions: Slavonia and the Danube region, Dalmatia and Međimurje.
This increasingly popular and essential wine event was held at the Crystal Hall of the Westin Hotel in Zagreb and has again confirmed its excellent reputation, with guests, professionals and citizens happy to take part and the number of exhibitors and visitors growing. It is a unique opportunity to taste young white wines from the latest harvest, as well as red wines from previous years.
Croatian wines are becoming more recognisable on the European and world markets, as evidenced by numerous awards that Croatian wineries win with their wines year after year. Representatives of wine regions and established winemakers looked back at the 2018 harvest and shared their experiences.
Vlado Krauthaker, the president of Graševina Croatica association, commented on the last year. “The 2018 harvest in Slavonia, as far as the yield is concerned, was a bit better than the previous one. We have decided to present the results here at En Primeur, so everyone was invited – sommeliers, restaurant owners and managers, bars, hotels, F&B managers, distributors and other professionals. They can see how we as winemakers experienced last year. They have witnessed the quality of the wines and could see for themselves the differences in these three different regions. Given the excellent grape quality we had during the harvest, I think the market can expect truly extraordinary wines,” said Krauthaker.
President of the Hortus Croatiae association, David Štampar, summed up the year in Međimurje. “The last year was one of the more difficult winegrowing years, which started very late with vegetation. There was a lot of rainfall, but the rains were nicely spread, so the harvest still gave us good and healthy grapes. Due to more rainfall and colder nights starting from the second half of August and not too early harvest, we again have the result that we have almost every year in the Međimurje wine area: fresh wines with lighter to medium alcohol, and with expressed fruity. These wines are easy to understand, but they are no less attractive.”
The year in Dalmatia was summed up by Ivica Kovačević, the president of the Wines of Dalmatia association. “It was another special wine-growing year that was defined by ideal rainfall during the vegetation period and optimal temperatures that favoured the ripening of grapes. This was one of those harvests that are characterised by good yields and excellent grape quality. As the Dalmatian area is heterogeneous, joined with the excellent work of wine growers and the expertise of our oenologists – we can expect fresh and light white wines, but also more powerful Pošips. We believe that the year 2018 will become known as exceptional and one of those that are especially remembered by the wine community. Plavac Mali should be particularly remembered for the 2018 harvest, but for confirmation, we still have to wait for several years.”
HGK’s Vice-President of Agriculture and Tourism Dragan Kovačević said, “We expect a lot from last year’s harvest. First of all, with regards to the quality of the wine, but also to exports, as well as to the pleasure for palates of locals and tourists. It is encouraging that wine exports grew by more than 22 per cent in the first ten months of last year, particularly in the segment of quality and top-quality bottled wines and sparkling wines, i.e. more expensive products. This is proof that we are beginning to be increasingly respected beyond the borders of Croatia.” He added that he believed that the new Wine Act would provide a new impetus to the development of winemaking, particularly of top-quality wines with a geographical origin, where wine producers and regional producers’ associations will play a key role in winemaking and branding.
More news on the Croatian wines can be found in the Lifestyle section.
