“Croatia has a wealth of indigenous varieties and a beautiful mosaic of four wine-growing and wine regions with their climatic, varietal, and positional specifics, such as this Iločka with Traminer. Our wine is not just food and potentially important export product. Along with gastronomy, it plays an increasingly important role in the tourist offer, and events like this brand Croatia as an eno-gastro destination,” said the Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce for Agriculture and Tourism Dragan Kovačević.
HRTurizam reports, in 2020, Croatia recorded a 50% drop in wine sales due to the decline in tourism and the blockade of the HORECA channel; our winemakers sell almost 70% of their wine through the HORECA channel.
“However, the fact that our share of higher-priced wines, top-quality wines, and sparkling wines in exports is growing by almost 60 percent is encouraging, and this clearly shows that Croatian winemaking should go in the direction of high quality. Here, too, Traminer as a top variety has its role, and a large number of platinum and gold medals are proof that the crisis has not affected the quality of Traminer, “said Kovacevic.
Kovačević also added that the key role in stabilizing the wine sector was played by the national aid program by which the state removed HRK 9 million from the market with HRK 56m through crisis distillation and crisis storage, thus helping to preserve current liquidity and free up storage capacity for the new harvest, and assistance to the sector continues this year with 20 million.
He also pointed out that more investment should be made in the promotion and marketing of wine. “Winemaking must be a solid item in the state budget because there is no serious market positioning without marketing. Under the joint brand Vina Croatia Vina Mosaica, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce will continue to work even harder with its own funds and the funds of the wine envelope, EU funds, on the international promotion of Croatian wines. That is why we have completely renewed the website of Vina Croatia Vina Mosaica, which as an additional marketing tool should be a key communication point of Croatian winemaking and a guide for tourists and wine lovers through Croatian wine regions and Croatian wines,” said Kovacevic.
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The new Wine Act defined four regional organizations of winemakers and winegrowers that correspond to four wine-growing regions but also marketing regions of Croatia: Slavonia and the Croatian Danube region, Central Hilly Croatia, Croatian Istria, and Kvarner and Dalmatia. Winemakers gathered in the National Wine Association of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the professional service of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce are the initiators of this division, and these four regions are the backbone of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce brand strategy “Vina Croatia Vina Mosaica.”
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