Meet the poker of aces of Croatian sparkling wines
After Croatia profiled itself as a wine country, in the last few years it is also becoming known for its sparkling wines. To introduce its readers with the best sparkling wines in the country, Poslovni.hr published a very good overview on January 2, 2016, and we were more than happy to share it with you.
First sparkling wines in Croatia were produced around 1800 in Samobor. There is historical data on the existence of a Champagne Factory while on the First Dalmatian – Croatian – Slovenian trade exhibition in 1864 which was held in Zagreb, one of the exhibited items was “champagne made from Croatian wines”. This tradition was interrupted for quite a while, if we don’t take into account the production of Bakarska vodica which was the only sparkling wine most of us “ordinary folk” could get our hands on during communist times.
With the arrival of high quality Croatian wine makers in the 1990s, new era of sparkling wines begins. In the last 20 years, a few outstanding producers emerged in several wine regions across the country. First serious sparkling wine in modern Croatia, Šenpjen was produced by Ivan Turk, and after his passing, his daughter dr. Lidija Turk Volovec continued with the. Highest concentration of quality sparkling wines can be found on the slopes of Plešivica above Jastrebarsko, including excellent Šember, Kurtalj, and Ivančić. For sparkling wines produced by the Tomac family, real wine connoisseurs say it can rub shoulders with the most significant Champagne names – they were the first in the world to produce sparkling wines from amphora stored wines. Plešivica is not an exception; top sparkling wines are produced in other Croatian regions too. The late Đordano Perušić whose winery is located near Poreč, was the first to specialize in sparkling wines only, and his legacy is now proudly continued by his daughters Ana and Katarina.
When it comes to Dalmaia, Bibich winery produces an outstanding sparkling wine from ordinary local Debit wine sort. Things are slowly moving in Međimurje as well where winery Dvanajščak Kozol is now producing very good pink sparkling wine.
Here they are now, one by one
Tomac
First in the world to produce sparkling wines from wine aged in amphorae
Tomac family started producing sparkling wines 25 years ago. At first it was a humble quantity of just 12 bottles only to gradually grow over the years. Today, their sparkling wine Diplomat brut is definitely on par with the biggest and most significant Champagne brands “We were lucky enough to have known the late Franjo Jambrović, doyen among Croatian wine makers in producing sparkling wine using the classical champagne method. He shared all the secrets connected to the creation of finest bubbles. Even though from the very start we were convinced that Plešivica region is ideal for sparkling wines, that was also confirmed by international peers in 1996 when we won a silver medal for our sparkling wine Classic brut at an esteemed wine expo in Paris. From that moment on, our wine public started to pay more attention and show more interest in sparkling wines. All this just further confirmed that Plešivica has the ideal climate conditions and soil composition (high concentration of lime) necessary for the production of sparkling wine. More than half of Tomac’s wines end up as sparkling wines and they produce them on 7 hectares of own vineyards. The goal is to produce highest quality grapes from each individual year and to turn it into a wine that will represent the area where it was grown, with minimum interventions in the cellar. That is why they use large wooden barrels that allow the wine to receive the exact quantity of air it needs to stay alive throughout the maturation process. They’ve even taken their production few thousand years back into the past by following an old Georgian tradition of production in amphorae dug into the earth: “Today we can proudly say we were the first producers in the world to produce a sparkling wine from amphorae wine. It is a brand new style of sparkling wine, made out of wine which underwent a 180 day long maceration in amphorae. By pure luck, some of the bottles ended up in the hands of some of the most renowned biodynamic producers in the Champagne region who also accepted this method and started using it five years after we did. As it turns out, our small winery inspired the greatest stars of the most renowned and richest wine region in the world” says Tomislav Tomac.
Misal
After 5 centuries of wine making, they decided their entire production to sparkling wines
“We are the only wine makers in Croatia producing only sparkling wines, everyone else also produces still wines and one or several brands of sparkling wines that are more of a byproduct. Our entire production is completely dedicated to sparkling wines, starting from the harvest, through all the equipment we use to the design and construction of the cellar. Following a 5 century long tradition of wine making within Perušić family, we started a test production of sparkling wines based on Malvazija with the addition of pinot noir and chardonnay. Our father, Đordano Perušić, great wine and vine aficionado but also a great scientist and long time director of the Agriculture and tourism institute in Poreč, wanted to prove that Istrian malvazija is a good sort for producing sparkling wines” Katarina Perušić Bernobić comments on her family legacy. First bottles of their Misal sparkling wine were opened for the 80th anniversary of the National University Library in Zagreb and that was the beginning of the Misal brand which got its name from the first book ever printed in Croatia – Missale Romanum Glagolitice. Perušič family invested years in developing the Misal brand and as of 2013 it is a protected brand name. They now produce 10 different sparkling wines and they produce 40 000 bottles a year. “We will soon introduce our 11th sparkling wine on the market; we have created it especially for the needs of hotels and restaurants, so now we will have a team of 11 players capable of playing all games. It takes us at least two and a half years to produce each bottle of sparkling wine” . Katarina Peršurić Bernobić concludes.
Šember
They don’t call Plešivica “little Champagne” for nothing
Zdenko Šember started producing sparkling wines using a classical method back in 1997. He started with about 300 bottles and has been gradually increasing his production ever since. The beginning was not easy; they experimented a lot with different sorts of grapes grown on the slopes of Plešivica. For the last five years they have been producing 17 000 to 20 000 bottles a year. Two of their sparkling wines can be found in stores, white and rose. White sparkling wine is produced from three sorts: 60& chardonnay, 30% pinot blanc and 10% yellow plavac. Their rose, which is particularly praised the critics is produced from pinot noir. Quality f sparkling wine in Plešivica is rising each year and that can be seen by the number of wine makers starting to produce sparkling wines using a classical method: “many wine lovers call Plešivica little Champagne” and that tells you a lot. Its terroir has proven to be ideal for the production of sparkling wines” says Šember.
Bibich
You can make an excellent sparkling wine using local debit
Bibić family has been producing wines for generations. After World War II, Petar Bibić successfully revitalized wine production and its placement on the market. During the Homeland war, vineyards in Promina and Plastovo above Skradin were completely destroyed but their revitalization began after the war ended “We have several small vineyards around Skradin and they are all just one sort – debit. In our vineyards which are 40 years old we use the minimal amount of protective substances, we don’t use artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Our sparkling wines are produced using the classical champagne method with long bottle fermentation and they are three years in the making. It has the aroma and taste of green apples, citrus, almonds and toasted bread. It goes well with seafood, especially fresh oysters, Carpaccio or marinades” says Alen Bibić, winemaker that produces his extraordinary Bibich brut from the ordinary locally grown debit.
