November the 28th, 2020 – Australia is about as far away as far away can get in relation to Croatia, but for Medjimurje oak barrels which are being used to store wine on the other side of the planet, no distance is too far.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, Bacvarija Pozvek from Dunjkovac in the municipality of Nedelisce in beautiful Medjimurje guarantees that the wine stored in their Medjimurje oak barrels will keep well and remain drinkable for a very long time. Neven Pozvek is the director of this company, which has successfully transformed from a trade in a deficit into a strong and stable player. It’s also one of only four Croatian producers of wooden barrels.
“I think that every winemaker who wants to have quality wine must have an oak wooden barrel and I think those stainless steel barrels lack a soul,” says Pozvek, who inherited the business from his father Stjepan and branched it out to the extent that their barrels can now be found in various cellars in Europe, but also in distant lands like Australia. The family line continues and the craft hasn’t died out, which is too often the case when the younger generation is left to continue things.
“My father was in the barrel business since 1977. He got a job at the Tomasic workshop in Nedelisce and he bought the machines from his employer in 1997, opening this business – Bacvarija Stjepan Pozvek. He always wanted that, his very own business, and due to the increase in the volume of work in 2010, he moved to the company Pozvek d.o.o. and appointed me as the director back in 2014, I’ve always loved helping him to make barrels since I was 15, I was very interested in it. After school, I passed my master’s exam and I’ve been running production with my father’s help since I was 20 years old. My love for wood alone kept me in it and I never thought that the job was dying out, because there was always a lot of work to be done, I think there will always be wine, and without a good oak barrel – there can be no good wine,” says Pozvek.
They’re from Medjimurje, their basic raw material is Slavonian, where do they get oak from, is there enough of it?
”Our barrels are made of Slavonian oak, which we procure from Croatian Forests. Good raw materials are difficult to obtain, Croatian Forests have their own conditions and are also bound by a contract. Although we’ve been buying oak logs from them since back in 2000, we only managed to arrange a larger quantity of them three years ago, but it still isn’t really enough for us. We also make our barrels from agave and some from cherry, chestnut and mulberry trees,” explains this producer of Medjimurje oak barrels.
He thinks that Slavonian oak is exported a lot, it is in demand for making furniture, so barrels made of that wood are certainly a value in and for themselves. Pozvek couldn’t speak precisely about the price for one piece, because, he says, it all depends on the quality of the oak and also the dimensions of the wine tank itself, and it’s a process that can even last for several years.
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