A Hvar wine success story in Holland, and a new ambassador for Croatian wine on February 7, 2017. A press release from Croatian Grapes.
Sommelier Sabas Joosten of the 3-Michelin star best restaurant in The Netherlands ‘De Librije’ is appointed Croatian Wine Ambassador 2017 by the Croatian ambassador in The Hague. This appointment took place during a professional wine tasting organized in collaboration with wine importer Croatiangrapes.com.
It is the first time that this honourable title has been given in the Netherlands. The new wine ambassador is the 30-year-old sommelier Sabas Joosten who has been working at De Librije since April 2013. First as an assistant sommelier and from January 2015 as head sommelier under owner Thérèse Boer.
According to the nomination committee, consisting of the Croatian Ambassador Mrs Andrea Gustovic-Ercegovac and wine importers Mario Pranic and Diederik Swart of Croatiangrapes.com, Joosten is without a doubt the right person to be the first to receive this honourable title. “He has had a huge impact on the promotion of Croatian wines in the Netherlands. And how wonderful it is, that someone who is working at the top level in the wine world can tell how good the wines are and how they are appreciated by the guests”, says Pranic.
The fact that Joosten puts an outstanding wine from a particular wine country like Croatia on the menu has been picked up by many media in the Netherlands and abroad. One of the biggest newspapers in Croatia, the Slobodna Dalmacia devoted a full page to the fact that a wine from a small winery on the Dalmatian island of Hvar is served in the three-Michelin- starred Best Restaurant in The Netherlands.
Ljubo Makjanic, the oenologist of Vina Caric, who is responsible for the first Croatian wine in the Librije, is honoured. “We make wines that express the unique taste of the indigenous grape and the terroir. This is often very surprising to an outsider.”
“Already at the first wine tasting with Mario and Diederik I was very excited about the quality of the wines,” said Joosten, “and it is quite a success in our restaurant.” He already has become so convinced of the quality of Croatian wines that he has several wines on the menu now, which are all made of indigenous grapes such as Plavac Mali and Pošip.
