One of the oldest and largest wine exhibitions in Croatia, Vinovita, is held at the largest Croatian Fair, Zagreb Fair. This year Vinovita will be held for 22nd time (in the past it has changed the time of year when it takes place quite a lot), and as has been the case in the past few years, it will be held at the same time with two other events in the Zagreb Fair, 26th international Boat Show Nautika and Hotel&Gastroteh, the 9th International Gastronomy, Hotel and Restaurant Equipment and Catering Fair. Those fairs get around 30,000 visitors each year, since they’ve been held together, and their target audiences do mix quite well, so it’s understandable why each year such a large number of participants choose to present their wines at Vinovita.
Along with winemakers and their wine, other items are also presented, such as equipment and machinery for the cellars, equipment for wineries etc, so it’s clear that the focus in not entirely on presenting the wines to the public. Goal of the festival is, rather, to create a venue where Croatian winemakers, those working in the tourism industries and buyers can meet, where the customers are educated through various workshops and lectures in order to promote the culture of enjoyment of Croatian wine and food delicacies.
Vinovita festival has always had significant participation from winemakers abroad, and last few years participants from around 10 countries came to Zagreb to present.
In the past, the wine grading was held during the exhibition, so even though the detailed program for this year’s event is still not known, some competition will probably be organized this year as well.
So, if you can find time in the busiest wine-events week of this year so far to visit Vinovita, you’ll have a chance to taste a lot of great Croatian and imported wines, meet the people working on those wines and taste some great food at the other exhibition of restaurant equipment. Worth the trip to Novi Zagreb, right?
