Wine Vault is the restaurant in hotel Monte Mulini in Rovinj, luxury boutique five-star hotel. And, the luxury of the hotel where it’s located is shown in the restaurant and wine bar located on its premises.
The wine bar is designed as an old-time wine cellar, with modern details and great atmosphere, partly because of the relatively low number of seats in the restaurant and bar. The meals they serve are mostly modern French and Mediterranean cuisine, and their menu reads like a dream (although, not one that most people would ever be able to afford to dream).
But, the reason why we are writing about this restaurant and wine bar is their wine list, supposedly the largest in Croatia, printed on almost 100 pages, with 550 labels on it. Almost a half of those wines are Croatian, and the restaurant has probably the most impressive collection of indigenous Croatian wines – local malvazijas but also most of the best plavac from the south of Dalmatia, as well as pošip and other indigenous varieties. They also offer a great selection of prime continental Croatian wines, as well as the greatest selection of sparkling wines in Croatia (over 50 spakling wines).
You will be able to have some of the best French champagnes, and some Italian and other imported sparkling wines. The head sommelier in the restaurant Filip Savić will be able to offer you a wine on their remarkable archive wines list, and on that impressive list you can find traminac made by Iločki podrumi in 1982, as well as a rhein reisling from 1961! And the predicate wine list includes Chateau d’Yquem, 2001, Premier Cru Superieur and the best of predicate wines Croatia offers, including the best Bodren’s wines, and several Croatian prošeks sold by the glass. And, yes, after a lot of contemplation, we found one objection: wines are apparently sold only as bottles, but then again: that’s perfectly normal for a restaurant with that type of food, prices and reputation.
So, if you ever win a lottery while in Croatia and really, really want to spend a lot of that money on the best Croatian (or imported) wines and wonderful food, this is probably one of the places to go to. The restaurant is open in the tourist season, usually from April to late October.
Wine Vault
A. Smareglia 3
52210 Rovinj
Phone: 052 636 017
http://www.winevault.com.hr
