Wineries

“I’m making wine in the vineyard, not in the winery!” Clai will proudly tell you and continue with the story how it is important to know each vine in the vineyard.

Beside their wine cellar sits large area with a traditionally built copper alembic distiller that produces 15,000 bottles of the finest grape-based pomace rakija in whole Croatia.

Hearty wines spiced up by Butoniga Lake terroir

Consider yourself lucky if you manage to visit this Plešivica’s flagship winery for a tasting with Tomica Tomac or his wife Martina.

All three generations of Šember family live off land and for wine.

World-Class Merlot with Istrian Dialect

In this small village above Mirna river valley, female touch managed to push a small family winery beyond the tradition, creating a style that makes Cossetto wines so easy to understand and recognize.

Pioneer of Raša River Valley Terroir

Synonym for Sparkling Wines in Croatian Istria

Unlike so many family-run and small, boutique wineries scattered around Istria, Vina Laguna is a big fish, part of the biggest corporation in Croatia. In this case, that’s not necessarily a disadvantage. On the contrary, Vina Laguna has raised the standards in recent years and started taking wine business seriously, aiming to have both constant…

Najhispterskija pivovara u Zagrebu, s impresivnom paletom piva, ali i odlično mjesto za svirke, DJ nastupe i druženja.

Young winemaker Roberto Tercolo from Nova Vas near Poreč produces Istrian Malvasia in a funky style which young folks will adore. Perfect for people who are just starting to appreciate wine. Full of aromas of exotic fruits and white flowers, with fruity flavours of peach, green apple, pineapple and grapefruit. Excellent with fragrant Asian food,…

Bordeaux blends from Zagorje hills Modern and ambitious, but not too big winery. They have the usual whites typical for Zagorje, but Petrač is quite unique for its mono-variety reds and two Bordeaux blends called Karizma (dominant Cab) and Enigma (dominant Merlot). My favourite is definitely Karizma, a smooth, elegant, well-balanced and rich blend, similar…

Marko Geržinić, a young and gifted Istrian winemaker, is gaining increasing attention with his red wines aged exclusively in stainless steel. Our favorites are Geržinić Teran 2008 and Geržinić Syrah 2009. The first has the typical Teran aroma of violets and raspberries, great acidic backbone, minerality is felt in the nose already, powerful in the…

Ivan Damjanić is a young 30-something winemaker whose wines are more famous in Croatian capital Zagreb than in Istria. He proudly tells me that he owns most of the vineyards I can see from his house in a small hilltop hamlet of Fuškulin. On 3,8 hectares he grows three white and three red grape varieties,…

Dobri duhovi i pioniri hrvatske craft scene, majstori zahmeljenih aleova i čudnovatih sezonskih kombinacija. Ako je točeno, onda je Nova runda.

In the 17th century many stancijas, isolated farms managed by a family co-ops, were founded all along southern and western Istria. These were “stations” for independent farming of the best produce the land could offer. In other words, each stancija had a complete food sovereignty and was even selling its produce in the nearby towns…

Prva i najuspješnija craft pivovara u Hrvatskoj, poštena, pouzdana i konstantna.

Škrlet is an indigenous white grape variety typical for Moslavina region in the continental Croatia. Since recently, after a few small producers have seriously raised the quality, Škrlet wines are becoming more and more popular as a refreshing summer drink…

Perfectionist in the cellar

Benvenuti brothers are famous for Istrian Malvasia cultivated on white soil rich in clay and limestone. The unique terroir gives this white wine, the emblem of Istrian winemaking, more delicacy, more elegant tones and more complexity than the usual Malvasia cultivated on red soil. Don’t leave their cellar without tasting Malvasia San Salvatore, a high-end…

Back in 1960, with an honest effort and a great desire to produce quality products, Gašpar and Foška Dobravac embarked on an adventure and started producing agricultural goods and offering their tourist services. They passed their love for the land and plants down to their son Damir who in 1994 took over the agricultural section…

Danijel Kraljević, code name Cuj, has two great loves; wine and oil. He is a wine expert by profession, and a multitalented perfectionist. His basic driving force is the question – Why is something the way it is? He “inherited” the name CUJ from his grandfather, whose punch line was (in a dialect): Listen (CUJ)…

While it is very probable to find Leonardo Palčić’s wines in many wine bars and taverns of Trieste where they embarked already in 1999, long before Croatia entered EU, and where they now enjoy respectable popularity. On the other hand, in Croatia these hidden gems are almost unknown and appear only on wine lists of…