ABOUT CROATIA

Wine in Croatia has a long, long history. It was the Greek settlers who first introduced vineyards to the Croatian coast in the 5th century BC and wine production has flourished ever since. During the Homeland War, many wineries and vineyards were destroyed but the wine making industry has rushed back.

Croatia now produces up to 700 wines, some of excellent quality.

Croatia Wine Regions

As in France, wines are strictly labelled according to their origin.

There are some 300 official wine regions divided generally into coastal and interior wines. The majority (54%) of wine is white and produced in the interior while 48% is red and produced along the coast. Rose is relatively rare.

Although there are hundreds of grape varieties in Croatia, experts agree that the red Plavac Mali grape produces the best red wine.

Plavac Mali is genetically identical to Zinfandel grapes which clearly come from Croatia, not Italy as has long been thought.

Malvazija from Istria and Posip from Korcula produce Croatia's most renowned white wines. Croatia's Best Wines In northern Croatia, look for Zlahtina from Vrbnik on Krk Island;Cabernet from Porec; Sauvignon, Merlot and Terrano from Buzet. In Dalmatia look for Dingac and Postup from the Peljesac Peninsula, Babic from Primosten, Vugava from Vis, Plavac from Bol, Malmsy from Dubrovnik, Posip and Grg from Korcula.

Sixty five Croatian wines have won awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2011, one of the most prestigious and acclaimed competitions in the wine industry.

Image Regional Trophy was awarded to Bodren Winery for its 2009 Bodren Icewine, and Gold medal to Krauthaker Winery for 2009 Grasevina Izborna Berba Prosusenih Bobica.

Other awards for Croatian wines include 11 Silver medals, 27 Bronze and 25 Commended wines. In 2009, Croatia shocked the wine world by walking away with eight gold medals at the prestigious Decanter Wine Awards, beating out such stalwarts as Chile and New Zealand.

Sweet, white wines won most of the medals. Wine judge Angela Muir described the dessert wines as" "exclusive, expensive, high-end and they are no question up with the great Sauternes."