Croatia
Croatia has a long history of wine making. Its heyday started in the late 1600s when as Venetian territory it was called on to replace the supply of wine lost when Venice finally lost Crete and its Malvasia vineyard to the Turks. Sailing through the Dalmatian islands (as has often happened on an Arblaster & Clarke small ship wine cruise) you will see vast tracts of abandoned, overgrown terraces – the former vineyards.
The country splits into 3 regions.
Istria, the triangular peninsula just south of Trieste, which is shared with Slovenia and Italy although it is mostly owned by Croatia.
Dalmatia, the rest of the coast and islands.
Inland, largely east of Zagreb.
In Istria the main white variety is Istrian Malvasia which in the right hands can make a very good wine. There is a little Muscat and some other varieties plus a little red. Istria is a prosperous and organised region and there are a number of very good estates here. We have particularly enjoyed ‘Malvazia Istraka’ from pioneering producers such as the top wine estates that we have visited on many occasions over the years: – Matosovic, Koslovic and Coroni.
In Dalmatia on the mainland, the Pelgesac peninsula the vineyards of Dingac and Postup are well developed. The once famous Castelli vineyards near Split were sadly run down last time I saw them, but the vineyards around Dubrovnic were undergoing a renaissance. There are some very well established small firms and estates making good if fairly high priced wine here. It has to be said that there is some appallingly bad wine too, either home made or produced by decayed former state wineries. If you want to know what bad value is in wine, have a glass of this plonk while watching the sunset at a bar in Hvar or Dubrovnic.
The Dalmatian Islands islands of Vis, Hvar, Brac and Korcula make quite a lot of wine and some of it is very good. The main red variety here is Plavac Mali, a relative of Zinfandel. There are a number of white varieties too. The most extraordinary in Grk, an ancient variety which cannot self pollinate. There remains only one hectare of this in full commercial production owned by the Ceballo estate. The original Zin though, seems to be extinct, at least commercially.
Inland Croatia has fairly large tracts of vineyards. The district Međimurje has some kind of a historic reputation here, but I regret that we have not explored this area.
Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours regularly visit Istria and Dalmatia on our land based tours and Istria and the islands have featured several times on our Wine Cruises.
Fair/Windy, 4C, Dubrovnik
Friuli, Istria & Slovenia
13 - 19 June 2011
Gourmet Istria
Departures throughout the year.
Sicily to Venice Wine Cruise aboard Le Ponant
27 July - 1 August 2008
Corsica, Italy & Croatia Wine Cruise
22 July - 1 August 2008
