Why Croatian wine!?

Well, why not. If you are on this page/blog I guess you are in Croatia, planning to go to Croatia, or just bored to death and using Google to find the most random stuff on the planet.

Anyway, Croatian wine is a nice way to get your Croatian experience going.

However, many people are skeptical, and some for good reason. Wine culture in Croatia, especially among Croatians themselves (beer nation anyone?) is still in early stages of development, and for no good reason, winegrowing has been present for centuries (anybody heard about Greeks, maybe even Pharos?).

Also, many have traveled in the years past and tried a bunch of “house wine” (thank you cheap restaurant owners) and have built up a perception of overpriced, acidic, awful tasting whites, and chilled reds served  as part of a “cocktail” in Croatia known as Bevanda (red wine and water, yuck).

But now things are happening, winemakers have acquired enough knowledge, tourism is ready to explode, and hospitality industry is starting to realize that fine wine is not just for the French.

That takes us to a couple of good reasons for drinking Croatian wine:

• Reason  #1

It’s the birthplace of Zinfandel, yes, THAT Zinfandel, American Zinfandel, red Zinfandel or whatever people call it this side of Franzia White Zinfandel (which isn’t a real grape FYI, people have asked, I mean seriously). There is a whole history of Zinfandels travels from the slopes of mountain Kozjak just outside of Split to Italy a then to USA, but I’ll let you Google it, this isn’t a history seminar :-).  However, I’ll tell you that we can thank this guy for figuring it out which leads me to…

• Reason #2

Chateau Montelena and the whole “Judgment of Paris” thing would not happen without a Croatian guy, mentioned above who was the head winemaker of Montelena at the time and had a great impact on their Chardonnay that beat the French at their own game, but that’s not all…

• Reason #3

Heard about Grgich Hills? One of the most appreciated California wineries? No? You call yourself a wine drinker? Yes? Good, so you probably know that it has been founded and owned by Mike Grgich with his partner Austin Hills. FYI Grgich is actually Grgić and is a full blown Croatian stud (at 90 years old and counting).

• Reason #4

It made Anthony Bourdain pass out….

I have more up my sleeve but I managed to convince myself already so I’m going to open a bottle and leave blogging to somebody who actually knows how to do it…

Cheers!