Croatia Wine 101: A Guide to Croatian Wine Regions & Grapes

Ep 91

Ever wondered what it's like to sip wine from the real-life King’s Landing from Game of Thrones? 

Today, I’m diving into the world of Croatian wine. I had never really thought about Croatian wine until last year when Jennifer Kerum attended my Walla Walla retreat. Jennifer is from Croatia and runs a wine tourism business there. She came on the podcast to talk about all things Croatian wine and it was so fascinating that I knew I needed to dig deeper into this region. I recently highlighted Croatian wine in my Cork Crew and we had so much fun that I wanted to share it with you on the podcast!

This week, we’ll talk about the diverse wine regions of Croatia and I’ll share each area’s distinct climates, soils, and grape varietals. We’ll also discuss Croatia’s ancient winemaking roots and the devastating Pylloxera epidemic that has shaped Croatia's wine scene.

So, if you’re ready to explore the fascinating world of Croatian wine, from its rich history to its diverse regions and unique grape varietals, press play and listen in!

Resources:

Ep 58 - Croatian wine episode with Jennifer Kerum - https://www.corkandfizz.com/blog/guide-to-wine-podcast-episode-58

Croatia Wine Folly Map - https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/introduction-to-croatian-wines/

Episode Highlights:

• Croatian wine history

• Geography and main wine regions of Croatia

• Istria wine region - climate, grape varieties and producers

• Key grape varietals from Istria - White grape - Malvazija Istarka and the Teran grape

• Dalmatia wine region - climate, grape varietals and producers

• Key grape varietals from Dalmatia - Red grapes: Plavac Mali, Babić, and White grapes: Pošip, Grk, Maraština (Rukatac)

• Croatian Uplands - climate, grape varietals and producers

• Key grape varietals from Croatian Uplands - Indigenous grapes: Škrlet, Pušipel, and Kraljevina 

• Slavonia and Danube - climate grape varietals and producers

• Key grape varietals from Slavonia and Danube - Graševina (aka Welschriesling), Traminac (Gewurztraminer), Zweigelt, and Frankovka (Blaufränkisch)

• Where to buy Croatian wine

Transcript

0:16

Hello. Hello. And welcome back to another episode of the cork and fizz guide to wine. Today's episode is inspired by a recent cork crew tasting. I was actually thinking of doing some other topic, and then this tasting went so well, and everybody had so much fun. And I really enjoyed getting to do the research. So I was like, heck, let's bring this onto the podcast. This will be so fun. So today, we are talking about Croatian wine. And I have to be honest I never really thought much about Croatian wine until last year on my Walla Walla Retreat. This was when 1 of my guests was actually from Croatia and ran a yacht and wine tourism business there. Now if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you've actually met her before. Her name is Jennifer Kieram. She was on here and talked all about Croatian wine, and I feel like as much as, like, I love that podcast, 1 single podcast does not do Croatia justice. So I wanted to dive in and do a little intro. So this will actually work perfectly. If you haven't heard Jennifer's interview yet on the podcast, stick around, listen to this episode first to give yourself a little intro, and then go back and find Jennifer's episode. I will be sure to link it in the show notes for you. I'm not quite I can't remember what number it it is right now, but I'll put it in the show notes so then you can go listen to that. She I remember her telling me about all these unique grape varieties that I'd never heard of, and so I just I needed to learn more about all of this. So that is exactly what we're gonna do in this podcast. Obviously, there is so much to Croatian wine. Even 2 podcasts is not gonna do it justice. So consider this your little intro and then hopefully use this to jump start your interest in the world of Croatian wine. So whenever I start a little, intro to a new wine region, I always like to start with a little bit of history. Now, wine making began in Croatia more than two thousand four hundred years ago. This is long before the Greeks and the Romans. This was with the Celtic and Illyrian tribes who made wine from hundreds hundreds, remember that number, hundreds of indigenous varieties centuries before the Christian era. By the middle ages, in fact, they were making high end fine wines in tiny amounts, often at the monasteries. Now, when you hear this, you're like, well, why isn't Croatia considered 1 of the greats? Like with France or Italy, right, or Spain. Typically, you can look at war and politics to blame for these things, and that is definitely the case for Croatia. In the aftermath of World War one, Croatia was patched into the newly formed country of Yugoslavia and later essentially brought under Soviet control. During this time, grape growers were required to sell to a handful of huge cooperatives and the wine was reduced to a cheap commodity for local consumption. Of course, that was not the only thing that devastated Croatia. Phylloxera also came on board. Those are those tiny aphid like insects. I laugh about it, but they're actually devastating. They destroy the vines, and they killed all of the vines throughout Europe, including Croatia, and it caused the country to lose many indigenous varieties forever. So remember when I said there were hundreds back twenty four hundred years ago? There are still a lot now, but only a 30. There were far more before this. Now a new era began on June 25, 1991, and this is when Croatia and this is when Croatia declared its independence. Then in 2013, joined the European Union, and this was the start of a Croatian wine renaissance. Now something that has also helped Croatia's rise to fame and that's tourism. There's this enthusiasm for Croatian wine and it both reflects a growing interest in Central And Eastern European wines in general, but also a special connection to Croatia positions it as 1 of Europe's most popular vacation destinations. In 2018 alone, Croatia welcomed more than 20000000 tourists. The new interest in Croatian wine is also fueled by the growing number of Americans who are encountering these wines there as tourists and then wanna drink them obviously when they come home. Is, if you're listening, I'm curious. Do you have any guesses as to why? What is 1 key thing that has caused a big interest in Croatia as a as a tourism country? If you are a Game of Thrones fan, this should jump out at you. I think I have it later written out, but the capital or not the capital. The 1 of the big cities in Croatia oh, here we go. Okay. You might need to go back a little bit, Liz. I think I got a little distracted. I was trying to figure out the city name. I'm curious. Do you have any idea why Croatia is such a popular tourist destination all of a sudden? Now it is beautiful. The beaches are amazing. It isn't crazy expensive, but there's 1 thing that has led to higher tourism in Croatia. And that is the hit TV series Game of Thrones. The city of King's Landing, the fictional city of King's Landing, many of the cameos or where that was filmed was actually in Dubrovnik in Croatia. So that's kinda why it's been brought to people's attention nowadays. Okay. So let's do a quick little overview of the wine regions of Croatia. Now I'm going to share a link to a great map from wine Folly in the notes so you can look at that while I'm talking about this or afterwards if you're driving. Remember, we don't look at our phones when we travel. But I'm gonna try to describe it so you can picture it in your head as well. So technically, there are over 300 geographically defined wine producing regions in Croatia, but I'm not gonna go through all 300. We're gonna divide it into 4 major geographical zones instead. So first, at the very bottom of Croatia is the part with all the islands, and also just to kinda give you an idea of where Croatia is first before we get into the wine regions. So picture Europe in your head, a map of Europe, and right Italy is this little boot that sticks out of it right if you're in Italy and you go and you're kind of in the Northern part of Italy and you head east you would hit Croatia Croatia is just on the other side of the shores of Eastern Italy Okay, so hopefully that gives you a little idea and it does stick out into the the sea just like, Italy does. There's actually the Adriatic Sea is right in between them. Okay, now we're picturing Croatia. The very bottom of Croatia is the area of Dalmatia and Croatia's island. It's all kind of combined into 1, so that's for the fairly the most southern portion. Then going a little further north, but still along that Western Coast of Croatia, so along the Adriatic Sea, you have Istria then if we head east so we're going more inland we're going away from the water you're gonna have the Croatian Uplands and then the furthest east is gonna be Slovonia Like I said, I'm gonna put a map from wine Volley in the show notes so you can take a look at that, but hopefully that kind of gives you an idea. Those are our 4 regions, Dalmatia, Isteria, Croatian Uplands, and Slavonia. Also, I'm gonna say this now. I do not speak Croatian. I tried to look up many of these terms, so I'm saying them as best as I can, but I do not speak Croatian. And I recognize that this is a difficult language to learn and to pronounce correctly. As I mentioned before, go listen to that podcast with Jennifer. She has really good pronunciation despite the fact that she says she doesn't, but it's far better than mine. And be sure to keep exploring this and learning from people from Croatia as well about these different varieties and wines because obviously they're gonna know the most, but you gotta start somewhere. Right? Okay. So Croatia is home to more than 250 different grape varieties. Of those, a 30 are indigenous, but most of them are planted in pocket sized little parcels in small family vineyards. This means that there are approximately 40 native varieties or indigenous varieties that are used in commercial production alongside a dozen international varieties. So things international meaning things that are not originally from Croatia like Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot versus indigenous varieties are those that are from Croatia. Much of Croatia's wine production of their 69000000 liters stays within the domestic market. Croatia actually consumes an impressive 46.9 liters per capita annually according to the 2014 report. It's a little outdated. It was about ten years ago. But at that time, after the Vatican and Andorra, the crow the Croatians drank the most wine per capita in the world. So, sounds like a place I need to be. Of course, since Croatian independence from the former Yugoslavia and joining the EU in 2013, the wine industry has become more organized and the exports are multiplying. Okay. So the rest of this podcast, the way this is going to work is I am going to break it down into the 4 different regions of Croatia. We're gonna talk a little bit about geography and climate in those regions and then talk about the wines that are most common and grown in those regions. Now a lot of these wines or a lot of these grapes can be grown across other regions. They're most popular in the region I'm gonna tell you about. Hopefully, that makes sense. We'll we'll get there with each 1. So like I said, we're gonna break it down into the 4 little regions. I'm gonna tell you about the geography, the climate, and the wine that you would find there. So starting off, I'm actually gonna start with Istria. So remember, Istria is all the way on the Northwest Of Croatia, so it's along the Adriatic Sea. It's actually directly across from Italy, and it was actually once a part of neighboring Italy. It's also belonged to Austria and, of course, Yugoslavia in the past. But because it was a part of neighboring Italy, the Italian language is commonly heard. There are lots of Italian grapes that flourish in the vineyards, and apparently truffle production rivals that of Alba in Piedmont. This area has a pleasant Mediterranean climate. It's right along the sea, and it has a hilly topography and extensive coastline. So this allows for a myriad of microclimates. Microclimate meaning that, like, the climate in 1 vineyard versus a climate in a vineyard maybe a thousand meters away is incredibly different just because of where they are on the hillside, how high or low they are. What else? Like, the winds and the the rain that come in, that's all gonna be slightly different in each of those little vineyard areas. That's a microclimate. Now in terms of soils, these this area is most famous for iron rich terra rosa soils, and these produce a lot of rich red wines. But of course, you'll find soils of all different colors in history red, white, gray, black soils. These all come from different elements and the grapes express themselves differently based on the soil. Now, in terms of grapes and wine now, in terms of grapes and wine, Istria is most known for its white variety Malveggia Istarca. Now that Malveggia, it might sound similar to another grape from Italy if you've ever heard of it, Malvasia, but the thing is that these grapes are actually genetically distinct. So despite having the common name, which is confusing, these are 2 different grapes that are unrelated. This Movašia Starka, it originates in Austria where it is Croatia's Second most planted variety. Now those vineyards that I mentioned that have the iron rich terra rosa soil, these are primarily gonna be full of red wines like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the native varieties of Terrain and Rifosk. You'll also find Muscat or also called Moscato in Italy, in these vineyards that is primarily used to make dessert wine. So super quick diving a little deeper into that Malvasia Starka. This wine is known for its floral and fruity aromas as well as its light medium bodied and crust no. And crisp freshness. A range of style. The cool thing about this wine is it can make a wine that is light and fruity, but it can also make powerful and spicy wines. This is a wine that is often aged in stainless steel or concrete vats, but it can also handle a little oak aging. Like I said before, this grape expresses itself differently based on the site and typically not probably much of a surprise considered it's grown along the coastline of, Croatia. It pairs really well with seafood dishes. Also, frittata was something that was mentioned here, and it can hold up to hardier ingredients like olive or feta cheese. Yeah. Okay. Sorry, Liz. My mouse died, and there are people talking outside my window. So let's get back into this. I'm gonna have to pause a little more to reach forward to scroll, but we should be okay. Okay. The second grape I really wanted to dive into a little bit more was that Turan grape. That is that red grape that grows on the terra boson soil of Istria. This is a grape known for naturally higher acidity, and it can achieve a nice balanced medium bodied red wine with red fruit aromatics and a minerality. Remember minerality being like smell of a waterfall when you walk by or the smell of the fresh pavement after it's rained. All of that is something that comes in the aftertaste of this wine. Tehran is known for being deeply colored, again, about a medium bodied wine with berry, red fruit, and wild herb aromas. It is food friendly due to its lower tannin and vibrant acidity. In terms of notable producers found in Istria, one of them is called Coronica winery. This is 1 of those wineries that has the truest expression of Istarchy Teran. So that remember that grape that I was telling you about, the Teran grape, that red 1? It comes from Coronica Winery just outside the port town of Umag where winemaker Moreno Coronica crafts organically grown grapes into a red wine of extraordinary character. He established his winery in 1992 shortly after Croatian independence after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The estate itself, though, dates back to the early twentieth century founded by Moreno's grandfather, Giovanni Coronico, when Istria was still a part of Italy. Fun fact. Before devoting himself fully to wine, Moreno also worked as a fisherman and a mechanic. I don't know. Just thought that was kind of fun. A lot of people end up going into wine after doing a lot of other things. Moreno has always been a staunch champion of Istria's native grapes, including that Taran and also the Malveja Istarca. Another top producer from this region is called Kosovik. This is the largest private producer of Malvaja Istarka in Istria and a vocal crusader for quality. The family has been working these vineyards that dot the hillside of Northern Istria for several generations. Since the the winemaker, and his wife, Antoniella, have played a key role in putting Croatian, Istria, and Malvesia back on the wine map. They've experimented with a lot of different styles, but their signature style is the fresh, crisp, aromatic, very mineral forward, unoaked Malvasia. Okay. Our next region is Dalmatia. So probably the most popular tourist region in Croatia. Dalmatia is also where many native grapes have been discovered. This area, again, is most popular because of Dubrovnik, their cameos as city of King's Landing in the hit TV series Game of Thrones. This area can produce full bodied, ripe red wines, that are made from old vines and lots of native varieties. Croatia does make a majority of white wines, but Dalmatia is where you'll find a lot of the best reds. Don't worry. You'll also find a lot of great white wines in Dalmatia. In terms of the geography and climate, again, Dalmatia is the furthest south region in Croatia, and it is it includes all the different islands, of Croatia, and it's along the Mediterranean Sea. So you're gonna have Mediterranean climate, sunny, warm, dry summers. Cool thing about, Dalmatia is 1 of its islands called Hvar is home to the world's longest continually cultivated vineyard. It's actually UNESCO World Heritage Site called Stari Grad Plain. And these grapes have been grown or grapes have been grown in this vineyard since 400 BC. And there are about a hundred grape varieties preserved here, which I think sounds incredibly cool now I've heard of our is a little bit more of a touristy very cool where you go to dance and go out kind of spot but apparently there's also this vineyard hidden there so it is definitely worth it to go check it out In terms of the grapes and wine, like I said, Dalmatia is known for its abundance of sun, so you can expect a lot of body and a lot of alcohol in their wines. This is where a lot of the red wine comes from in Croatia because they can get enough sunshine. But they also have the coastline with a cooling sea breeze, so you get a lot of lighter bodied reds and whites as well. Lots of indigenous varieties here. Dalmatia, fun fact, is actually the ancestral home of Zinfandel, which is known in Croatia by its original name, Tribidrag. It also has a modern Croatian name, which looks kinda like klodgenic kash Kasztalanski, Well, I have no idea how to say that actually. So Zinfandel or Tribidrog. This was actually 1 of the first findings of the newly invented DNA typing back in the But in terms of other grapes that you're gonna find in Dalmatia, there is a Plavac Mali. This is the primary red wine of Croatia and the darling grape of Dalmatia. It's the third most common wine grape in Croatia and the top red wine. It is an offspring of zinfandel, so it's related to zinfandel, and the grape is so important that it was the first to have its own smaller appellation. So Poshtup and Dingak are both, smaller appellations that make Pavak molly. Both of them are located on the the Paljosac Peninsula in South Central Dalmatia. The wines made of Plovac Mali are usually big, full bodied, and very tannic. Aromatically think dark fruits, cocoa, sage, and dried figs. This is definitely 1 of those wines that can age really well, and if you're not aging it consider letting the wine sit out or decanting it for a little bit before you have a sip. Another popular red wine in this region is called Babik. This is in more North Dalmatia. It is a native Croatian varietal that produces inky red wines. Again, a lot of tannin, a lot of strength. This is 1 of those that has a lot of red fruit to it, but it also has this nice Mediterranean characteristic. The top note in this 1 was marasca cherry. Now I've never had a specifically a marasca cherry, and I'm very curious to try it because it popped out a lot whenever I saw Babik. One of the most famous wines, is conveniently called Dalmatian dog, which is cute. Right? Apparently, Dalmatian dogs come from Dalmatian, which makes sense, but I don't know. I'm still that convinced on that. But the wine itself is called Dalmatian dog and it's made with Babik and apparently it's a great value for your money. So if you wanna give this 1 a try, look for that. I'm usually a little worried about finding animals on wine labels, but this 1 is 1 that I saw good reviews for. Terms of notes, you're gonna get aromas of ripe dark fruit, particularly blackberries, blueberries, and, of course, that marasca cherry. You're also gonna get spices like black pepper, tobacco, and warm pumpkin spices. Okay. Now moving on to the white wines of Dalmatia. So we're still in Dalmatia. We're still in the Southern area of Croatia. Poship is the next 1 we're gonna talk about. This is a white wine grape native to Croatia's Dalmatian Coast. Poship originally let's say that again. The Possep grape originates from the Croatian island of Korcula on the Dalmatian Coast. It is relatively high yielding variety. It produces mostly dry wines with a nice refreshing acidity, high viscosity, and higher alcohol. In Terms of aroma, you're gonna find citrus, apricots, and fig. And then if they did do any oak aging, you might find a little vanilla and almond. Another white grape that is native to the island of Korcula in Dalmatia is Gurk, g r k. Gurk. It doesn't you know, like, there should be another way to pronounce this. No. It's Gurk. This is primarily grown in the region of Lombarda. This is very much just like the easy drinking wine. It is dry and savory, sometimes has a naturally high sugar content, but it balanced out with a good acidity. So and naturally high sugar content means in the grapes. The wine itself might not have any sugar left in it. You're gonna get citrus fruits, melons, figs, and meadow flowers, and then a little hint of pine was something that I read about. The last grape worm I'm going to mention for Dalmatia is maraschhina, which is also sometimes called rukatak. So this is a medium sized berry. The skin exhibits a nice freshness. It is often used to make an orange wine. So they're gonna have the skins of the grapes in contact with the juice for some amount of time. This wine, some of them, when they use this grape, they're gonna make a wine that's rich and creamy and shumptuous. That's the word I'm going for, sumptuous. And it's just very attractive. It's very fresh, but it has a nice body to it and kind of like sticks around the flavor. It's like it's like a good oaked chardonnay. I don't want you to scare you away with that, because it does have a really nice bright acidity. It's just very well balanced. Now in terms of notable producers to be on the lookout for, now many of these, I was trying my best to find ones that, imported into The US. I know I have listeners everywhere, which is crazy exciting to me, but I know a lot of you are here in The US and that's where I am, so at least I can look this stuff up. So a lot of these are wineries that export to The US. And if they export to The US, my hope is that they export to other countries as well. So 1 of those producers is called Pomelo. Literally, Pomelo, it means to take it easy, relax, no stress. This winery is run by the Bojovic cousins, and they actually paired with the import company, Vinum, to create these wines. You also have Bura, b u r a, and this includes the basina label. So I've had a basina wine before, not burra, but I have found burra in The US. This is a winemaker, Nico Burra. They do fully organic vineyards, truest expression of their microclimate, and the family has 1 of the longest traditions of wine making in that Dingach. I think it's Dingach. I think D I N G A C. The c at the end is like, I believe. Don't don't quote me on it. But they've been making wine in 1 of those kind of smaller regions that's known for Plovac, Mali, spanning over 16 generations since the year 1410. Couple other producers, Scaramucci, says s k a r a m u c with, like, not an umlaut, but, like, a little check over the c, a at the end. Sorry. I got distracted. Scaramucci. Let me make sure that I do I hit play? I did. That'd be embarrassing. Okay. Scaramucha, I have had a couple, wines from here. I've had the Rucatak and the Plavacamole, both delicious. Zlatan Otoq, Plijota, and Gurkuk Vina. Now Gurkuk Vina, that name might sound a little familiar. 1 of Napa Valley's most famous winemakers, Mike Gurkuk, was born in a small village on Croatia's Dalmatia Coast. Now, if that Gurkuk name sounds a little familiar, you might know him for his remarkable Chateau Montelena chardonnay that came in first in the nineteen seventy six judgment of Paris. If you've ever seen the bottle shock movie with Alan Rickman, that is in the movie about Chateau Montelena's amazing chardonnay that beat out all the French wines and made Europe realize that holy crap, California can make some good wines. So Mike Gerkick originally oh, goodness. Originally arrived in Napa in 1958 with a single suitcase. Within a decade, he was the head enologist at Robert Mondavi winery. But back in 1996, he returned to Croatia and founded Gurkukvina, which specializes in Porcip and Plavak, Mali. Okay. Onto our last 2 regions. So first up, the Croatian Upland. So now we have moved. We are in Northern Croatia and we are further inland. So the geography is gonna be more of a cool continental climate. It surrounds the capital of Croatia, Zagreb. It's very hilly and they have a lot of mineral rich limestone soil. Terms of grapes, it's predominantly known for its old indigenous varieties like Skorlet, Pushapil, and Krazovina. The most common reds are actually international varieties like Pinot Noir and Portugueser. The cool climate is also well suited to sparkling wine production and linear fresh white wines from grapes like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Ferment, which is known most popularly in Hungary, which is right next door. They also have some lighter bodied reds like Pinot Noir. Oh, you can take out the part about lighter bodied reds like Pinot Noir. I already said that, Liz. The sparkling wines that are made here are actually often made in the champagne method and sometimes actually from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. So definitely something that's worth a try. Now if you remember listening to last week's episode, we talked about an aromatized and fortified wine called vermouth. Now here in the Croatian Uplands, they make an aromatized wine called bermot. This is made in the Samovor area in the Croatian Uplands, and it's different from the wine of the same name made in Serbia. So in case you get that mixed up, I'd never heard of the Serbian wine, but just in case. The Samovor Bermit is an aromatic wine of sweet bitter taste made of selected grape varieties. It is primarily used as an aperitif to open up a meal or as a digestif at the end of a meal. The production of Bermit is a well kept secret just like the vermouth 1 I was talking about, and the recipe is passed down from 1 generation to the next. The 1 grape I wanna highlight again here in the Croatian uplands is called Skrlet, s k r l e t. The name actually means scarlet fever and it references the red speckles on the grape skin. Skirlet is the perfect refreshing wine, good natural acidity, great balance, high minerality. You've got flowers, honey, lime tree, and light spices on the aroma. Now in terms of our notable producers in this region, 1 of them is called Kosovec. This is located in a small rural village named Povacza, and it's located in the Moslovina region about 60 kilometers Southeast of Zagreb. Remember, that's the capital of Croatia. Kosovec owns 3 hectares of vineyards. It is 1 of the finest sites in Moslovina in the Moslovina region. They make primarily that indigenous varietal, scarlet, that I was telling you about. I mean, scarlet fever. It was once nearly extinct, and now it's primarily only grown in this Moslavaina region. Kosovec also makes varieties like Chardonnay, Zweigelt, Francovka, which is a, another word for Blaefrankisch, which is an Austrian wine, along with Pinot Noir. They take a natural approach to viticulture here. Another popular another notable producer here in the Croatian uplands is Tomac. This is located in the region of Plaszowika. It's located in the Western part of Central Croatia about 30 kilometers Southwest Southwest of Zagreb. Tomac family has been making wine for over a hundred years and many of their vineyards are very old up to 80 years old. They have a total of 9 Georgian made clay amphora, which they use to ferment a lot of their still white wines and the lighter bodied reds like Pinot Noir, plus a really special sparkling Riesling. They started applying Biodynamics in 2018, and as the winemaker, Tomislav, puts it, it is definitely the best decision we've ever made. Finally, the last producer, that I wanna highlight in the Croatian uplands is Vos let's see if I can get this. Voshtinic. This is located on a small hill near Ivanoch Guard in the region of Moslovina. So same 1 as the first one in the Croatian Uplands. The family here has been making wine since 1936. Great grandfather planted the first vines of Skerlet in the area. The winemaker is Tomislav Voshtinek, which I think is the same winemaker as above now that I'm realizing it. They do strictly organic farming. However, they're not certified, which I think is really interesting. When I read, it seemed like they were very firm. They're like, we are organic, but we are not certified. We are against being certified. I don't know what that means, but they're they're not into it. Okay. Our last region we're gonna talk about is Slavonia. So this is the far Northeastern region in Croatia. So, again, we're in a continental climate area. They have a lot of different geographical features. You've got moderate con say that again. A lot of different geographical features. You've got these undulating hills, peak mountain summits, and then that give way to sprawling plains and fertile river basins. This region is bordered by 3 large rivers. You have the Danube, the Drava, and the Sava region. In terms of grapes and wine, the epicenter of Croatia's let me see this again. Slavonia is the epicenter of Croatia's most widely planted vine, the native Graciavina, which produces dry, fresh, lightly aromatic white wines. It is pretty much the, like, easy drinking everyday wine of Central Europe. It accounts for the most production of wine in Croatia, which is about 22%. Winemakers here also absorb the influence of their Austrian neighbors to the north. So they plant Traminak, which is Gewurztraminer, Zweigelt, and Frankovka, which we talked about earlier, is another name for La Franchesh. Diving a little bit more into Gracchina, the top variety in this region. Again, it's gonna be really light fresh, very aromatic wines. You get these apple like notes, and they say the best Gracchina comes from this region. Sometimes it has a little bit of this grassier, herbal style than the other more fruit forward ones from other regions. They can also use late harvest Grashvina in ice wines. And in terms of our notable producers from Slavonia sure I said that right. Yeah. Slavonia. Then in terms of our notable producers in Slavonia, the first one is Sohu, s o h u, and I've actually seen this 1 in total wine before. This is tucked into the Northeastern corner of Croatia in the Croatian Danube region, which is a subregion of Slavonia. This is Sochud. They make a lot of Grashvina, which is also called Welsh Riesling. This is in the village of Fericanchi. The winery has goes back to the thirteenth century with cisterian monks settling in the area. The second producer is Enginji, e n j I n g I. It was a cult winemaker in Croatia, which I I didn't even know those existed in Croatia. But they are very clear that nothing has changed in their winemaking philosophy for over a hundred and seventeen years, of winemaking in their family. Okay. Wow. That I hope that was a good introduction for you. I hope it wasn't too overwhelming. I hope you're ready to try some Croatian wine now. It can be a bit difficult to find a bottle, but there are definitely options. So my first tip or advice for finding Croatian wine, ask your local wine shop. Just walk in, first ask if they have any, and then if they don't, ask if they can ask their oh, fudge. I forgot the name of it. Hold on a second, Liz. They're not they're distributors. There we go. So if they don't have it in the store, you can ask them if their distributors have any for you. And the best thing is that it doesn't cost the wine shop anything extra to ask their distributor to bring in a couple bottles of something, for you to purchase. So you don't have to be like you don't have to buy, like, a whole case of it. Like, you can literally be like, I wanna try Croatian wine, like, literally 1 or 2 bottles. That's it. Could you find some? And there's a good chance that they're gonna find some. Another great option, there are some at Total Wines. If you have Total Wine near you, take a look. And if you're willing to do some online shopping, you can find Croatian wine on wine.com, and I also found Croatianpremiumwine.com to be a great spot to buy it. Of course, the shipping is gonna be a little more expensive on those, so maybe start by asking your local wine shop or looking at your total wine. Now if you know a wine lover in your life who would enjoy this podcast, please share it with them. Find your favorite episode, send it their way, or take a screenshot right now. Post it to your social media, tag me in it, let me know which Croatian wine you want to try. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. I release new episodes every Wednesday. Now in next week's episode, I will be interviewing a special guest. I'll be honest, we still haven't finalized who that guest is, so it'll be a bit of a surprise to you and me. We will either be starting my Italian wine miniseries and bringing in an Italian winemaker or Italian wine expert, or we're gonna get a little bonus interview, from somebody else in the wine world. It kinda depends on, scheduling and timing, all that fun stuff, but stay tuned. We are gonna be starting an Italian wine miniseries, if not next episode, the, like, following following episode because we do the interview episodes or 2. So that's coming up soon, and we have some interviews with folks who are doing amazing things in the wine world, right now, and it's just I don't know. I don't even know what to tell you. It's gonna be good, so stick around. Thanks again for listening. If you wanna learn more about wine, come follow me at cork and fizz on Instagram. And if you're interested in exploring new wines and joining an incredible community of wine lovers, be sure to sign up for my virtual tasting club, the Court Crew. This club is expanding and growing and doing amazing things this year. I feel like 2025 is gonna be the year for court crew. It's gonna be so much fun. You get to learn information just like you heard on this podcast, but all while tasting with me live. Plus, you have access to ask me questions and all of that We have our own little community. What do I wanna say? Like, it's an app and a website, so whatever you wanna call that, where you can reach out to me whenever you want, whenever you have questions. I'm like your little pocket sommelier. So if you wanna try that out, head to the courtcrew.com to learn more. And if you sign up for a monthly membership, use code wine one zero one to get your first month free. Cheers.