- dark colors show wine intensive areas
CROATIAN WINE
During the 1990's the number of private Croatian quality wine producers have increased significantly. Today approximately 2 million hectoliters (1 hl = 100 l) are produced from 60.000 ha (1 ha = 1000 m2).
The wines are classified into three categories; stolno (table wine), kvalitetno (quality) and vrhunsko (high quality). For a wine to belong to one of the categories it must
achieve a certain number of points in a judged analysis. Croatian wines areas are divided between the coastal Primorska Hrvatska and the mountainous Kontinentalna Hrvatska.
The coastal areas have a typical mediterranean climate.
Along the northern coast, red wines are typically made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Teran, while white wines are mostly made from Malvasi.
In the south, along the Dalmatian coast, the grape Plavac Mali dominates the red wine making, while many of the white wines are made from local grapes such as Posip, Grk, Bogdanusa, Marastina and Vugava.
The best high-quality Plavac wines are Dingac and Postup from the Peljesac peninsula north of Dubrovnik. Wines produced from Plavac Mali are the best that Dalmatia has to offer since they are truly
unique both in aromas and in structure. Dingac was the first Croatian
protected high quality red wine (1961) and Postup the second one (1967). Other good red wines come from
Hvar, Brac and Vis island vineyards.
Further north along the Dalmatian coast, the red wine Babic from the Sibenik area is unarguably a great
wine attraction, as much for its famous vineyards as for the true potential of this indigenous black variety.
Another speciality is the sweet wine Prosek, which is made from dried grapes and usually served with ice and a slice of lemon in a sugar-rimmed glass.
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