Croatian wine
vina) has a history dating back to the Ancient Greek settlers, and their wine production on the southern Dalmatian islands of Vis, Hvar and Korčula some 2,500 years ago.
However, the true beginning of grape cultivation and wine production in Croatia is related to the Ancient Greeks settlers, who arrived on the Croatian coast in the 5th century BC.
[1] The Greek writer Athenaeus wrote 18 centuries ago about the high quality wine produced on the Dalmatian islands of Vis,[4] Hvar and Korčula.
However, by the turn of the 20th century, Croatian vines had also succumbed to phylloxera, leading to the destruction of the vineyards and the collapse of the local economy in many areas.
Under the communist system of Yugoslavia, wine production was centered in large cooperatives, and private ownership of vineyards was discouraged.
The interior of Croatia has a continental climate, with cold winters, and hot summers with enough rain to make it a major agricultural area.
Located along hillsides and slopes, wine regions along the coast receive many hours of sunlight, ideal for grape production.
The continental region in the north-east of the country produces rich fruity white wines, similar in style to the neighbouring areas of Slovenia, Austria and Hungary.
On the north coast, Istrian wines are similar to those produced in neighbouring Italy, while further south production is more towards big Mediterranean-style reds.
On the islands and the Dalmatian coast, local grape varieties, microclimates and the rather harsh nature of the vineyards leads to some highly individual wines, and some of Croatia's best known.
[7] It has a typical continental climate with cold winters and hot summers, and production is concentrated in white wine varieties.
The best-known area within this region is Slavonia; the most widely planted grape is Graševina, which yields light, crisp, refreshing, mildly aromatic wines.
The sloping vineyards ensure sufficient sun and wind during the growing season, and the wines here display intense aromas and high levels of acidity.
[5] However, due to the widely differing growing conditions, the grape varietals, and the resulting wines, the coastal region is often divided into two parts: Istria/Kvarner and Dalmatia.
[9] Istria and Kvarner are where the warmth of the Mediterranean meets the cold from the Alps, making for a cooler climate than the southern part of the coastal region.
[13] Further south, in Dalmatia, with its rocky landscapes, the islands and hillsides have an infinite variety of microclimates resulting in a winegrowing area where terroir is a crucially important factor.
The well-known Napa Valley winemaker Miljenko "Mike" Grgich is a Croatian native, and he has argued the case for Zinfandel being descended from the Plavac Mali grape.
DNA testing has now demonstrated that Plavac Mali is in fact a child of the true original Zinfandel, which is a little-planted grape from the same area named Crljenak Kaštelanski.
Following the devastation of the vines by phylloxera at the end of the 19th century, Croatian vineyards were replanted by grafting the traditional varieties on to American root stock.
Standards,[2] similar to the EU wine regulations, were set up to ensure the consistent quality of the final product.
