December the 31st, 2021 - Croatian wines are extremely popular throughout the world and that isn't really news, but what about Croatian sparkling wines? It seems that the Germans have a real taste for it, with a lot of it being exported there.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, according to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), in the first nine months of this year, Croatian winemakers exported 403 hectolitres of sparkling wines worth as much as 870,000 euros.

The main markets for the wine were Germany, where 122 hectolitres worth 471,017 euros went, followed by the Netherlands, then neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. One year earlier, when assessing the first nine months, exports were slightly higher, totalling 457 hl worth a massive 1,173,292 euros.

Growing demand...

The Belje winery is aware that Croatian sparkling wines are an important export asset, and just this week this winery launched a top-quality sparkling white wine - La Belle Grand. As they say from there, their new sparkling wine is a brut style wine, which is one of the most sought after in the world, and is characterised by "beautiful pearls" of many small bubbles.

“This summer, we installed a new line and equipment for bottling Croatian sparkling wines in our winery in an extremely short period of time, in order to expand our range and meet the growing market demands for this category of wine. La Belle Grand is our first sparkling wine prepared just for this year's festive period. With it, we're celebrating the end of the year in which we won 52 medals,'' points out Marijan Knezevic, head of winemaking development at Vina Belje. Another new brand on the market is the Slavonian Enosophia from Fericani.

“In the first year of Enosophia's existence, we achieved some really nice results. Although we've only been present on the market since July, we've distributed almost 16,000 bottles of sparkling wine. For next year, we plan to produce and distribute a total of 77,000 bottles of sparkling wine, Nice to see you, Today Blance and Today rose. Enosophia is a brand that is focused on combining innovative technologies and traditions in the development of new flavours. We create light and modern Croatian sparkling wines, produced by the Charmat method and by following the demands of the market,'' explained Martin Kovacevic, chief oenologist of the Enosophia winery. Their Nice to see you sparkling wine is a combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and Today blanc is made from the much loved and very well known Croatian Grasevina variety.

"We're currently present in 50 outlets, meaning in restaurants and other catering and hospitality facilities. In the first year, our focus was primarily on presenting the brand here on the Croatian market, but despite that, we've already achieved positive results in terms of exports. Enosophia has been launched on the Japanese market with the sparkling wine called Nice to see you and we expect this trend to continue in the future. Our Croatian sparkling wines under the Feravino brand have also found their fans across many European countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the countries of the more immediate region,'' added Kovacevic.

As he explained, their Today blanc sparkling wine is primarily intended for retail sale, while in the HoReCa channel it is marketed as a ''welcome wine'' or as a wine for the preparation of cocktails. Nice too see you is also available through the HoReCa channel, but can also be purchased through the Enosophia brand website. "As for our plans for 2022, we plan to present the second Today - Today rose, which will be produced from the Frankovka variety, which is the most represented in our vineyards," revealed Kovacevic.

The Pavlomir wine house from Novi Vinodolski also has a few export trump cards under its belt, producing four Croatian sparkling wines in the top category, an impressive 15,000 bottles a year.

For more, check out Made in Croatia.