November the 28th, 2020 - Australia is about as far away as far away can get in relation to Croatia, but for Medjimurje oak barrels which are being used to store wine on the other side of the planet, no distance is too far.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, Bacvarija Pozvek from Dunjkovac in the municipality of Nedelisce in beautiful Medjimurje guarantees that the wine stored in their Medjimurje oak barrels will keep well and remain drinkable for a very long time. Neven Pozvek is the director of this company, which has successfully transformed from a trade in a deficit into a strong and stable player. It's also one of only four Croatian producers of wooden barrels.

"I think that every winemaker who wants to have quality wine must have an oak wooden barrel and I think those stainless steel barrels lack a soul," says Pozvek, who inherited the business from his father Stjepan and branched it out to the extent that their barrels can now be found in various cellars in Europe, but also in distant lands like Australia. The family line continues and the craft hasn't died out, which is too often the case when the younger generation is left to continue things.

“My father was in the barrel business since 1977. He got a job at the Tomasic workshop in Nedelisce and he bought the machines from his employer in 1997, opening this business - Bacvarija Stjepan Pozvek. He always wanted that, his very own business, and due to the increase in the volume of work in 2010, he moved to the company Pozvek d.o.o. and appointed me as the director back in 2014, I've always loved helping him to make barrels since I was 15, I was very interested in it. After school, I passed my master's exam and I've been running production with my father's help since I was 20 years old. My love for wood alone kept me in it and I never thought that the job was dying out, because there was always a lot of work to be done, I think there will always be wine, and without a good oak barrel - there can be no good wine,'' says Pozvek.

They're from Medjimurje, their basic raw material is Slavonian, where do they get oak from, is there enough of it?

''Our barrels are made of Slavonian oak, which we procure from Croatian Forests. Good raw materials are difficult to obtain, Croatian Forests have their own conditions and are also bound by a contract. Although we've been buying oak logs from them since back in 2000, we only managed to arrange a larger quantity of them three years ago, but it still isn't really enough for us. We also make our barrels from agave and some from cherry, chestnut and mulberry trees,'' explains this producer of Medjimurje oak barrels.

He thinks that Slavonian oak is exported a lot, it is in demand for making furniture, so barrels made of that wood are certainly a value in and for themselves. Pozvek couldn't speak precisely about the price for one piece, because, he says, it all depends on the quality of the oak and also the dimensions of the wine tank itself, and it's a process that can even last for several years.

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October 21, 2019 - Slavonian oak is among the best in the world and particularly sought after by the wine industry. And now Slavonian oak barrels are being made once more in Croatia. 

The first time I heard about Slavonia was back in 1996. I had no idea that it was in Croatia, and my introduction to the region was due to one of its finest products - Slavonian oak. In my new job as a wine merchant almost 25 years ago, I learned that the three most highly prized types of oak for ageing wines came from France, the United States, and Slavonia. 

Time passed, and I moved to Croatia and eventually visited Slavonia, the region with the famous oak. These boys sure knew how to build a wine barrel - the lead photo is of the 53,000 litre barrel in Kutjevo. 

Below, one of 9,000 litres in Ilockli Podrum, scene of our weekend visit, and currently the largest barrel in the Ilok cellars. It used to be one of the smallest, but all the big ones were destroyed during the war. And it was during my tour of Ilok that I learned the most incredible thing. While the winery continued to use Slavonian oak for the ageing of its wines, some of which were served at the Royal weddings of both William and Harry, as well as the Queen's coronation back in 1953, until very recently, it was impossible to order these barrels in Croatia. 

For there was nobody in Croatia making Slavonian oak barrels for the Croatian wine industry or any other. They continued to make Slavonian oak, but the barrels were ordered from coopers in Italy or France. Slavonian oak quality going to Slavonian wine quality via a foreign country's expertise. Crazy. 

The biggest wine barrel ever made from Slavonian oak, some 75,000 litres and still in use today in Erdut. And this very same barrel is linked to the rebirth of the Slavonian oak barrel industry... 

Let's go back 40 years or so to days when life was simpler in Djurdjenovac and Slavonian oak barrels were produced locally.

A 56,000 litre barrel? Why not bigger? Enter the monster 75,000 litre barrel now in Erdut, above.

At the end of 2017, the latest chapter of Slavonian oak production was written. Master cooper Julijo Pepelko and his son Hrvoje teamed up to start Pepel Co, once more making barrels from Slavonian oak. And not only that, but some of the oak barrels were put to use to make an entirely new and totally unique product - Croatia's very first whisky, PEPEL No. 1. 

We have yet to try it, but it is on the TCN list. In the meantime, let's celebrate a little bit of Slavonian quality which has come home. 

Learn more about the oak barrels and whisky of Pepel Co from the official website.