June 14, 2021 - A press conference was held announcing the 8th Pink Day and its interesting program. In addition to socializing with winemakers and olive growers, this favorite wine event will be marked by an entertainment program, so visitors and exhibitors can expect various surprises and even more beautiful and modern space.

This year, the 8th Pink Day International Festival of Rose Wines, Sparkling Wines, and Champagnes is being held for the first time on the covered open terrace of the MSU Museum in New Zagreb, on Sunday, June 27. Although the location and date of the event have been changed several times due to epidemiological reasons and the consequences of the Zagreb earthquake, the festival successfully brings together numerous domestic and foreign producers of rosé wines, about fifty of them, with about 100 labels of rosé wines. Winemakers, oenologists, professionals, experts, and rosé lovers will take part, and there is, of course, an important part of the Festival: Green in Pink, with a dozen of the best Croatian producers of extra virgin olive oil.

From Pink Day Official Facebook Page

At the press conference, WOW President and Pink Day founder Sanja Muzaferija, accompanied by art director Vlasta Pirnat, hostess Ana Lisak and MSU representatives, and in the presence of the co-organizer, IMC presented the novelties of the 8th Pink Day. Although the Festival always offers three or more wine and olive oil workshops, now for the first time, in cooperation with the Miva Wine Gallery, a Masterclass - World of Pink Champagnes by Moët Hennessy Group powered by Premium Visa has been organized, which has aroused great interest and sold out. just a few days. Visitors can expect two more workshops: Pink Austria, powered by Austrian Wine and with the help of the Office of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions, and Tourism at the Embassy of the Republic of Austria dedicated to Austrian rosés, and a workshop of extra virgin olive oils, Istria: Queen of Olive Oil powered by Catering Lisak, led by the famous Istrian expert Edi Družetić, who last year celebrated 40 years of work in olive growing.

Sanja Muzaferija, Pink Day founder

‘‘I am extremely proud that this year our partner country is Austria and that, despite still somewhat problematic conditions, five exhibitors are coming from Austria, all under the auspices of Austrian Wine, but I am most looking forward to the exhibition venues of this year's Pink Day filled three weeks before the Festival. It is also important to me that we try, and I believe we succeed, to combine everything: to entertain, teach, cheer and celebrate rosé wines in a rosy mood. And let’s not forget the health and extra virgin olive oils. I thank the media that follow us faithfully and everyone who experiences Pink Day the way I imagined it: as a festival of optimism and enjoyment’’, said Muzaferija.

The ticket price for Pink Day is 150 kuna, while for members of the WOW association it is 50 kuna, and you can buy it at the entrance of the festival.

This year, Pink Day emphasizes the sale of wine, since last year was also extremely difficult for winemakers, and each winemaker will receive ten pink bags as a gift from the festival to sell their wine. Also, Pink Day continues to reward the most imaginative and creatively decorated exhibition table. Last year's prize, pink Jimmy Choo shoes, was won by the Italian winery Bottega, and this time as many as 4 prizes will be awarded. It will again be pink Jimmy Choo shoes: this time a Smokey model worth a thousand dollars, a work of art "DESIDERIO N° 1 ART MUST BE TASTED" by Austrian artist Andrew Stix, made especially for Pink Day, as well as Privee cosmetics Nikel, Croatian innovator Mirjana Brlečić, but also the ingenious bottle cap Coravin, worth 300 euros.

Pink Jimmy Choo shoes, last year's festival prize

Additionally, the current offer of all Croatian rosés will be judged by an independent jury composed of the most experienced Croatian wine judges. It is a mini-project "Drink Pink" conceived as part of the iVino concept, whose founders are journalists Ana Rogač and Ivo Kozarčanin. The best rosé wines of their choice and judgment decided, logically, to present and announce the winners, right on Pink Day.

As part of the press conference, Kutjevo held a presentation of the limited label Premium rosé, designed by the art director of Pink Day, Vlasta Pirnat, and the famous winemaker from Plešivica, Krešimir Ivančić, presented his Provencal-style rosé, Griffin Ambassador rosé. and Istrian olive oils were also tasted.

All of the above and much more interesting content await you at the 8th Pink Day, June 27, 2021, at the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art, MSU. All visitors will receive pink glasses as a gift until stocks run out so that after a long pandemic period they can try to look at the world more brightly and optimistically.

To learn more about the 8th Pink Festival, be sure to follow their Facebook and Instagram official accounts to find more information.

Croatian wines and grapes are among the best in the world, and you can find more information about them in Total Croatia’s Guide to Croatian Wine HERE.

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

March 22, 2021 - Hotel Dubrovnik announced the 5th Salon of Sparkling Wines with two sparkling Kvarner workshops on Friday, March 19.

Fiuman reports that two sparkling wine workshops were held in front of loyal visitors: Sparkling Kvarner and Natural Sparkling (Croatia & Slovenia).

At the first workshop, six wines produced by the pét-nat method (fr. pétillant naturel) were presented at a "blind" tasting. With the leader dr. Sc. Nina Levičnik, the founder of the Salon of Sparkling Wines network and a big fan of "natural" sparkling wines, the participants learned what the terms pét-nat, méthode ancestrale, and col fondo have in common and how they differ from other methods.

The presenter emphasized the importance of "terroir" in wine production with this ancestral method. The Croatian representatives were Tomac, Šember, Veralda, and the Slovenian Atimo, Keltis, and Štemberger.

At the second workshop, participants learned that Kvarner is the third Croatian wine region in terms of sparkling wine production. The recently founded the Kvarner Wine Association which today has as many as 10 sparkling wine producers who were presented at the workshop under the auspices of the Kvarner Tourist Board. Sparkling wines in Kvarner are produced from the original varieties - žlahtina, belica, mast - charmat, and the traditional method. 

The moderator, Dr. sc. Žarko Stilin, secretary of the Kvarner Wine Association, one of the loudest promoters of original Kvarner wine varieties, organizer of several wine events, the most important of which is the International Wine and Gastronomic Festival WineRi, spoke about the interesting and special features of Kvarner sparkling wines.

Participants tasted 10 sparkling wines: Maličić winery Šipun, Porin Estate Winery Katunar, Valomet PZ Vrbnik, Gospoja PZ Gospoja, San Marino Wine houses Pavlomir, Soubze catering and Nada shop, Stara Bakarska Vodica PZ Dolčina Praputnjak, Biser žlahtine Ivan Katunar - Plovanić vina and Ružić - OPG Ružić.

Workshop leader dr. sc. Žarko Stilin proudly stated that sparkling wines in Kvarner have a long tradition, and with the Kvarner Wine Association, the promotion will be even more visible through many activities, education on table culture, organization of round tables, lectures, and scientific conferences to promote Kvarner with the support of Kvarner Tourist Board.

The wine workshops were an introduction to other sparkling events ahead of the 5th Salon of Sparkling Wine Zagreb, on June 11, 2021, on the Oleander terrace of the Hotel Esplanade. The date has been targeted to meet the summer and the upcoming tourist season when the consumption of sparkling wines will be more frequent than usual and any promotion is welcome.

For more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

February 13, 2021 – A newly discovered, fully preserved bottle of 'Slavonia champagne' is unique evidence that Slatina sparkling wine is among the oldest in Croatia. Its fascinating history stretches back over 150 years

A completely preserved Slatina sparkling wine bottle from the period from 1864 to 1912 has been discovered during building works of Slatina's new visitor's centre. Found at a depth of two metres, the bottle is physical proof of what was previously known only from records – this 'Slavonia champagne' is among the oldest sparkling wine to have been made in Croatia.

© Robert Turkalj

The discovery of the Slatina sparkling wine bottle is important to the city and its history. Other regions in Croatia have become extremely well regarded over recent years for their production of quality sparkling wines. The production of Slatina sparkling wine briefly disappeared during a period. But, this bottle is evidence that Slatina sparkling wine was among the first to be made in the country. It is the only fully preserved bottle of the 'Slavonia champagne' to exist in the region.

Slatina's nationally protected Giant Sequoia tree (Mamutovac) © Tourist Board of Slatina

Of course, we can't really call it champagne – that title is reserved for a type of sparkling wine made in a distinct geographical region in France. But, there are great similarities between Slatina sparkling wine and champagne - similarities that do not exist exactly in other Croatian sparkling wines. Champagne is largely made from the Pinot Noir grape. The found bottle of Slatina sparkling wine was made from the Kadarka grape variety, which has been compared to Pinot Noir.

Both grape varieties are thin-skinned, delicate, easily susceptible to impairment and require a low yield to produce quality wines. Both are tricky to cultivate. For this reason, the Kadarka grape variety is now grown very rarely in Croatia, its place in vineyards taken by more hardy and some imported varietals. But, that wasn't always the case.

History of Slatina sparkling wine

In 1841, the German prince Georg Wilhelm Schaumburg-Lippe bought a property of land in the Slatina area from the Pejačević family. The land contained vineyards, orchards, agricultural fields and large forest areas, including the site of the new Slatina visitor centre where the bottle was discovered. Indeed, trees still line the road of Ulica kralj Zvonimir in the centre of Slatina – the cellar and restaurant of the town's famous Stari Podrum is just a few metres from Slatina's nationally protected Giant Sequoia tree (Mamutovac).

The Stari Podrum cellar, the site of the first-ever production of Croatian sparkling wine, at the beginning of the 20th century © Virovitica State Archives / Slatina Homeland Museum

Slatina sparkling wine production started in 1864 at the Stari Podrum cellar, using the Kadarka grape variety. Perhaps it was the notorious difficulties of the growing the grape which resulted in slow initial progress for the production, but the enterprise got a massive boost in 1866 with the arrival of a new manager, Otto Rockhror. He rearranged the cellar and production, brought in new equipment and invested in marketing their Slatina sparkling wine. It worked.

Left to right - Ljudevit Konstantinović, his wife Marija Konstantinović (the daughter of Otto Rockrohr), Otto Rockrohr and his wife Josefina Rockrohr © Virovitica State Archives / Slatina Homeland Museum

The quality of Slatina sparkling wine was recognized at the great Economic and Forestry Jubilee Exhibition in Zagreb in 1881 when Georg Wilhelm Schaumburg-Lippe received an honorary diploma and a large medal for domestic sparkling wine and fine wine. The credit perhaps lay elsewhere, considering it was the efforts of Otto Rockhror that were no doubt the cause, but, such were the times. However, Otto Rockhror's achievements with Slatina sparkling wine certainly did not go unnoticed.

At the Science and Industry Fair in Brussels, Belgium, in 1888, Otto Rockhror was awarded a bronze medal featuring the image of Leopold I. He received a further bronze medal with the image of Francis Joseph I in 1890 at the Agricultural and Forestry Exhibition in Vienna and was awarded a silver medal with the image of Franz Ferdinand in 1894 in Vienna by the Association for the Promotion of Agricultural Knowledge. These medals are on display in the Slatina Homeland Museum, donated by Otto Rockhror's great-granddaughter Jasna Nosso. They sit alongside a wooden barrel used in the production of Slatina sparkling wine from 1885 and, now, the latest testament to the history of Croatia's oldest sparkling wine production, the newly discovered bottle, which has been transferred to the museum for preservation, safekeeping and dating.

On the left, the bronze medal won by Otto Rockhror at the Science and Industry Fair in Brussels, Belgium, in 1888. On the right, the silver medal with the image of Franz Ferdinand he was awarded in 1894 in Vienna  © Virovitica State Archives / Slatina Homeland Museum

The production of Slatina sparkling wine from the Kadarka grape did not survive the loss of Stari Podrum cellar manager Otto Rockhror, who died in 1909. Thereafter, ownership of the enterprise was taken over by Count Drašković but, by 1912, production of Slatina sparkling wine had ceased completely and all the production equipment was moved to Hungary. Though the growing of the Kadarka grape variety almost completely died out in Croatia after this, it remains an important part of wine production in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, where it is grown in Vojvodina, a landscape near-identical to that of Slavonia (indeed, though the heritage of the Kadarka grape is mysterious, the latest opinion is that it is a cross between the Turkish variety Papazkarasi and the Serbian variety Skadarsko and travelled to Pannonia with Serbs who fled north from the Ottomans).

However, the story of Slatina sparkling wine has not only been revived with the discovery of this old bottle. The Stari Podrum cellar still stands in the centre of Slatina today and vineyards still surround the town. The cellar and its wine production were bought by winemaker Ivan Halas over recent years and he has returned the production of Slatina sparkling wine to the historic birthplace of 'Slavonia champagne'. He has since received several awards for his efforts.

Slatina sparkling wine, revived by Ivan Halas at Stari Podrum, being presented at the 2nd Sparkling Wine Salon at the Hotel Dubrovnik in Zagreb © Tourist Board of Slatina

“As the Stari Podrum winery does not have adequate conditions for storing the found bottle, we took it to the Homeland Museum in Slatina where it will be stored,” Mr Halas told local news, upon the discovery of the bottle. “Only one bottle was found (so far), although there may be more. It is currently the only fully preserved one in the Slatina area. For now, we assume that it is from the period between 1864 and 1912 - we have no knowledge of the exact year, but the age of the bottle will be determined by experts.”

A more contemporary photo of the Stari Podrum enterprise in Slatina © Virovitica State Archives / Slatina Homeland Museum

October 11, 2020 – Sparkling wine Urban white from the Štampar Winery won the gold medal, and Sibon brut from the DGA Sparkling Wine Company won the silver medal at the 17th Decanter World Wine Awards, giving the Međimurje wine region the best sparkling wines in Croatia.

As Večernji.hr reports, this year's prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards 2020 brought numerous awards to Međimurje winemakers, but also a big surprise for all sparkling wine lovers who will from now on certainly include Međimurje sparkling wine in the selection of the best.

The winning sparkling wine Urban white from the Štampar Winery is characterized by a straw-yellow color and persistent and numerous beads, while the smell is extremely pleasant, fresh, and fluttery. Its taste lingers, is elegant, and harmonious, and it goes well with dishes from Međimurje and the continental area, but also Mediterranean cuisines such as oysters, mushroom omelets, creamy risottos, pasta, and quiche.

"This award is an additional confirmation of what we somehow knew deep down based on our previous experiences and wine knowledge. Pušipel is a true sort for the production of sparkling wines and that is exactly the reason why we decided to produce sparkling wine from our indigenous Međimurje sort. With perseverance and the constant searching for knowledge and innovation, we managed to produce a sparkling wine that is today, confirmed at the international level, at the very top of the Croatian wine scene," said David Stampar on the occasion of receiving this important medal.

Also, in addition to the mentioned sparkling wines, in Međimurje County there is a large number of well-known winemakers who prove their wine skills in the field of sparkling wines, and we should mention the excellent sparkling wines Cmrečnjak Wines, Dvanajšćak Kozol Wines, Hažić Wine House, Tomšić Winery and Jakopić Winery, for which valuable medals are also expected in the coming period.

Next to the top sparkling wines at this year's Decanter, there were also excellent wines from Međimurje winemakers, who won seven more silver and six bronze awards, and one in the COMMENDED wine category, which is a wine with a recommendation that only slightly missed some of the awards.

The year 2020 brought four more medals than the previous year, and a total of 15 awards and one recommendation were awarded, which is an excellent result of Međimurje winemakers at the prestigious international wine competition Decanter. Expectations for 2021 are high and further awards are expected.

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In the first nine months of 2019, Croatia exported 683 million EUR of sparkling wine. The production and export of Croatian sparkling wine is on the rise and exports within first nine months of this year have also exceeded that of 2018.

First Nine Months of 2019 Exports Exceed 2018

From January to September of 2019, Croatia exported 476 hectoliters of sparkling wine compared to a total of 441 hectoliters last year, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (CCE) announced, according to Novac/Jutarnji List on Friday, December 27, 2019.

"The production of local sparkling wines is constantly growing, as is its export. More sparkling wines are being made from indigenous Croatian grape varieties, and their quality is becoming more recognized in the most demanding markets. Therefore, with relatively small quantities, we are achieving competitive pricing and hope that this trend will continue in the future," said Žaklina Jurišić, Assistant Director of Agriculture, Food Industry and Forestry from the Croatian Chamber of Economy (CCE), in a statement.

According to the CCE, 476 hectoliters of sparkling wine worth 683 million EUR were exported in the first nine months of this year. Imports slowed down slightly and 12,800 hectoliters worth 7.9 million EUR were imported.

Data for the first nine months show that sparkling wines were the most exported (211 hectoliters worth 546,000 EUR) which were followed by sparkling fresh grape wines with protected trademarks (146 hectares worth 64,000 EUR) and other types of sparkling wine from fresh grapes (92 hectoliters worth 55,000 EUR). In 2018, sparkling wine exports increased 35 percent over 2017, from 748,000 EUR to 1.08 million EUR. Quantitatively, exports are up 117 hectoliters, from 324 hectoliters in 2017 to 441 hectoliters in 2018, according to the CCE.

Most Croatia Sparkling Wine Exports to The Netherlands

Traditionally, most sparkling wine is exported to the Netherlands (346,500 EUR), followed by Italy (178,100 EUR) and Germany (140,300 EUR). Interestingly, our fourth largest export market is Singapore, which received sparkling wine imports totaling 136,000 EUR last year, CCE reported.

On the other hand, sparkling wine imports have increased in quantity and value. In 2018 sparkling wine imports exceeded 9 million EUR, while imports in 2017 totaled 7.6 million EUR. This is an increase from 14,300 hectoliters to 17,900 hectoliters, the statement read.

Most of the sparkling wine is being imported from France (3.3 million EUR), Italy (2.8 million EUR) and Germany (1.1 million EUR).

According to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (CCE), the largest quantities of sparkling wine coming into the Croatian market this year are: other types of sparkling wines from fresh grapes (5,000 hectoliters worth 1.1 million EUR), sparkling wines from fresh grapes (2,900 hectoliters worth 1.2 million EUR) and prosecco with trademark-protected labels (2,500 hectoliters worth 1.2 million EUR).

Follow our Made in Croatia page for more information on imports from Croatia.

This past Sunday, on November 24th, in a fantastic newly opened space, the award ceremony for the WOW Association sparkling wine of the year was held. 

Usually, the award is given at the traditional ceremony/dinner in Balon restaurant, which takes place in June. This year that hasn't happened, but the award ceremony for the best sparkling wine was held in an even more prestigious venue - the recently opened Meetings with Style event space in the narrow center of the town. It's located right next to the Ban Jelačić Square, in Jurišićeva 2a on the first floor. It's managed by the Eures-tim management company, which offers the five rooms of the Meetings with Style for various events, meetings, and get-togethers, in a great atmosphere. 

Women on Wine Association has been organizing the popular award called "What Women Want." There are five categories of the award, and in the first stage of selection, a well-known sommelier makes their pick for the best wines tasted in the last year. This year the first-stage selector was Filip Savić. After the selector has made the selection, all of the members of the association (and some additional voting members) vote over email, thus creating the list of finalists. In the final stage, the three members of the Association (all with wine education) have a blind tasting and select the winners. The overall winner gets to travel with the WOW members to a great wine region somewhere in the world, as a part of their award.

This year the jury of three consisted of Karin Rupena Perdec, Ines Matić, and Doris Srpek. They chose the following winners: Meneghetti White 2015 (white wines category), Il Primo 2015 by Fakin Winery (red wine), Krauthaker's select grapes Graševina 2015 (dessert wines), Rosella Poletti 2017 (rose wines). The winner in the sparkling wine category was Blanc de Noir, by Peršurić winery, and Ana Peršurić Palčić took her award yesterday in Zagreb. The overall winner of the WOW Association for 2019 is Il Primo by Fakin Winery.

Plešivica is an oasis for lovers of traditional gastronomy and wine-making, a longtime favourite destination for many of Zagreb's residents, Plešivica is famous for its many vineyards, wineries, sparkling wines and traditional food. Several Croatian family wine stories are attracting attention even from across the Atlantic.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of January, 2019, the Šember Winery, located in the village of Donji Pavlovčani, is famous for its sparkling wines that have been produced in their vinery for years. Ivanka Šember, the wife of a winery owner who helps him run the family business, says their sparkling wines are produced from old varieties which grow only on Plešivica. They have an old vineyard with fifteen different old and almost forgotten varieties, to which winemaker Zdenko Šember gives his special attention. He inherited this vineyard from his late grandmother and has since turned it into a flourishing business.

This year, this Croatian family winery business also produced a variety of new wine sparkling wines, a white sparkling wine from a black pinot, a sparkling wine of the old varieties which were kept in clay pots originating from Georgia. The production of amphora wines deeply buried in the ground is an extremely old tradition over in Georgia, and today many Croatian winemakers use this method. This method of wine production makes each wine, including sparkling wine from the assortment of this winery, completely different in flavour when compared to others.

"My husband loves experiments, and some of them also get to see the market!" said Ivanka Šember. The Šember Winery is one of the few in the Republic of Croatia which manually produces its sparkling wines, each step done with their own hands and without any machines. As the Croatian family say themselves, everything has been made even easier since they obtained a new 320m cellar. In the construction of the cellar, which was co-funded through the National Wine Sector Support Program, this wine oriented Croatian family invested more than two million kuna, and their plans for this year are to further expand their vineyards by another three hectares.

"When it comes to our sparkling wines, our best sellers are rose, this year we have doubled our production, and we're currently producing 40,000 bottles. We're the first winery to have been producing sparkling wines from old Plešivica varieties, explained Ivanka Šember.

Located in the village of Lokošin Dol, the Braje Winery is known for its homemade food served with homemade wine. Robert Braje is the winemaker in this Croatian family, and his wife, Sandra, is an expert in local gastronomy and has been the chef in their restaurant for the last eight years. In this Croatian family business, their son shows interest in wine production, and Robert says that if this continues, he will soon expand his vineyards, which today already stretch to 3.5 hectares.

They purchase only a very small amount of their grapes, and from varieties that have a special emphasis on Red Waltz, an Austrian variety which is only offered by very, very few here in Croatia. As is the case with many Croatian wineries, the Braje Winery also serves numerous homemade dishes which pair well with the selection of wines that they produce and offer to their guests.

"From the very beginning, we've been doing everything business-wise as a real family. We produce 15,000 to 18,000,000 litres of wine, and a third of all that is sold right here at our very door. We also prepare meals from either our own or other locally grown vegetables, we make our own apple and pear juices. We have ducks, chickens, pigs, and a cow,'' explained Braje.

Their goal is to locally produce food and wine for their guests, in order to get them to notice and appreciate the distinct differences. "I cook and prepare everything, which is almost all made from local ingredients, we have a cow so that we can have our fresh cheese, cream and milk, eggs from our chickens, sausage and bacon from our pigs, and if we don't have enough of our own vegetables, we buy it from other producers in the neighbourhood. I make homemade bread, pasta, noodles... Our guests come either individually or in small groups, and we have many guests from the USA,'' noted Sandra Braje.

Režek Winery is yet another traditional Croatian family business that Damir Režek inherited from his father, Drago. "Our story began with my great-grandfather Roko, who had 40,000 vines, and the most famous type he had was a Portuguese variety. That Portuguese variety is the very story of my family and I'm glad that this slightly forgotten variety has now been revived, and my grandfather later brought new varieties, such as sauvignon, and was one of the largest producers in this region,'' stated Damir Režek.

The last vineyard was planted back in 2005, so now they have four hectares and about 20,000 vineyards.

Vinarija Kolarić in Hrastje Plešivičko is known for its rich homemade food, wines, and sparkling wines. Franjo Kolarić has a restaurant and since 2009 a mini hotel with sixteen rooms in which he has invested more than three million kuna. As he says, he's typically full from May to October. A warehouse for sparkling wine was built back in 1997 and Franjo is currently working on a new line of sparkling wines, in which he planning to invest 1.5 million kuna.

Thanks to the extension of the restaurant there is now seating for more than 170 people, and in addition to the sixteen rooms currently available, he plans to build an apartment this spring. In addition to all of the above, one of his plans is to build a small brewery and produce small quantities of craft beer.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle page. If it's just wine you're interested in, give Total Croatia Wine a follow.

Click here for the original article by Marta Duic for Poslovni Dnevnik

Spurred by the interest of visitors for both the Zagreb and Ljubljana Salons, the organisers decided to form an international network of such salons in the region.