Top 5 Reasons to Taste Croatia

Croatian wine is Old World wine, lesser-known in the U.S. since winemakers of the small-production vineyards rarely import their wines overseas. A few importers and others (like Cliff Rames of winesofcroatia.com) are working hard to change that. So why not be ahead of the curve and enjoy wines from the gorgeous coastal and mainland regions of Croatia before everyone else catches on?

Tonight we'll taste Lirica Plavac Mali 2005, Katunar Riserva Anton 2005, and Kozlovic Malvasia. We realize those hard-to-pronounce names probably mean nothing to you right now. But let your senses decide tonight from 6 to 9pm. Here are 5 reasons to taste Croatia....

1. Geography. You’ll never learn what you love until you taste wines from around the globe. Many people shy away from wines not produced by mass labels or made in popular wine countries. But it’s fascinating that Croatia, located just across a thin strip of the Adriatic Sea from Italy, can produce such astoundingly different wines with great depth and complexity.

2. Experience. You could keep coming back to the same thing time and time again, or you could dare to try something new. Wine is meant to be enjoyed and discussed, whether you’re a connoisseur or a newcomer to drinking wine. Tasting new grapes and wines from different regions gives you something to chat about—maybe you taste a new flavor like a hint of cinnamon you’ve never experienced in wine before. Lirica Plavac Mali 2005, grown in the valleys of the Peljesac Peninsula, smells of cherries, cloves and cinnamon. Plavac Mali is a small blue grape indigenous to Croatia, and it’s the cousin of Zinfandel.

3. Food. Say you’re enjoying a burger for dinner tonight. Katunar Riserva Anton 2005—a red blend of Syrah, Sansigot and Debejan grown on the windswept Croatian island of Krk—pairs perfectly with a hearty burger. Aromas of red cherries, plums, sweet vanilla and spice compliment a juicy piece of red meat like nothing else.

4. Knowledge. Every wine has a story and a winemaker behind it. The most important Istrian grape is the white Malvasia. Gianfranco Kozlovic is the largest private producer of Malvasia in Istria, and a vocal crusader for quality. His vineyards dot the hillsides of northern Istria, where his modern winery is located. Kozlovic Malvasia is a lemon-colored dry wine offering notes of hay, white peach, apple and almond on the nose. It is medium-bodied, unoaked, with fresh acidity and a slight minerality and herb-y-ness on the palate.

5. Enjoyment. Croatians love their wine, and they make it with detailed attention and care. While most of their wines are consumed in their homeland, they’ve released their wines to the U.S. market not because they couldn’t sell them at home, but because they want us to enjoy Croatia too. Zivjeli! — As they cheers in Croatia, which literally translates to, “May you live.”