{"id":7709,"date":"2013-03-01T07:46:34","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T12:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winetrailtraveler.com\/blog\/?p=7709"},"modified":"2013-03-01T07:50:19","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T12:50:19","slug":"vina-croatia-2013-masterclass-seminar-beyond-plavic-mali-croatias-other-indigenous-varietal-wines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/winetrailtraveler.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/01\/vina-croatia-2013-masterclass-seminar-beyond-plavic-mali-croatias-other-indigenous-varietal-wines\/","title":{"rendered":"Vina Croatia 2013 Masterclass Seminar: Beyond Plavic Mali: Croatia’s Other Indigenous Varietal Wines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Although much smaller, the Vina Croatia seminar reminded me of the Texas Sommelier Conference we attended in 2007 after the first Drink Local Wine Conference in 2009. While the Sommelier Conference was an all day affair, the Vina Croatia was just a little over an hour long with nine wines.<\/p>\n

The Vina Croatia event took place in a long room with two rows of curved tables stadium style centered in front of a cooking area with stainless steel appliances. At each place setting were six wine glasses with white wines and three with red wines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The guest speaker Cliff Rames was enthusiastic and shared his enthusiasm for Croatian wines. According to Rames, Croatia can be divided into four distinct regions that include the 1) Croatian uplands, 2) Istria and Kvarner, 3) Slavonia and Danube, and 4) Dalmatia. Rames noted that Croatia has 64 recognized indigenous grape varieties. The big three indigenous varieties are Gra\u0161evina, Malvazija Istriana and Plavac Mali. Currently Croatian winemakers produce 60 million liters. He described the wineries as mostly small producers creating handcrafted boutique wines.<\/p>\n

The first wine tasting began with Damjani? Malvazija 2011 produced with the grape variety Malvasia Istriana. The other Croatian wines fetured included:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nada \u017dlahtina 2011:\u00a0Grape variety: \u017dlahtina
\nBo\u0161kinac Gegi? 2011:\u00a0\u00a0Grape variety: Gegi?
\nKutjevo Gra\u0161evina Vrhunska 2011:\u00a0Grape variety: Gra\u0161evina
\nKorta Katarina Po\u0161ip 2010:\u00a0\u00a0Grape variety: Po\u0161ip
\nMato\u0161evi? Antiqua 2008:\u00a0Grape variety: Malvasia Istriana
\nBibich R6 2009:\u00a0Grape varieties Babi?, Lasina, Plavina
\nBabi?\u00a0 Vrhunski 2009:\u00a0Grape Variety: Babi?
\nKoziovi? Teran 2011:\u00a0Grape variety: Teran<\/p>\n

During the discussion of the wines, Cliff mentioned the spotlight on Croatian wines. Terry followed up mentioning that Zagreb will host the International Wine Tourism Conference<\/a> on March 15th and 16th. After this delightful presentation, we are very enthusiastic about our visit to Croatia and learning more about their wines, meeting old acquaintances and making new friends.<\/p>\n

Cheers,
\nKathy<\/p>\n