Lina

In preparation for our trip in mid-October, my friends and I have been searching for Croatian beer and wine (it's never too early to get acclimated!). So far we haven't had any luck. Even our wine superstore, Total Wine, doesn't carry any. Does anyone know of a distributor or retailer who carries it? We live near D.C.

Any suggestions of wine or beer brands to ask for once we are in Croatia? There seem to be a wineries in Korcula and on the Peljasac Peninsula. Has anyone visited them?

Thanks!

Carta_Pisana

It's almost impossible to get any Croatian wines in the US - there are however Croatians living in CA that have award wining vineyards.

Here are a couple web sites I found:

http://www.hrvatska-vina.com

http://korcula.net/vina/default.htm

http://www.plancic.com

http://www.bastijana.hr/

gavan

Having just returned from Hvar, Croatia, I found the wines quite good if a little expensive. Quality wines are expensive in shops and restaurants - some good ones we enjoyed were Dingac (approx €15 - 20 per bottle, shop price) and Hvar Plavac (a bit cheaper, approx €5 per bottle in shops). Wines were full bodied if a little sweet, but perfectly drinkable.

Beer is cheaper and I found both 'Karlavcko' and 'Ojusko' (both lagers, similar to Heineken, with Ojunsko being my preferred of the two)to be good - a 500ml pitcher costs approx €2 in a bar, a lot cheaper in shops.

Lina

Thanks for your replies. In the meantime I found one importer in the US who sells Croatian wine: www.bluedanubewine.com.

We like beer, too, and it seems to be much more reasonable!

Carta_Pisana

Lina -
You can also try the house wine - most konobas make their own and take much pride in the quality. I had some very nice house wines - a couple bad ones - but overall, quite pleasent.

Don't forget to try the various spirits.

hunnym

Gavan mentioned a good beer - Karlovacko. You might have to special order it. We served it at our wedding back in April in Canada - it was the most popularly-consumed beer at the wedding (even the wine drinkers opted for it when they saw it was available).

We have found it's much easier for my parents to get Croatian wine and beer in Canada (from the LCBO) than it is for us to get it in NYC! Thanks for the importer's website!

eurotraveller

a great wine on Hvar is from a nice little winery called Zlatan Plavac (sp). We visited the winery and bought several bottles to bring home.

Here in Portland, OR we have and international beer festival in the park blocks and they served Karlovacko.

We were in Croatia last year and we still say "it's karlovacko time". It sounds so much better (and tastes better) than "It's Miller time".

Cheers!

dcp516

A good resource on Croatian wines in Jasenka Piljac's book, Zinfandel: A Croatian-American Wine Story, which details the search to uncover zinfandel's Croatian roots (www.xlsimports.com/purchase.htm).

See www.vinumusa.com - this is the importer of most Croatian wines, Blue Danube is a distributor in California. It is relatively easy to find Croatian wines in NY (throughout Queens, mainly Astoria). I know that several DC area stores have them too..

In terms of wineries to visit, if you're up north in Medjimurje, Jakopic. On Hvar, Plancic, Tomic, and Plenkovic. In Zadar, visit the boutique wine shops of Bibich. If you're on Peljesac, of course visit Mike Grgich's winery on Peljesac.

Given the zinfandel/Grgich connection, I think Cro wines are going to have some potential in the years to come, combined with the growth in tourism...