Nomination committee with the Croatian Wine Ambassador 2023: (left to right) wine importer Diederik Swart, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, Dubravka, Plejić Marković, Croatian Wine Ambassador 2023 Barbara Verbeek and wine importer Mario Pranić. Image: croatiangrapes.com
By Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska
On May 31 at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in The Hague the wine tasting event dedicated to renowned Croatian wines offered by the Croatiangrapes.com was organized. During this event Barbara Verbeek has been appointed Croatian Wine Ambassador 2023 by H.E. Ambassador of Croatia in the Hague, Ms. Dubravka Plejić Marković. The event was attended by director of the Croatian National Tourist Board for the Benelux countries Mr Ivan Novak, ambassadors and selected journalists.
H.E. Ambassador of Croatia in the Hague, Ms. Dubravka Plejić Marković with Beata Bruggeman-Sekowska, chief editor of the Central and Eastern Europe Center www.communications-unlimited.nl, ©communications-unlimited.nl.
During the event in the embassy wines from all important regions of Croatia were tasted together with the big palette of cheese sorts offered by former Croatian Wine Ambassador Betty Koster and the catering inspired by Croatia cuisine and prepared by the half-Croatian Masterchef winner Sascha de Lint.
©communications-unlimited.nl
©communications-unlimited.nl
Croatian Wine Ambassador
Whoever receives this title has contributed in a special way to the promotion of Croatian wine in the Netherlands. According to the nomination committee chaired by the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, H.E. Mrs. Dubravka Plejić Marković and wine importers Mario Pranić and Diederik Swart from Croatiangrapes.com Barbara Verbeek is the person par excellence to bear this honorable title. Verbeek has visited several Croatian wine regions and has paid attention in various publications to the diversity of this ancient wine country and the unique grape varieties that Croatia has to offer. Barbara is a real jack-of-all-trades in the wine world who inherited her love for wine from her father. In 2001 she graduated as a registered viticulturist and in 2002 as a wine & food specialist at the Academy of Gastronomy. She is the owner of the Wijntheater, a wine columnist for the biggest Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, founder of the Wine Woman of the Year Foundation, designer of the Expert’s Collection glass line and ambassador of the Royal Leerdam glass factory.
“I am very honored to be able to bear this title. When I had to fill the program in the Wine Theater from 2015, I always paid a lot of attention to Croatia, a wine country hardly anybody including myself heard of. But with Croatian wines and the founders of Croatiangrapes.com it was love at first sight.’’, said Barbara Verbeek at the Embassy of Croatia in the Hague.
The director of the Croatian Tourist Board in the Benelux, Ivan Novak, presented Barbara Verbeek with a study trip to one of Croatia’s unique wine regions.
The award has been granted since 2017and due to the Covid 19 break it is now the fourth time that this title has been awarded in the Netherlands. Previous ambassadors were: Sabas Joosten (former sommelier of renown restaurant De Librije), cheese expert Betty Koster and wine writer Hubrecht Duijker. This wine tasting event was held after three years hiatus due to the Covid 19 restrictions. the Ambassador Dubravka Plejić Marković.
Croatian wines
As Croatiangrapes.com mention Croatia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world. Viticulture in present-day Croatia existed hundreds of years before the rise of the Roman Empire. Even long before the ancient Greeks, in the time of the Illyrians, wine was already made here.
In total there are 22,885 hectares of vineyards in the country divided between 1575 producers. The most important wine regions are the eastern interior (Slavonia and Danube region) with 30.5 percent of the total area and the coastal region (Istria and Dalmatia) with 47.3 percent of Croatian vineyards.
The most widely grown grape is the white Graševina. This grape accounts for 22.9 percent of the country’s total wine production. In second place with 8.9 percent is also a white grape, the Istarska Malvazija. Only in third place comes a red grape, the famous Plavac Mali with 7.9 percent of the wine production. This grape is the famous ‘primal sister’ of the Primitivo and the Zinfandel.
The remaining 60.7 percent is split between all other grapes. This includes the unique autochthonous Croatian grapes such as Pošip, Frankovka, Silvanac Zeleni, Teran and Muškat Momjanski, but also internationally known grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Wine production in Croatia is approaching 1 million hectoliters per year. This puts Croatia in about thirtieth place in terms of volume in the ranking of wine-producing countries. So Croatia is not a big wine country, but it is known as a country with boutique wineries where top quality wines are produced.
Croatiangrapes.com
Mario Pranić and Diederik Swart started Croatiangrapes.com in 2014, an import company with a full focus on wine from Croatia. The company has since grown into the leading specialist in this field. The range consists of wines from unique Croatian grape varieties from the leading wineries from all major wine regions of the Croatian wine country.
Author: Beata Bruggeman-Sękowska is an award-winning international journalist, TV correspondent, author, chief editor of international journalism centre, Central and Eastern Europe Centre, president of the European Institute on Communist Oppression and a sworn translator. She was born in Warsaw, Poland and has also Armenian blood and roots in Lvov, which is part of Ukraine. She has been living in Heerlen, the Netherlands since 2005.
