THE REVIVAL OF WINERY

„There is an impressive pallet of fine wines that certify Croatia as an exceptional wine country, and of which many people know only a little. They definitely need to be affirmed in front of the world.“

Dr Carole P. Meredith
Profesor Emeritus
University of California, Davis

When around 30 most prominent world scientists and publicists, next to the local wine connoisseurs, come to visit a wine area and try around thirty top-quality wines that have been chosen as the best of the best, then that area has become a wine-adult and internationally acknowledged. It happened in Zadar County on 29 April 2017.
The elite company of around 30 enologists, sommeliers, wine connoisseurs, writers and journalists was welcomed with 30 wines from 16 Zadar wineries first on the agrotouristic estate Ražnjevića Dvori in Polača and then in the Royal Vineyards in Petrčani. Those were the prominent representatives from the group of 100 people who took part in the international manifestation in Split called “I am Tribidrag“, which brought Zinfandel home from California after more than 150 years.
The event was attended by Jancis Robinson, according to the Decanter Magazine the most respected wine critic and journalist in the world, Carole Meredith, who determined the genetic and geographical background of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah and other types, and verified the findings of other two attendees Ivan Pejić and Edi Maletić about Zinfandel as Crljenak Kaštelanski or Tribidrag, after she reached Primitivo in Apulia. Jose Vouillamoz, one of the leading world experts for the research of the vine types' background by using the DNA method, was also here, as well as David Gates, the vice president of the wine growing in the winery Ridge Vineyards with the selections of the original Croatian Tribidrag/Crljenak Kaštelanski and Tribidrag A and B in his winery Lytton Springs in the Sonoma County, Nicholas Lander, the correspondent of the Financial Times, but also one of the most prominent British restaurateurs with his restaurant L'Escargot in Soho, London, and many others.
What these experts have in common is a special love for the autochthonous types. Crljenak or Tribidrag, known as Primitivo and Zinfandel, is the reason for their visit. Nevertheless, they have tried lots of other types, among which Svrdlovina was a big revelation. They were especially impressed by the fact that there is only one in the world because this type was saved from extinction by Mladen Anić. That is why he had to bring more bottles than he planned to be sent to California, New York, Geneva and other places, where Svrdlovina from Ravni Kotari is going to be even laboratory dissected.