Visiting Wineries in Croatia

I wasn’t expecting to find wineries in Croatia when I started planning our two week trip to Croatia and Slovenia last year. My sole reason for visiting Croatia was to hike in Plitvice Lakes National Park. Everything after that was a bonus. But as y’all know I’m all about the wine. We checked out these these wineries in Croatia in the Istrian region.

Kozlovic

We started our day at Kozlovic. We did a tasting menu of bijela (white) and crna (red) vina. We tried varietals I’d never heard of before like Istrian Malvasia and Teran. Kozlovic’s wines were my favorite from the three wineries we visited. They either waved their tasting fee because I had a glass of the teran 2018 or don’t charge one.

The experience and ambiance matched a commercial winery with a sleek building and beautiful outdoor space. But other factors showed off their family business and dedication to quality like harvesting by hand! The staff was super friendly and helpful. They recommended other wineries for us to check out including Coronica and Degrassi. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stop at them.

Kabola

I learned so much about wine this trip. For a few of their wines, Kabola uses an ancient process of fermenting wines in clay pots. The fee for our wine tasting was waved if we bought a bottle of wine. We decided on the rose, which was Jon’s favorite. (very shocking). We heard from several wineries they made rose specifically for the U.S. market.

Since we didn’t book in advance, we did our tasting inside which was a bummer because the grounds were beautiful. We did drink our bottle of rose under a tree overlooking the vineyards.

Cuj

At Cuj, they were starting their harvest and let us try a few grapes right before they went to be de-stemmed. Their tasting room was tucked away in a neighborhood. They primarily have white wines to taste and charged a small tasting fee. We aren’t big white wine fans, so based on that I would skip Cuj next time.

Tips for Visiting Croatian Wineries

Book in advance. Work has been crazy, so I didn’t plan much of this trip in advance. If you want the full tasting experience, you must book in advance and that doesn’t mean the day before. Most of the wineries were still open to visitors.

Pick a good city for your base. We didn’t stay in Rovinj, but it is highly recommended by others. You could also check out Umag. Motovun is a beautiful town, but I don’t think it’s the best base for wine adventures.

Book through a tour operator or pick one winery. I’m not one to typically book a tour. It would’ve saved me a lot of time and probably money. I called each of the venues to book a tasting. We hired a driver to drive us to each. We paid for the driver and the tastings at each of the venues. If I was to do it over, I would’ve spent a few hours hanging out at one winery.

In my element.

Are you a wine lover? Check out the other wine regions we’ve visited here. Are you planning a trip to Croatia, tell me about it in the comments below!