In My Glass – The grape that emigrated from Croatia

Wherefore Daddy-O?Art Thou, How one grape emigrated

from Croatia and became “America’s Grape”

BY » Trevor Burton

I’ve got a Bucket List that has quite some depth to it. Near the top is spending some quality time with winemakers in Croatia’s wine country. Wine goes back a long way in this part of the world. Wine associated relics dating back over 2,500 years have been discovered. Greeks and Romans had their own influence on wine. Turks and the Ottoman Empire nearly spoiled the party. Fortunately, the Ottoman Empire was tolerant of Christianity. Priests and monks were permitted to continue making wine for church services. Catholic church traditions involving wine may have “saved” local wine production from complete extinction.

Despite this long history of wine, Croatia has been somewhat of a vinous backwater until recently. Conflict and politics are a major reason. Under the communist system of Yugoslavia, wine production was centered in large cooperatives. Private ownership of vineyards was discouraged. Quantity rather than quality became the main focus. In the early 1990s the Croatian War of Independence saw many vineyards and wineries destroyed. However, with the move back to small scale, independent producers, Croatian wines are once again pursuing quality. They are competing with the best in the world wine market.

Along with the small scale, independent producers, there are many indigenous grapes that are used to make local wines. That’s another reason why Croatian wines are relatively unknown. For Western Europeans and for Americans, Croatian grapes are tough on the tongue to pronounce even though the wines are delicious on the tongue to taste. Grapes like Graševina and Grk, white grapes, don’t find their way to many western wine lists. Economically, I think you’ll see these indigenous grapes overwhelmed by international favorites like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Time is of the essence and I want to sip on some of Croatia’s indigenous treasures.

There’s one Croatian grape that might buck the economic forces and that’s a neat tale. At the time of the California gold rush and, by way of Austria and the East coast of the United States, a wine found its way to quench the thirsts of the hordes of prospectors who flooded into California. The wine was a deep, hearty red made from the Zinfandel grape. Zinfandel became “America’s Grape.”

Move forward in time to an adventure. A Croatian transplant, Miljenko Grgic, better known by his Americanized name, Mike Grgich, had become a winemaking rock-star in California. He noticed that Zinfandel wines seemed like familiar old friends. They tasted just like the vino his father

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A secluded corner of a small vineyard in Croatia— the source of “America’s Grape.” fermented back in the Old Country. Grgich was not the only one to notice. A plant pathologist at UC Davis observed that Primitivo in the Puglia region of Italy closely resembled Zinfandel. Going directly across the Adriatic Sea to the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, he discovered Plavac Mali, an indigenous variety that shared characteristics with both Zinfandel and Primitivo.

Enter Dr. Carole Meredith, a grape geneticist at UC Davis and leading pioneer of DNA profiling. She began working with two Croatian scientists and the three of them went on an exploration quest. It lead them to a small vineyard. Many vines were intertwined and easy to confuse. However, the three explorers collected samples from a specimen identified as Crljenak Kaštelanski (Tserl-yee-ehnak Kashhtell-ann-skee), a relative of Plavic Mali. Back home, after scientific analysis, Meredith wrote, “We have a match for Zinfandel. Quite convincingly, finally!” In a press release in 2002 she announced, “Zinfandel comes from Croatia. Crljenak Kaštelanski, Primitivo and Zinfandel grapes are a perfect DNA match.” She saved the Croatian grape from oblivion. Mystery solved. “America’s Grape” has Croatian origins. I’m hoping that Crljenak Kaštelanski enjoys fame in its own right and pulls along other indigenous grapes on its coat-tails. So, back to my Bucket List. Croatia; beautiful places to visit and some great grapes waiting. I’m bursting to get there.

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