Historically, there hasn’t been a tremendously good method to get one’s hands on any Croatian wine made in the country wherever you may be. If you were in Dubrovnik, you probably wouldn’t find the wines from Istria (at least the smaller production ones) and vice versa. This local solidarity is admirable on a certain level, but highly impractical, especially when even at a local level, it can be hard to find wines. We’ve driven upwards on 50km, just circling around trying to find various wineries throughout the country as it appears wine making induces an allergy to sign making.
For all this and so, so much more, that’s why it’s great that Kuća Hrvatskih Vina (House of Croatian Wines) opened in November of 2008 (and as of 2013 either closed or with their website completely gone.) Located just outside of Zagreb at Zastavnice 13c in Hrvatski Leskovac, their selection is insane in that it’s basically every Croatian wine under one roof; about 600 wineries sporting 1,500 labels in all. That’s a lot and they even go so far as to break each room down to having a separate region: Central Croatia, Slavonia, Istria, and Dalmatia. And, everything can be enjoyed with food in their konoba (tavern), “Vinski dvori”.
So, while it doesn’t solve the problem of picking up a small production Plavac Mali in Osijek or a Teran in Karlovac, it does give those who are serious about finding and buying Croatian wines in Croatia at a one-stop shop. Go friend their Facebook profile (appears to be a new one) if you want to be kept abreast of their happenings.
