The 2022 vintage Malvasia is of exceptional quality despite a challenging wine-growing year marked by a severe drought. Istrians will host the prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in May

More than sixty winemakers from Istria presented Malvasia Istriana of the 2022 vintage at the 11th En Primeur, an event started by Vinistra in 2012 based on such events in France. The premier wine tasting at Zagreb's Esplanade Hotel traditionally gathered the Croatian wine scene, sommeliers, oenologists, restaurant owners, distributors, all those who wanted to reserve wines in time while they were still in barrels, as well as lovers of Malvasia Istriana and Istrian wines.

"The last winegrowing year was very challenging and marked by severe droughts, but the Istrian winemakers have a lot of experience, so they did an excellent job again. I'm sure that after En Primeur we will once again conclude that we have very good young Malvasias", says Luka Rossi, president of Vinistra, the association of winegrowers and winemakers of Istria, which has an extremely dynamic year ahead with attractive wine events. Among them is the important hosting of the prestigious world judging Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.

"I am impressed by how the Istrians perfectly combine the production of wine and olive oil with tourism, and in this sense it is a genius idea that the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is held in Istria, where, in addition to winemakers from Istria and the whole of Croatia, Istria as a tourist destination will be presented to the world. This is a great value for Croatian tourism and Croatian winemaking", said Sandra Zokić, representative of the Minister of Agriculture and director of the Administration for Agricultural Land, Plant Production and Market.

Boris Miletić, mayor of Istria county, also confirmed the importance of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles for Istrian tourism and winemaking, and singled out Istrian Malvasia as one of the symbols of Istria, which rivals much larger wine regions in terms of quality.

As every year, along with the Istrian winemakers, about twenty colleagues from Kvarner came to the Esplanade with Žlahtina's and members of Croatian Uplands with young wines of indigenous varieties. The Kvarner winemakers were supported by the mayor of Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Zlatko Komadina, and the member of the Management Board of Winemakers of Bregovita Hrvatska, Marko Miklažić, pointed out that the development of this wine region is due to the three autochthonous varieties of Škrlet, Pushipel and Kraljevina, which could also be tasted in Zagreb at En Primeur.