Graševina 2007, Iločki Podrumi

This Sunday's wine was given to me by a friend on his return from Croatia, where he spent his vacation. Not being a connoisseur of Croatian language, or Slavic languages for that matter, the only thing that I understood from the label is that the wine comes from a cellar called Iločki Podrumi. And that's only because in my grandparents' village, at the foot of Crodu Moma Mountains, cellars are called podrom.

Just a brief introduction. Cellar Iločki Podrumi, is located in Ilok, a town from Srijem wine region, located in Eastern Croatia near the Serbian border. Winemaking tradition in this region dates from the time of the Illyrians, but those who started to exploit the vineyards to its real potential were the Romans. Producers from Iločki Podrumi are very proud to be the followers of such an old tradition. Emperor Probus is also mentioned on the label of the wine bottle, as the first promoter of wine-making in this area. After the migrations and invasion of Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages, Ilok ended up in the property of an Italian origin family, Odeschalchi. They continued the tradition of wine-making by planting foreign varieties of vines and starting to bottle the wine. In the late nineteenth century they made it to the British Royal Family’s table. Currently, the producing company, Iločki Podrumi, is one of the largest wine producers in Croatia, bottling annually over four million litters of wine. Their list includes mainly white wines: Traminer, Graševina, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Rhine Riesling.

Graševina is the Croatian name of the grapes also found in Romanian viticulture under the name of Italian Riesling. The Croatian name derives from "grasak" meaning "green peas", a reference to the grape berries in early stages of development.

The bottle of wine that I received as a present is a premium class wine produced by Iločki Podrumi, so I expected it to be a little more expressive then what I met in Graševina's Romanian brother, Italian Riesling. The colour is golden yellow with greenish hues and a very fine sparkling, sign that the wine has some acidity. The first nose reveals fresh, herbal aromas. The smell of the wine goes from lime tree blossoms to elder, but the glass also reveals green apples, lemons, pears, followed by melon and a very smooth woody flavour at the end. It’s lively, you can feel a bit of acidity and the aftertaste is slightly bitter.



This wine is not some kind of a revelation, but you cannot have very big expectations from an Italian Riesling. I recommend this wine more as companion for food, mainly because of the acidity. I paired it up with a portion of grilled chicken legs, potatoes baked in fire and covered with slices of Penteleu cheese.