Wine bars of eastern Croatia

Ok, now we're there... standing before the wine cellar, entering it's strong oak doors and starting to lurk around the endless number of bottles of fine wine.

Tasting usually starts with Riesling followed by several white wines, occasionally Rose pops up afterwards. Usually, after mild and gentle white wines we're moving towards the dark and rich red wine so one can taste finely graded and subtle differences. If you're up to - tasting ends with alo stronger but often sweet late harvest and desert wine selection.

Osijek - center of wine square

General public perception of Osijek region is as region of endless plains, gigantic grains, corn and sunflower plains. However, according to records of Vine registry, Osijek-baranya county stands as the biggest wine production region in Croatia being the only region producing over 100.000  hectolitre of wine annually.  Impressive don't you say?

There are 4 wine microregions and Osijek is in the middle of it. Feričanci wine region is located western of Osijek, Đakovo wine region is on the south side, Erdut wine region on the east and Baranya wine region on the north of the city of Osijek being in just 30-40 kilometer radius only.

There are 4 wine bars representing speciffic region:

• in Zmajevac - for Baranya wine region
• in Dalj for Erdut wine region
• in Drenje for Đakovo wine region
• in Feričanci for Feričanci wine region
• and in Osijek old town as central region (situated near Vodena vrata - one of main ports to medevial Osijek.

Not so far from Osijek are Ilok and Zlatna dolina, or even Hungarian Vilánny which alongside Tokay is one of ther most acknowledged Hungarian wine region which in past was all part of Bellye administrative area.

Wine and Osijek history

One of the most prominent squares in Osijek - The Holly trinity square in Osijek Tvrđa started it's history named Wine square. Wine was delivered every Wednesday and Saturday and it was sold to Inns and army. There is also an ongoing living history  drama play "Wine square". The idea behind is to enable interaction with the nearby citizens and tourists with the final result - learning about Osijek's history in fun and relaxed way - through the drama play.

The bennefit of "the walk" through the Tvrđa is that different costumed, real and fictional subjects are telling history relevant stories in fun, colorful and innovative maner to nearby passengers and by that - they bring real scenes of ancient Osijek back to life.

Baroness Paulina von Hermann, comonly known as Mačkamama guides audience through the play which ends at the Vodena vrata (one of main port to the old town of Osijek - Tvrđa.

The play is produced by and performed by Croatian society of cultural tourism - CroCulTour.  It is directed by Siniša Kovač and produced by Jesenka Ricl, president.

Where to drink nice Wine in Osijek?

We're about to tell you the storry of couple of really nice places to pay attention to when you are lurking around the eastern Croatia.

It's all about differences: one is in Slavonia region while the other is in Baranya region, first one is on Drava bank while second is on the Danube bank. We have one in urban region - in the centre of city of Osijek while the other is in rural ambient - in wineyard: as authentic as it gets.

Both wine bars are connected by the Pannonian trail of peace (Via Pacis Pannoniae) which is a unique bike trail connectiong Danube river with Drava river striking right through Kopački rit nature's park, colorful scenery, old villages and deserts.

Since the Bike & Wine is taking it's pole position among favourite local activities we recommend to visit both places in one day by bike and compare wine variation of pannonic Slavonia, Baranya, Drava river and Danube river locations.

Interesting and rather unusual trivia fact is that both Wine bars are run by - women (kudos!).

Kristina Pinkert, Julijana Seleši-Novački, sisters Kinga and Sibila Kolar and regional winery manager in Zmajevac Gabriella Gerštmajer are living proof that wine business is not man-only world!

Of course, when wonem affirmation comes to table, it must be noted that there are significant players on the Croatian's wine scene, just like Croatias capital - Zagrav based WOW – Women on wine association which put Baranya wine scene under spotlight. After returning from a roundtrip across local wine roads they were nothing but amazed.

Beautiful WOW members are producing fine wine, association is focused on marketing, distribution and wine business promotion. Their practical experience with running wine bars, wine studying and practical experience as sommeliers makes them prominent members of Croatian wine community. Also, they write about wine and of course - theyre prone to experinents so natrurally, they also make now types of wine.

Associated is gathered around founder Sanja Muzaferija. Their leitmotif is an idea of organized womens presence on the national wine scene, but vision of creating a networking platform with one main goal in mind - to acclaim public acknowledge of strong women wine scene in Croatia.

Wine bar Vinita

When in Osijek and keen to bless your palate with a glass of fine wine, all roads will lead you to wine bar Vinita located on Josipa Jurja Strossmayera street - well known as Štrosika, just around the corner of main square in the centre of the city. Wine bar was founded by spouses Tanja and Vinko Ručević. Since 2011, Vinita has successfully been growing to fulfill their dream- to create an unique offer to attract - but also to educate citizens, by promoting and rising the awareness of wine culture bar to the higher level... and the culture of enyoing wine as well.

Rustic style, accented by brick red bricks and rustic wooden furniture turns Vinita wine bar to a little time machine which provides wisitors the spirit of past times through the glas of most finest local wine.

Hosts charm keeps visitors returning to become biger and more passionate wine ethusiasts every time they set foot to this beautiful place.

Rich rhapsody of taste is provided by broad selection of quality wine from all around of Croatia, alongside of most prominent wines of the region.which you would not find on local supermarket shelves. You will also find selection of foreign wine bottles. Wine chart counts around 350 labels from all around the world which ensures visitors one of the biggest wine selection on one place in broad region.

On premise, numerous guided wine tasting and enogatronomic education events took place which always attracted colorfull public of wine rookies but proffesioan sommeliers as well.

Vinita also tends to host promotional events for numerous national wine makers to promote their wine. Although  Croatia has vast amount of high quality wine, it's taste doesn't stops on regional or national borders so their founders are proud to say that numerous wine producers from all around Slavonia, Baranya, west Sriem, Istria, Dalmatia, Herzegovina all through to France were promoted at their place.

Please - don't be scared if you just like wine and have no golden palate and nose... all kind of fun activities are taking place on the spot like amateur blind wine tasting called Best Palate (Naj nepce).

Besides lovely ambient and good vibrations Vinita can be also proud of starting first Osijek-based wine festival - WINEOS, which took place 2014. for the first time in Museum of Slavonia, and it is an annual fall/winter time 2-day event.

Due to finest wine selection nad numerous urban events, this wine bar becomes highly rated and cherished hot spot of Osijek wine lovers.

So, whenever you're passing nearby - it's a don't miss at all stop!

Wine bar Barrique

On my wonderings, in continuous search for perfect hedonistic pleasure, I've been through the numerous restaurants, bars, sceneries but place honnored with most beautifull (at least in Pannonian Croatia) definitely belongs to wine bar Barrique situated near monumental statue called Victory by sculptor Antun Augustinčić, dedicated to battle of Batina, better known as Julka.

From the wine bar Barrique's terrace breaks beautifull view towards Bačka in Vojvodina county in Serbia and Hungarian county Bács-Kiskun and Baranya. Croatian side of Danube river is significantly higher than Vojvodina's side so it was always of significant strategic value throughout of history. In time of Romans, there was fort Ad militare  which was used to control the region from ongoing barbarian raids.

At the very end of the World War II a well known battle took place on the site where outnumbered German forces, thanks to their strategic advantage of rised terrain were able to provide resistance to strong and numerous Russian forces approaching from the other side of the Danube river. A lots of Russian soldiers were killed (mostly Ukrainians) and in their honnor the monument Victory (Pobjeda) was built.

Nearby, there's a Museum of Batina battle and headquarters of  Tourist association of Draž,

Preko puta wine bara Barique smješten je Muzej batinske bitke zajedno sa prostorijama Turističke zajednice općine Draž. Barrique na ovoj lokaciji radi sezonski već treću godinu s time da iz godine u godinu svoja vrata otvara sve ranije i zatvara sve kasnije, s tendencijom da kada prilike to dopuste radi i cijelu godinu. Od samog sela Batina u kojoj je nedavno otvoreno i pristanište za kruzere i koje je jedino baranjsko mjesto na samom Dunavu, Barrique je udaljen oko dva kilometra, i da biste do njega došli morate proći nisku gatora na strmoj kaldrmi, a potom  i kroz nepregledne vinograde.

Barrique u ponudi ima isključivo baranjska vina. Od vina iz same Batine (Kalazić, Kočevar) do vina iz Zmajevca, Suze, Kamenca, Karanca, Kneževih Vinograda, itd. Inače sve se tu vrti oko vina. Prije otvaranja wine bara tu je bila prodavaonica vina Kalazić, a u trenutku kada sam razgovarao s vlasnicom Marinom Šašlin u razgovoru su nam se priključili i Zagrepčani zaposleni u tvrtki za reviziju trošenja sredstava iz EU fondova, a koji su tih dana bili u radnoj posjeti vinarijama Pinkert iz Suze i Kronos iz Batine.

Marina nije slijedila put većine mladih koji gledaju samo kako da uteknu iz ovog područja, nakon završenog Menadžmenta u turizmu u Iki pored Opatije i stručnog usavršavanja na zagrebačkom Ekonomskom fakultetu vratila se u Batinu i otvorila Barrique. „Iako je trenutačno suočena sa drastičnom depopulacijom u Baranji vidim veliki potencijal. To nije samo iracionalni lokal patriotizam, nego smatram da je to realna prosudba. Svi su mi u početku govorili da sam luda što sam se vratila u Baranju, s obzirom na to da sam se mogla zaposliti kao hotel manager na jadanskoj obali. Sada kada Barrique radi već treću godinu u kontinuitetu pomalo me gledaju i sa zavišću. Potencijal postoji, ali treba se odvažiti i zaploviti poduzetničkim vodama. Na manje od 1150 četvornih kilometara ovdje postoji devet vinskih cesta. Samo u susjednom Zmajevcu ima preko dvadeset vinara. Ma, bez lažne skromnosti Baranja ima ogroman potencijal! Možemo tu čuda napraviti. Samo što moramo raditi svi zajedno! Mora postojati sinergija vinara, obiteljskih poljoprivrednih gospodarstava, ugostiteljskih objekata, jedinica lokalne samouprave i turističkih zajednica. Tko god mi ovdje dođe s nekom pozitivnom idejom, prijedlogom eventa, festivala, zbivanja dobro je došao. Neopterećena sam predrasudama i surađujem sa svakim tko ima neku kvalitetnu zamisao. Misija vinskog bara Barrique je prezentirati i posjetiteljima ponuditi vina svih zainteresiranih baranjskih vinara na jednom mjesto koje odiše mirom, tišinom, mjestu koje posjetiteljima pruža kontemplativan vidik i koje je smješteno između vinograda i Dunava. Općepoznata je  ključna uloga Dunava u cijeloj vinskoj priči. Dunav nanosi les ili prapor, a lesno tlo je temeljni preduvjet za uspješno vinogradarstvo na ovom području. I moja obitelj se osim lovnoga turizma bavi i proizvodnjom vina, doduše u manjim količinama i za osobne potrebe, tako da i sama baštinim tu vinogradarsku tradiciju. Sama sam osmislila i dizajn interijera, sve ono što su mi prezentirali renomirani dizajneri nije me baš previše impresioniralo.“ navodi Marina.

I wine bar Barrique promovira bike&wine koncept. Prošle godine koncem kolovoza,  u organizaciji neformalne građanske inicijative Libertas održao se Liberty fest koji je imao edukativne, zabavne i sportsko rekreacijske komponente. Između ostalog održana je i biciklijada pod mottom Otkrijete skrivenu DRAŽ Baranje (Batina se nalazi u općini Draž), čija je trasa išla kroz vinograde i surduke, obroncima Banovog brda, a start i cilj je bio upravo ispred wine bara Barrique.

Marina kaže da je ovdje po potrebi i turistički vodič, informator, interpretator i edukator – „Kada netko poželi vidjeti memorijalni muzej izvan radnog vremena, nema problema ja im otvorim i ispričam im priču, te im nastojim pružiti sve informacije koje bi im mogle biti korisne i potrebne.“

Redovito sudjeluju i na Gator festu koji se ove godine održava 9. i 10. lipnja. Prvog dana festivala u wine baru Barrique biti će koncert jazz sastava, vjerovatno i promocija vina. Uskoro će održati i izložbu slika buduće akadamske slikarice Nevene Živić a u ponudu će uvrstiti i i baranjske suvenire jer većina njihovih gostiju dolazi izvan Baranje, bilo da su na proputovanju ili da su poslovno ili turistički došli u Osijek ili Baranju.