Unpacking Croatian wine with Ottawa importer Croatia Unpacked

Ottawa based wine importer Saša (pronounced - Sasha) Muradori started Croatia Unpacked with his business partner Tanya Schmitt, who runs the Toronto office, three years ago.

As with so many other stories, Saša began his wine journey working for another importing agency. Being understandably proud of his heritage and the wines of Croatia he felt, what I call a deep Canadian need, to share aspects of his culture with others.

I first started selling Croatian wines out of the private shops I managed in Vancouver. They were what we call “hand sells,.” wines that needed an explanation for the customer. This took time but in the end we carried Croatian wines year round. The reason is simple: they’re world class.

Saša and Tanya are Canada’s premier importers of top tier Croatian wine and we’re fortunate to have them based in Ontario because we can order directly from them.

Take for example the Plavac Mali grape which means “little blue” and is related to Zinfandel. It’s a notoriously difficult grape to work because of the sometimes uneven ripening within a grape cluster. Yet in the hands of Zlatan Plenkovic, considered the father of modern Croatian wine making, it’s a wine of beauty and one of the most memorable wines of the year for me.

You may also consider the excellent wines of Kozlovic. The Malvasia is big on warm yellow stone fruit, yet has only 2 g/l of residual sugar, suggesting a ripe harvest. The bright mineral driven finish is particularly appealing. This white showed beautifully with a pork cutlet and grilled jumbo prawns in garlic.

The Kozlovic Teran (called Terrano in Italy) is more brooding with dark fruit all over the profile, followed by grainy tannins and a cigar tobacco finish. Certainly an ideal wine next to the grill.

Just today Saša informed me that his Merga Victa Posip is being released through Vintages. Posip is a delicious and complex white grape that pairs so very well with seafood. I’ve checked the numbers and there are approximately 100 bottles available in Ottawa. But hurry as these sell fast.

If you are a wine lover, the wines of Croatia are not to be missed. In fact we feel strongly enough about this that we will be announcing a partnership event where our readers can experience the greatness of Croatian wines for themselves. Stay tuned.

Finally, I need to call attention to an area that seldom gets much love — the website. Croatia Unpacked has created a site filled with interesting and smart content and it’s easy for the eye to navigate. Certainly one of the few, better importer sites I’ve seen in the last decade and it’s worth a visit.