Burke Owens, associate curator of wine at the American Centre for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa, California, had visited France, Croatia, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, exploring ancient sites known for wine and food.
Following a 20-day tour of the Mediterranean called "Hidden Treasures of the Old World", Owens wrote an article in The San Francisco Chronicle, taking the readership back to the roots of viticulture and familiarising it with exotic wines from ancient regions.
A group of wine experts led by Owens visited the southern Croatian Adriatic peninsula of Peljesac.
"Croatia has a serious but small wine industry, with tiny vineyards everywhere along the Dalmatian peninsula," Owens wrote.
The group stayed at the Grgic winery, which was founded in 1995 by Miljenko Mike Grgic, a Croatian emigre who earned international fame as a winemaker in the United States. His Grgich Hills winery in Rutherford, California, specialises in Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, while the Grgic winery in Trstenik focuses on local grapes such as the white Posip and the red Plavac Mali.
"Our own local varieties give us the regional character we are looking for in wine. Many wineries produce Cabernet, but not many make Plavac Mali. It makes us unique and shows pride in our heritage," winemaker Kresimir Vuckovic told the Chronicle.
"The Grgic wines are exotic and familiar at the same time, with the white Posip showing a light Sauvignon Blanc freshness and the red Plavac Mali a brambly quality not unlike Zinfandel. That last is not too surprising as Zinfandel, a Croatian native itself, is likely one of Plavac Mali's parents," Owens wrote in the article.
US grapevine geneticist Carole Meredith of the University of California found several years ago that Zinfandel, long believed to be indigenous to California, was identical to Crljenak Kastalanski and that it was in fact a Croatian variety. Testing showed that Plavac Mali was a child of the Dalmatian varieties Crljenak, or Zinfandel, and Dobricic.