"When the esteemed American Wine Enthusiast, with its 35 year long experience of where wine lives, ranks you among top ten wine tourist destinations in 2015 along with regions such as the Italian Piedmont, Spanish Galicia or French Loire and Rhone, then all the wine producers from the region – Istria in this case – have a big reason to celebrate," the president of the Croatian Sommelier Club, Franko Lukez, was quoted as saying in a press release by the Istria County Tourist Board.
Lukez recalled that wine should never be viewed without food. A glass of good wine is a natural ending of every good meal and the most exciting wine destinations are therefore locations offering excellent wines to accompany superb dishes, he said.
"It is nice to be recognised by wine enthusiasts," Lukez underscored.
Denis Ivosevic, Director of the Istria County Tourist Board, emphasized that each new recognition and ranking among the world's best destinations had always raised quality criteria and represented a huge obligation for them as one's own image in tourism had always been of the utmost importance.
This recognition is of special significance as it has been awarded by a distinguished web portal with a reputation of an opinion leader, Ivosevic added.
Wine Enthusiast was founded in 1979 and publishes a catalogue in more than 300 million copies.
Istria was listed as one of the top 10 destinations thanks to Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jensen, who are known as World Wine Guys.