Ice Graševina from Kutjevo wins the title of best Croatian wine

Sveti Ivan Zelina has confirmed its status as one of the most important meeting places for Croatian winemakers this year. As part of the St. Ivan's Days, the 58th Continental Croatian Wine Exhibition was held, the longest-running wine event of its kind in the country, which has been gathering the best producers, oenologists and wine lovers for almost six decades and provides a cross-section of the quality of continental Croatian winemaking.

This year's biggest award went to the 2018 ice Graševina from the Kutjevo Perak winery, which won the title of absolute champion of the exhibition. In addition to being declared the best predicate wine, this label also achieved the highest number of points among all the samples submitted, confirming that Slavonian Graševina continues to be one of the strongest assets of the Croatian wine scene.

Wines from almost all continental wine regions received high marks. Among the dry white wines, Manzoni from the Coner winery from the Bjelovar-Grubišnopolje wine region stood out, winning the "Milan Pažić" award for the best white still wine. In the semi-dry and semi-sweet wine category, Sauvignon OPG Gotlin from Krapina vineyards, winner of the "Pero Krznarić" award, celebrated.

Continental Croatia has once again shown that it also produces top-quality red wines. The Cabernet Sauvignon of the 2020 vintage from the company Monsaureus from Baranja was declared the best, while in the sparkling wine category, Vina Vuglec won with its sparkling wine from the 2021 vintage. Fruit wines also took a special place in the evaluation, where the blackberry wine from the producer Igor Jambrešić - Kupilek from Klanjec won the most points. In addition to the contents of the bottle, the expert jury also evaluated the visual identity of the wine. The "Dragutin Stražimir" award for the best designed wine packaging was won by Vinarija Kos - Jurišić, confirming that the modern wine scene pays increasing attention to design that accompanies the quality of the product itself.

Special awards were traditionally awarded to the best wines of Zagreb County. The most successful winery was Vinarija Žnidarić from Zaprešić, whose Kraljevina berbe 2025 was declared the best white dry wine and the overall champion of the county judging. They further rounded off their success with the title of the best sparkling wine with the 2023 vintage and the award for the best wine of the previous vintage, making them the most awarded winery of this year's county section of the exhibition.

Other laureates included Kezele, whose Muscat žuti won first place in the category of wines with residual sugar, Puhelek – Purek with the best rosé wine thanks to Pinot noir, and Jarec vina, whose Cabernet Franc was declared the best red wine of the Zagreb County.

After the awards ceremony, the celebration moved to the Wine Square in the center of Sveti Ivan Zelina, where visitors had the opportunity to taste numerous award-winning wines and talk to their producers. With performances by the Croatian Singing Society of Zelina and a rich cultural and musical program, the event once again showed how important wine, tradition and local gastronomy are to the identity of continental Croatia.

Photos: Tourist Board of St. Ivan Zelina