Žlahtina is a very resilient wine variety
Žlahtina is an extremely grateful indigenous variety given its stylistic potential. It provides top results in all categories, from sparkling wines, light fresh, aged and macerated to concentrated sweet wines. I was particularly surprised by the sweet Žlahtina made from dried grapes. The wines have an exceptional balance in taste, potential for longer aging, and are an ideal partner for local dessert delicacies. I would also like to mention the variant of aged, complex and structured Žlahtina, with a more intense color and rich aromatic profile, considering that it showed its full character in this category.
Given the long-standing friendship and the sharing of a common vision when it comes to the potential of Žlahtina, the joint wine project was inevitable. Cooperation with the charismatic winemaker Ivica Dobrinčić came about spontaneously and unencumbered, we were guided by the idea of making wine without compromise with an emphasis on terroir. At the same time, the wine "HLAM 9" bears the name of the locality where the vineyard is located and my lucky number 9. The intention was to make a different žlahtina, to try to develop the "old fashioned" style that it once was. The wine is macerated, it ferments on natural yeasts, after the fermentation it clears spontaneously without filtration and without any oenological agents. As such, it has a somewhat deeper straw color, intense and complex aromatics, an elegant body, and feels soft and juicy in the mouth.
Klaudio Jurcic – a sommelier by life, not just a professional commitment. Austrian Wine Academy Rust and WSET diploma in wines – international 2013. Four times in a row, Croatian champion at the national sommelier competition, setting new standards in competitions and thus confirming that wine is much more than a job or profession for him – wine is a passion and a calling in life. He also tests his professional knowledge outside the borders of Croatia. He competes in the quarterfinals of the ASI World Sommelier Championship in Chile and the ASI European Sommelier Championship in Strasbourg; semifinals of the Central European Championship, Champagne Sommelier Trophée de Grand Jour de Champagne and the ASI European Sommelier Championship in San Remo. After the position of head sommelier of the Bevanda restaurant in Opatija and later the Baltazar restaurant in Zagreb, he moved to the position of manager of the Amabilis hotel in Selce, and since 2015 he has been building his professional path again in the iconic Bevanda in Opatija, as the manager and sommelier of one of the best Croatian restaurants.
