According to Prof. Zaninović, it is indisputable that the ancient inhabitants of Kvarner, the Liburnians, produced wine. The tradition was continued and perfected by the Romans who came to Kvarner and built their rustic villas. The name Pucinum and its famous wines are also associated with the Kvarner region, to whose properties the Empress Livy, wife of Emperor Julius Augustus, can thank for her longevity (86 years). Numerous grants and documents speak of vineyards, viticulture and wine production (the Vinodol Code and the Statutes of Krk, Vrbnik and Rijeka), while vineyards on the island of Krk were first mentioned in 1163. Medieval Croats, led by the Benedictines, undoubtedly produced wine not only for liturgical needs (Bašćanska ploča). The beginning of intensive grape cultivation in the Bakar Bay area was encouraged by Empress Maria Theresa, and Alberto Fortis reported in 1774 that on Krk "more than 24,000 barrels of wine for export were made" (a Venetian barrel is 64.39 liters, which means that the people of Krk were already exporting 1,550,000 liters of wine without their own consumption). Before the arrival of phylloxera, and even today, grapevines were the first agricultural crop in Kvarner. The Kvarner area had large areas under grapevines before the arrival of phylloxera: the Sušak district had 367 ha, the area of the City of Bakar had 38 ha, Vinodol had 573 ha, and the Krk district had 2,360 ha. It is interesting that in 1903, 87% of the total area of the island of Susak was under grapevines, or 327 ha.
Today
The Kvarner region produces more than 2 million liters of wine annually, and according to data from the Croatian Institute of Wine and Spirits, more than 200 hectares of vineyards are planted, of which about 150 hectares are planted with the Žlahtina variety. Almost all Kvarner wine producers produce sparkling wine, and the region ranks third in sparkling wine production in Croatia with an annual production of over 50,000 bottles of sparkling wine. All wineries, or rather wines and sparkling wines, achieve notable results at domestic and international competitions and exhibitions, which shows that Kvarner is a great soil for top-quality products
