To begin the story about Belica wine, it is crucial to start with the fact that Belica is not a grape variety, but rather a blend of several grape varieties. Namely, in a narrow area around the town of Kastav, the varieties that are combined in the production of Belica wine grow, namely Mejsko Belo (an indigenous variety of the Kastav region), Verdić, Divjaka (an indigenous variety of the Kastav region), Jarbola (an indigenous variety of the Kastav region), Malvasia (an indigenous variety of Istria and the Croatian Littoral) and Brajkovac (an indigenous variety of the Kastav region). Belica grows in the wine-growing region of Croatia Istria and Kvarner, in the sub-region of Kvarner and the Croatian Littoral, in the Opatija – Rijeka – Vinodol wine-growing area. Belica belongs to the group of neglected and somewhat endangered varieties, which means that some of its components were already on the verge of extinction. Today, these varieties are found in mixed plantations in the Kastav region, and Belica is also specific in that no vineyard in which the varieties that make up Belica are grown is identical or even similar to another.
