 Hello, hello, hello, I'm Matthew Horky and I'm Sherin Tan. Together we are Exotic Wine Travel. We've spent the last three years traveling around the world writing and speaking about unique and exciting wines. Our journey has taken us to both lesser known and established wine regions. In 2016, we came to Croatia for the first time. We fell in love with the country and the wines, prompting us to write the book Cracking Croatian Wine, a visitor friendly guide. Now we're at it again. We're going to re-tour the country and bring our book to life. We aim to take you deep into the Croatian food and wine scene. So sit back, relax, and join us as we go Cracking Croatian Wine! There are no shortages of medieval hilltop towns in Istria. Croatian is a village that was falling into obscurity until some artists moved in during the 1960s. It's also home to a fabulous jazz festival in the summer. We stop by for a quick go round but have to move on quickly for our next appointments. Damjanic produces one of my favorite red wines in Istria named Clementi. I found love with this wine after the first sip, but Sherin hasn't always been convinced. We stop by and chat with proprietor and winemaker Ivan Damjanic. Let's see if he can convince Sherin on the quality of the Clementi red. Can you tell us a little bit more about the story, the background, and the meaning of Clemente? Clemente is one of the projects I started to make Clemente ten years ago. For the first was Clemente Noar, with Merlo Cabernet Tehran and Borgonia. So you mentioned to us earlier and we laughed about it, the name Clemente means good guy. Good guy, big guy, guy with heart. Is there a reason why you use that name for your wine? No, it sounds good. Yeah, for Clemente you can drink entire bottle and nobody will be angry about you. We're tested! Sherin is finally convinced and Ivan invites us down to the cellar to taste the newest vintages still in the barrel. He has recently began making a Clemente white, a blend of Malvasia, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc. Ivan also produces a delicious fresh Malvasia. His wines should not be missed when in Istria. In the afternoon we head to the village of Umag. We're heading back to the wine bar It Is Istria. It's a partnership between a few restaurant owners and the wineries Coronica, Tzu'i, Degrassi, and Kozlovitch. A few years ago, we visited the wine bar with Moreno Coronica. He's one of our favorite producers in all of Croatia. He's widely considered to produce the best Tehran and Malvasia in the country. At this wine bar, you can get his top wine, Gran Tehran, by the glass, which is a real treat. It's a big red with juicy acidity and pairs perfectly with the Angus beef that the wine bar offers. On this particular day, the wine bar has a cameo chef. Wine maker Moreno Degrassi took over the cooking duties tonight because the chef called in sick. Although we've tasted his wines several times, this is the first time we're meeting him in person. He whips together some beef carpaccio and then starts opening bottles. All of Degrassi's wines are delicious and deliver great value, but Shurin is most infactuated with his Terabianchi Pesito. It's a sweet wine made from dried grapes. This one just has a very different nose. It's kind of like dried up, a little bit jinseng, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy. He has everything on the nose and then in the mouth, it's so concentrated. The Pesito style heats you. I love it. I really, really love this. Stasho, really stasho. I really love this wine. If you're in Northwest Istria, this is the place to be. Who knows? You might bump into a few winemakers too. The next day, we head to the seaside village of Rovinja. It's considered to be one of Croatia's most beautiful cities. It's also home to the restaurant Monte, which was the first in the country to earn a Michelin star. Today, we're here for a different food and wine experience. We're at Villa Dobrovac to taste the new vintages. This hotel boasts beautiful views of Rovinja and welcomes guests from all over the world as proprietor Natalina Dobrovac tells us. Last year, we had more than 36 different nationalities in our house and we are very proud that we can also present Croatia. Natalina's husband, Damir, makes the wines and the couple have brought on talented sommelier Karin Rupina Perdeč to run the tasting. With an advanced appointment, Karin assembles bite-sized tapas to accompany the wines. The sonata has more body, it's more full. The chickpeas and cucumber go great with the Dobrovac sonata, which is made from Malvazija starska. This pairing makes Karin a true believer. I find this pairing to be a little bit more complex or more dimensional than the first one because the chickpea almost adds some kind of earthiness to it but what really works is the saltiness from this dish really adds to the civility on the finish. So it literally stretches out the finish of this wine and also for sonata I thought it has more mineral flavour so it binds together well. For the red wines made from Tehran, how about some Istrian ham pate topped with a few slices of lard. The pairing that wins me over is the polenta plum and bacon dish that pairs with Dobrovac's top red wine, a Tehran named Fuga. Most wineries give preserved meats and cheeses to their guests during wine tasting. We find this unique and exciting combination created by Karin to be a fresh and delicious experience. In the afternoon we head to the hilltop town of Buzet in central Istria. We're in search of the culinary treasure known as the Istrian truffle and the prodon family is going to help us find it. Vishnia prodon shows us some of our family's products and then starts us with some homemade rakia. This man, gigante Giancarlo, he was the one who found the truffle. Now it's time for our truffle crash course. She explains the history of truffles in Istria. And when they find the truffles they didn't know those were the truffles. They thought it's some smelly potato from the ground, nothing spectacular and it was a very big amount of truffles found in that time that they mostly give it to domestic animals to feed them, to the pigs. The pigs loved it, they enjoyed it very much. So that was the start of truffles here in Istria until Italians discovered that we have this precious mushroom here. They started to come here to take our truffles for a small sum of money either for nothing. They were even offered to the families here like you give to us one bag of those valid potatoes of yours and in exchange we bring you food and groceries from Italy. So in the beginning it was a nice exchange until people here realized how much money they're making out of our truffles. So here in Istria it's microclimate, especially in Central Istria where you today. It's very hot, it's a lot of rain and never snowing. It can snow once in like five, six years, but then the snow melts after a few hours. It never stays on the ground. And the place where truffles grow here in Istria it's basically all around the valley of River Mirna. Now it's time to suit up. What do you think of your vest? Awesome, man. While Shireen has a great nose, we're going to need some reinforcements. And it's off to the hunt. Whoa! Before we go that it can happen that we don't find anything. While there's public land to hunt truffles on in Istria, the Proton family have their own tract of property. We don't expect to find anything, but then... You can see here? It's all out. It's on the top of the surface. Now it's time to reward our fellow companion. When it comes to truffles, most people only experience truffle oil, which is often made with chemicals and not real truffles. These fresh truffles aren't very pungent. In fact, they're a little more earthy. I won't be able to tell, you know. Right now it just kind of smells like the rain and the soil. Oh! Oh! After a while, the dogs start to lose focus and are content with laying down in the shade. So we return to the house to wash the truffles and prepare dinner. Structure? And now that's easy to break. Yeah, you can... We start the meal with simple bites using the Proton preserved products. So the first one you left is our spread or product. It's white truffles and porcini mushrooms. Then the next one. It's a black truffle pesto or tartufata. I mix it with cream cheese. One spoon of tartufata and cream cheese and then this spread is made. Next, Viznia's mother is ready to prepare us a freakishly good truffle oil. We fry the burnt. A little butter here. A lot of truffle there. That's a lot of truffle sauce. And a few farm fresh eggs. Some stirring with a little bit of love. And voila! Some truffle cheese and truffles on top. Also, yeah, from here. It's delicious, but the dessert is what gets Shireen really excited. Vanilla bean ice cream topped with white truffle honey. I smell the truffle in here. At first glance, Shireen looks a little skeptical. So good! Proton tartufi is a great place with beautiful views of Bouzet. We wish you could stay here all night, but there's so much more ahead for us. In the evening, we're invited to the Vinistre Gala dinner. Steven Spur is the guest of honor, and he's brought the wine from his own vineyards. The Bride Valley Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine. It's sharp and delicious. We manage to tip back a few glasses before dinner starts. Then the dishes start rolling out. When in Istria, the cuisine seems eerily similar to Italian food. Regardless, it's probably the best and most creative cuisine in Croatia. They're all good, but it's the sweet wine that steals the show. Ben Veruti's another stellar producer in this vintage of their San Salvatore sweet muscat is a knockout. It's been a long day. After all the formalities, it's time for bed. Our time in Istria is running out. In the next episode, we go spearfishing in the Adriatic Sea. Eat at one of the most famous restaurants in Istria. Introduce the wine grape Tehran. And of course, visit a few wineries including one of the largest wineries in Croatia. A minimal intervention winemaker, a producer that makes macerated amphora mauvasia and what is allegedly the oldest sparkling wine producer in the country. If you would like to learn more about Croatia and Croatian wine, keep a lookout for our next episode and check out our book Cracking Croatian Wine.