Croats in the World

CROATIAN WINE ON AMERICAN MARKET 

The story of Miljenko Grgic is both an embodiment of the American dream and a tale of the best Croatian wine-maker of all times. He left for America in 1954 with only 32 dollars in his pocket, while in 1976 his Chardonnay beat all competitors in contests between American and French wines at the celebration of America's bicentennial. He enjoyed the greatest success in Chicago, where the Grgich Hills Chardonnay Sonoma from 1977 won first prize in competition against 221 Chardonnays from all over the world. "I am really a wine sitter ? not a wine maker," he explained to the press. He does not make wines; he nurses and grows them. He passed his philosophy on to two 25 year-olds, Bruno Market and Krešo Vuckovic, who manage his winery in Trstenik. Under Grgic's supervision, 30,000 to 40,000 bottles of his superb (white) Pošip and (red) Plavac mali are produced in the winery every year. Two thirds of Grgic's wines are shipped to the American market, whereas only one third is sold on the domestic market. Negotiations with British, Dutch and Slovenian representatives are underway. However, new markets will not increase production, rather the redistribution will be done at the expense of the American market. The price of Pošip and Plavac mali is HRK 100 kuna in the winery and HRK 240 in Croatian restaurants. They would like to sell more, they say, but Grgic's business strategy is that the shipped wine should be paid for without delay, and shipped only to those wine dealers who have the proper conditions for its storage. Bruno Market explained why Grgic started wine production in Croatia. "The Croatian wines were, until recently, sold at very low prices on the American market: 5 to 6 dollars per bottle. Grgic resented that, because he knew well that our wines have a high quality. Thanks to his image, the export price of our wines reached 10 dollars for Pošip and 13 for Plavac mali. The retail prices are 20 to 25 dollars. In this way he helps all winegrowers of this area, because Pošip and Plavac can have the image of high quality even if there is no Grgic name on them. Finally, we decided to make autochthonous wines, because the world market is flooded with Chardonnays, so in order to find the right one, you have to know exactly what you are looking for or look for a long time."

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