We Care for Our Vines All Day to Produce Quality Grapes
We thank the financije.hr portal for including and supporting family eco winemakers and their contribution to the green transition of our beautiful country! We have created a healthy working environment for ourselves and hope to provide top quality for our customers. In Međimurje, we were the first to start with ecological viticulture and winemaking, and today we continue our green mission. We talked about our beginnings, challenges, and plans. Below, we also provide translation into English about us and a link to the entire article original in Croatian.
Krešimir’s “office”
Croatian Eco Winemakers: We Care for Our Vines All Day to Produce Quality Grapes
EXPERIENCE, ENTREPRENEUR
April 22, 2024
Goran Jungvirth
In the past century, organic wines were perceived as inferior, especially in Croatia, but this perception is now completely changing. Two families of eco-winemakers for the Financije.hr portal bear witness to this.
Germany, France, and Switzerland were the first in Europe to start with ecological wine production.
The increase in consumer awareness of environmental protection and consumption of natural products has also affected wine enthusiasts. The trend of ecological viticulture is experiencing significant growth worldwide, as evidenced by the list of the highest quality German wines, of which a quarter are organic.
Croatia is also becoming increasingly aware of ecological production, but there is still much room for improvement in production according to European organic standards, so eco-winemakers are still a rare find.
Healthy working environment, top quality for customers
In Međimurje, in Sveti Urban, Štrigova municipality, the Lovrec family has been known for decades for red and white wine, and in recent years also for ecological production, as the first to dedicate themselves to it in the renowned wine region.
“We’ve been involved in viticulture and winemaking for several generations, always in a nature-friendly way. However, in 2015, we decided to engage in ecological production under official supervision to obtain European certification for our grapes, and subsequently for our wines. We believe this is the only correct path that truly guarantees to our consumers that we produce organic wines, thus adding extra value to them. In our vineyards, at least on a micro level, we have created a healthy working environment by caring for biodiversity, healthy soil, air, and water. Perhaps it’s a small step, our somewhat personal ecological mission. People who opt for such ecological wines can enjoy not only top quality but also a truly natural and healthy product,” described co-owner of the family winery Krešimir Lovrec. He runs it together with his sister Jasna, after their father Franjo passed on all his knowledge and experience to them, still preferring to spend his retired life in the vineyard as a music teacher.
For Financije.hr, they also described the greatest challenges in ecological grape and wine production, unlike conventional production with a lot of vineyard spraying.
“It’s not just a cliché that producing eco wine requires a lot of effort. There’s much more manual labor and almost constant presence in the vineyard to obtain healthy raw materials, the key to excellent wine. Working on a family farm is quite complex, so in such production, there’s a lack of need for a larger workforce. Our biggest challenge is time, which always flies by too quickly,” stated Jasna Lovrec, regarding the family production, which can currently be characterized as ’boutique’, exclusive production on 5 hectares of land.
They employ two people in their family farm, and during grape harvesting and pressing, occasional seasonal workers are hired. Some statistics show that ecological production is up to a hundred times more demanding than conventional.
“Our plans are to preserve health, persist in our ecological mission, and not lose hope for a greener tomorrow,” convey from the Lovrec winery, which delivers wine to Zagreb almost every week, catering to a discerning clientele.
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