Croatian Wine at Joe Biden Inauguration is an Opportunity Croatia to show craft skill set

Degarra winery and the service team is glad to experience such an event hosted with Croatian wine. This shows again, that Croatian craft skills and wine making is appreciated and found its way even to the U.S. presidential inauguration.

A beneficial event to the country’s small wine industry

POTOMJE, Croatia, Jan 17 (Reuters) – A Croatian red wine will be among the wines served at the events on the Inauguration Day this week in Washington. The winery that produced the wine says: „We hope that the moment in the presidential spotlight, is also a boon to the country’s small wine industry“.

The wine, which sells for about $60-70 per bottle in the United States, is from the Benmosche Family Winery, which produces some 4,000 to 5,000 bottles of Zinfandel and Dingac a year.

Boris Mrgudic, Director of the Benmosche Family Winery, did not have any details about which particular lunch or dinner the wine would be served at during Wednesday’s Inauguration Day, when Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as president.

President-elect, Joe Biden, and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, are due to be sworn in on the steps of the Capitol on the 20th of January. The inauguration ceremony will be slightly more modest due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the ceremony will also be available to view virtually. After a tumultuous end to Donald Trump’s presidency, which saw violent demonstrations at the same sight of the upcoming inauguration, Joe Biden is hoping for a calmer period.

Long tradition of wine making

The Mrgudic family has been involved in wine production for 12 generations and went into business with late U.S. insurance executive Robert Benmosche, a great wine lover, after meeting him in the early 2000s.

The following shows building a new vineyard of Degarra Wine Zadar – This is during the planting of the vines for the POŠIP March 2019.

The new American President and his team will enjoy a touch of Croatia, when the wines from the Pelješac peninsular vineyards are served. The Croatian wine which ‚connects‘ both sides on the Atlantic, for although the vineyards are based in Croatia they are owned by an American family. At Joe Biden’s inauguration the wines Dingač and Zinfande from the Benmosche Family Winery are served. Truly a great promotion for Croatian wines, and indeed the Pelješac wines, as the whole event will be covered of all world’s media.

Passion for Croatian wine made this happen

So how did wines from Croatia end up on the table of the President’s inauguration? The vineyards in question were started by Robert H. Benmosche, the former head of the world’s largest insurance group, AIG, and a former advisor to President Barack Obama. Benmosche, who was a passionate lover of Dalmatian wines, planted the vines in 2006 on the terraced slopes of Dingač. After Benmosche passed away in 2015, but his family continued working on the vineyards. The wine making on Pelješac continued under the watchful eye of the famous winemaker, Marija Mrgudić, who Benmosche refered to as his “boss” when he arrived in Pelješac. In fact, Benmosche fell in love with the area so much that he bought a luxurious sea-front villa in Dubrovnik.

The winery is located on the hilly slopes of the Peljesac peninsula near the popular tourist destination of Dubrovnik.

“This news will certainly contribute to promotion of the Croatian wines which is very important, as Croatia is a small wine producer and still not very competitive on the global markets,” Mrgudic said.

(Reporting by Antonio Bronic and Igor Ilic Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source References:

Total Croatia News Reuters The Dubrovnik Times