The Kosutic winery from Moslavina, Kopjar and Bolfan from Zagorje, Cmrecnjak, Kocijan and Horvat from Medimurje, and Korak, Lagradi and Sember from Plesivica have hand-picked their wines for the Archival Rieslings of Hilly Croatia workshop on Wednesday, 19 November, at 7 p.m. at Zagreb’s Hotel Capital, Jurisiceva 22. An archival wine must have at least five years of bottle age, and the youngest at the Capital will be from 2019. It will be followed by 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014… and even 2002. Rieslings travel beautifully through time. They change as they go, of course: in youth the floral aromatics give way to fruit, while later come hints of honey, toasted bread, beeswax and mushroom, along with the petrol notes that, when delicate, only add to a wine’s refinement. A good five-year-old Riesling can still be called young, and the very finest are untroubled by 20 years. This masterclass will be a wonderful chance to witness exactly that and to savour those transformations. 
This journey through time with Riesling will be preceded by a tour of three continents with the same variety. Sommelier and wine collector Kresimir Kozic brings, to the Riesling Around the World masterclass, two Rieslings from diametrically opposite ends of Italy. The Planeta Eruzione 1614 Riesling 2022 from the Feudo di Mezzo estate is the first, from the slopes of Etna. The grapes come from volcanic soils at 835 metres above sea level, so minerality is among its most pronounced traits. The Falkenstein Riesling Alte Reben 2021 from the north, from the Alto Adige (Sudtirol) region, is mineral too, and that kind of freshness is the most prized of all. The Leeuwin Estate Art Series Riesling 2024 hails from the Margaret River region in south-western Australia. Pale straw with a greenish tint, it shows pronounced aromas of green apple, lime, quince and musk. The Grosset Springvale Riesling 2023 comes from the Clare Valley in South Australia; it is bone-dry and true to variety on the nose and palate, and is held to be one of the finest in Australia. 
From the USA come Rieslings from both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the vineyards so far apart they might as well be on different continents. The Potter Valley Riesling from California’s Chateau Montelena is from the 2023 vintage, in which the grapes ripened relatively early, leaving sugars and acids perfectly balanced. The Ravines Dry Riesling Finger Lakes 2021, meanwhile, is a dry wine from the Finger Lakes region in New York State, with lively acidity, minerality and notes of green apple, citrus, white flowers and a hint of stone. The Riesling Around the World masterclass begins at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, 19 November. For more details about the Rizling Raj(n)ski festival on 22 November at Hotel Capital and about tickets, read here.
17.11.2025.
