Croatia: Paradox Wine & Cheese Bar

Up until now, we’ve only been concentrating on tasting Croatian beers but when we arrived in Split, we decided to hit a really popular spot called Paradox Wine & Cheese Bar.  Known for its selection of  local wines and cheeses we thought it would be a great way to dabble in some Croatian reds.  Located just outside Diocletian’s Palace, it is a quaint spot with both a covered and uncovered patio area which is great for people watching.  That night it was a bit dark and stormy so there unfortunately, was not much people watching to be had.  However, the wine and cheese was fabulous!  What makes these types of places are the servers – if you have a great server, they are able to choose a great wine and cheese pairing for you.  We all decided to go for a different local wine, mostly made with grapes within the Dalmatian region.  I chose the Crljenak Stafileo Zinfandel.  I always thought the zinfandel grape variety to have its origin in California but in fact, the grape originated in Croatia for which it was brought overseas to California and renamed Zinfandel.  It was a very dark and bold wine. Paired perfectly with the goat, sheep and cow’s milk cheeses that accompanied the cheese platter.  It’s too bad Croatian wines are only starting to emerge.  My friend S, who came on the trip, found the wine she sampled (Milos Plavac), at the LCBO for which the staff were perplexed at why she was looking for it – I guess its not everyday when someone comes in looking for a wine from Croatia 🙂