Movies have Oscars, music has Grammys, and for wine, there is Decanter. Decanter World Wine Awards is the most prestigious award a winemaker can receive, a true testament to their hard work and expertise. 

Decanter 2022 was the 20th edition of this competition. Despite being held for only 20 years, thanks to top wine experts from around the world and their rigorous judging, Decanter is the world's largest, most prestigious and most influential wine competition. Wine tasting is done in several cycles, filtering out only the best wines which can receive either bronze, silver, gold, platinum, or best in the show award. And, as every year, Croatia had a lot of success.

As we already know, Croatia has an abundance of top-quality wine and Decanter 2022 has proved that by awarding Croatian wines with three platinum, 16 gold, 111 silver, and 184 bronze awards. A tremendous achievement for such a small country! Something that is also very important to mention is that the awarded wines came from basically every wine region of Croatia, meaning that in every corner of this beautiful and charming country, you can enjoy premium, Decanter awarded wines!

The highest-rated wines from Croatia are San Salvatore Muškat from Benvenuti winery, Haiku from Šoškić, and Santa Lucia Malvazija from Kozlović winery.

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San Salvatore Muškat

In Kaldir, a charming village with a view of gorgeous Motovun and its surroundings, Benvenuti winery has been making top-quality wines for generations. Since the Greco-Roman times, wine production has been present in Kaldir. Benvenuti family is particularly fond of making wine from historical Istrian vine varieties such as Teran, malvasia and white muscat.

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The San Salvatore Muškat is a dessert wine with a very complex sweet taste and hints of dried apricots, honey, orange jam and wildflowers. The wine has an intense, sweet long-lasting flavor, which can be described as thick but without the weight and is beautifully balanced. This wine can be kept for decades, as it only gets better, so it can be a perfect gift or can be served on very special occasions. Naturally, it will go great with cakes, but it will go even better with aromatic goat cheese. 

You can even book a stay at Villa Benvenuti and explore their wine cellar and beautiful surroundings. And, of course, enjoy excellent wines. You can check it out here 

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Santa Lucia Malvazija

Another platinum award for Istrian wine is a testament to tradition and dedication to winemaking and puts this region deservedly in the prestigious group of the world's best wine regions. 

‍Kozlović is a well-known Istrian family winery going back to 1904. They pride themselves on preserving indigenous Istrian vine varieties, and you can only imagine their joy when one of those varieties receives a platinum award. 

‍Santa Lucia Malvazija comes from a vineyard of the same name. This single vineyard is considered one of the best vineyard sites in Croatia, and the Decanter award has proved that. Only the best-handpicked grapes end up in this wonderful white wine. It has a marvelously complex and well-balanced taste. You can feel a lot of freshness thanks to hints of lemon peel, tropical fruits, dried apricots, chamomile and yellow apples. On the other hand, it is very vibrant and has a long aftertaste. You can pair it with many dishes, but ones that would stand out would be mushroom risotto, fish and pasta with rich sauces.

You can also visit this vinery and book a wine tour that will awaken your taste buds and other senses. 

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We're looking forward to Decanter 2023, where Croatian wines will undoubtedly win even more awards than this year!

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