Croatia

Zinfandel is Croatian. DNA work at the University of California completed in 2001 traced California zinfandel and Italian primitivo to a rare Dalmatian variety called crljenak kaštelanski, now generally referred to by its older name tribidrag. Fewer than two dozen vines were found at the time. Its offspring plavac mali, a crossing with dobričić, is the main red of the Dalmatian coast.

The country splits into a continental north and a Mediterranean coast. Inland Slavonia and the Croatian Uplands grow graševina, the local name for welschriesling, along with riesling and pinot. Istria, at the head of the Adriatic, makes malvazija istarska, a textured dry white, and teran. Dalmatia and its islands grow plavac mali on slopes so steep that the Dingač and Postup sites on the Pelješac peninsula are worked by hand above the sea.

Pošip and grk from Korčula are the coastal whites worth seeking. Volume is small, domestic demand is strong and tourism absorbs much of the rest, so Croatian wine is rarely cheap for what it is.