Breakfast in Croatia

I am a fan of breakfast. I think it is the most important meal of the day. Zdravco Pozgag–our driver–disagrees. He is a fan of lunch. He thinks breakfast is smoking a cigarette and drinking two or three coffees. I think his lunch is his breakfast. We spend a lot of time driving up and down the wine roads of Slavonia talking about breakfast.

When we arrived at the hotel in Zagreb, I went to sleep with the lights on wondering what kinds of things people in Croatia ate for breakfast. But when I woke up, and joined the rest of the team in the 4 star dining room, I discovered that Croatian breakfast (in this hotel at least) is food from everywhere in the world. The buffet table groaned under the weight of cereals, nuts, teas, coffees and a dozen types of cooked breakfasts. In the end I plumped for a bowl of tinned fruits, an American omelette, a pancake and a glass of orange juice. I took a bite of the omelette. It was not good. Still feeling hungry, I joined the others outside, by the van.  Zdravco was just finishing his cigarette. I wondered what they tasted of.

At Zdjelarevic Wine Hotel, lunch was pork in mushroom sauce, after which we walked through the hotel’s vineyards with Davor Zdjelarevic’s wife, Visnja. Like many wineries in Slavonia, Zdjelarevic grows a wide variety of grapes–Sauvignon Blanc, Grasevina, Chardonnay, Rhine Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Pinot Noir–and is developing a line called Klink. Klink’s front labels are bright, alcopop colours, and the bottles are screw top, the first we have seen. At lunch we had tasted a Sauvignon 2009. It had an electric blue label. It wasn’t a big hitter–light, sweet, fresh, lemony–but it was two o’clock, and it felt the right thing to be drinking. The Klink line is designed to appeal to young drinkers. ‘Only the consumer understands us,’ said Davor. ‘My competitors think we are crazy, but I tell them that young wine drinkers become old wine drinkers. One day they will like the more mature wines because they have learnt about wine by drinking good easy wines.’

Later, Visnja took us down into the cellars, where we tasted a wine from the Nagual line. A 2007 select blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, it is the antithesis of the lunchtime wine: smoky, full-blooded, persistent, it tastes of berries, burnt coffee and vanilla. It will certainly appeal to a different kind of wine drinker. I liked the Zdjelarevic cellars. They smelt of yeast. Tiny fruit flies dive-bombed our glasses. I think I saw sawdust on the floor. For a brief, fantastic moment I thought about what it would be like to have breakfast here. Then Zdravco’s phone went. We had to go to a village called Stara Kapela, where we were due to the stay the night. We were unbelievably late.

‘Eco-ethno’ Stara Kapela is a village waiting to be discovered. With just 16 permanent inhabitants, 14 of whom have retired from the world of work, it could be dying, except that it now markets itself as an eco-tourist destination. And what a destination. Strung along the bottom of a valley, and flanked on both sides by forest, it will soon be able to accommodate up to 30 visitors, who, when they are not beetling up and down the wine roads, or cycling or walking through the hills, could be attending workshops on how, for example, to forge metal, weave traditional skirts or cook local dishes. Everything at Stara Kapela is homemade.

We were met off the van by Antun Tucic, his wife, an interpreter, a woman wearing a traditional costume and a tray of grappa - herb, plum and cherry brandies. Antun is a man who laughs as much as he talks. Dinner was beautiful; a light mushroom soup, followed by deep fried pork rolls with plum brandy sauce. Pudding was battered apple. Thinking about breakfast, I drank moderately and went to bed to read up on wine. The rest of the team stayed up to drink wine.

When I woke up a cock was crowing, ducks were waddling into and out of a stream and Zdravco was smoking a cigarette. I watched the smoke form fleeting shapes against the blue sky. For a moment I thought about joining him. Just for one cigarette, and two or three cups of coffee. But then Antun appeared. He laughed and we followed him into the dining room.

On the table was homemade peach and blackberry jam, a loaf of freshly made bread, a pot of Stara Kapela honey, local butter and two large plates of cold meats – thinly sliced kulen and layers of prsut. Prsut is a sort of prosciutto crudo, which I know, but kulen is a spicy pork sausage particular to Slavonia, smoked and air-dried. Lean, tender and peppery, it was soon gobbled by the team. Add to all this great cups of freshly ground coffee, a pot of herbal tea and one of the lightest, most consistent organic omelettes I have ever had the pleasure of eating, and there, on our last day in Croatia, is the breakfast I had dreamed of. And this is not all; for across the table sat Zdravco Pozgag, expertly building a Kylen, prsut and omelette sandwich. I felt like lighting up.

Zdjelarevic Winery – Vinogradska 65, Brodski Stupnik – t. +385 35 427 775 – e. info@zdjelarevic.hr – www.zdelarevic.hr

Stara Kapela – t. +385 35 384363 - m. +385 98 467878 – e. antuntuci@gmail.com – www.stara-kapela.hr

Croatia Airlines has daily return flights from London Heathrow and Gatwick to Zagreb from £154pp including taxes – t. 020 8563 0022 - www.croatiaairlines.com. More information: Croation National Tourist Office – t. 020 8563 7979 – www.croatia.hr