Again this year, Istria Tourist Board in collaboration with the Istrian County Administrative Department for Tourism and Vinistra - the association of winemakers and winegrowers of Istria organize the ''Open Wine Cellar Day'' manifestation which has been traditionally held on the last Sunday in May. So that on Sunday, 30 May, from 10 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., more than 80 renowned winemakers all over Istria are opening their wine cellars' doors to the visitors thus marking the World's Wine Day which plays an important role in promoting wine culture and creating Istria's image as a recognizable wine destination.

During the ''Open Wine Cellar Day'' wine lovers, as well as those who will become ones, will have the possibility to taste the best Istrian wines and find out the way winemakers make top quality and world renowned wines by combining the traditional and modern way of growing grape vines.

For twelve years in a row Istria has been marking Wine Day in this way, and it all began in Italy in 1993 when the association named Movimento per il turismo del vino (Wine Tourism Movement) from Tuscany presented this initiative because nobody influential in wine tourism hadn't recognized its tremendous potential. Apart from rare exceptions, most of the wine cellars in Italy were available to guests. Already in the first year, when around one hundred mostly Tuscan winemakers applied, most of them talked into it by friends, a great number of people visited the wine cellars. 

The following year more than 500 winemakers from 14 Italian regions were included into the project and some 150.000 thousand wine lovers visited the wine cellars. The biggest number of winemakers who opened their wine cellars were from Tuscany, then the regions of 
Friuli - Venezia Giulia and Trentino - Alto Adige which attracted almost a third of the visitors. When more than 600 wine cellars all over Italy opened their doors, the project became a national one, and in 1998 the Californian Sonoma Valley joined the project, as well as the Suntory company from Japan, the Yamanashi province situated east from Tokyo, the Australian Conarwarr, Stellenbosch in the South African Republic, Mendoza in Argentina and some regions in Chile and Uruguay. 

On 1999 Wine Day, more than a thousand wine cellars all over the world opened their doors
to visitors, among them for the first time those from Goriška Brda and Istria. 37 Istrian wine cellars were visited by some 800 wine lovers, while the last year's Wine Day in Istria attracted around 12.000 visitors.

The list of included vintners is available here: FLYER WINE DAY 2010

Istrian County Administrative Department ofTourism