Every year Istrian wine cellars play their part in the Wine Day which is celebrated on the last Sunday in May in many regions of the world. So on that day, together with thousands of wine cellars across the world, those in Istria are also opening their doors to inquisitive visitors, to connoisseurs of fine wine and to those who are yet to become wine lovers.

On the Open wine cellar day guests are invited to visit modern wineries, wine tasting rooms and family-owned farms where hospitable hosts await them. This is not only a great opportunity for wine tasting and having pleasant conversations about wine with the host but also a chance to buy a bottle of superior-quality wine. Top Istrian wines are achievements from the period of the last fifteen years of intensive development of winemaking and viticulture in Istria.

The Wine Day project was initially launched in the Italian region of Tuscany in the mid-1990s as a new way of promoting wine in tourism purposes. During the first years it spread all over Italy, and crossed its borders in 1998. That year on the last Sunday in May, the doors opened of the cellars in several regions in the USA, South African Republic, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Istria joined the project as early as 1999 and the first time the event was held some 800 guests visited 37 winemakers. Today, Open wine cellar day has developed into an eagerly awaited one-day festival of wine culture in Istria.