Why the name KUPILEK? A Blackberry (KUPINA) + a medicament (LIJEK/LEK) = KUPILEK Our estate is in a part of Croatia called Hrvatsko Zagorje where we use a word LEK for a Croatian word LIJEK meaning: a medicament. By shortening the noun KUPINA (Croatian for a blackberry) and by adding LEK, we got a name KUPILEK. The name KUPILEK has been well received and acknowledged both in Croatia and outside its borders. Why is your wine not dense/rich/thick, dark and very sweet like the one my grandmother makes? Let us remind ourselves: the blackberry is not a too sweets of a fruit! The richness of a blackberry is in its acids and a great amount of Iron and Vitamin C. A level of naturally occurring sugar in a blackberry is too small to make this wine too sweet. A freshly squeezed blackberry juice is of a red (ruby) color, and not dark black! Due to the fact that blackberries don t have enough of sweetness, many manufacturers (small 1 / 6
scale home-made producers, etc.) add the large amounts of white sugar in the mast. That in respect causes non-controlled alcohol fermentation. The greater amount of that sugar never ferments and the final product is NOT WINE; it is more a liquor of a dark color; too dense and too sweet. Every winemaker s wish, as is ours, is to transfer into a glass a maximum of fruit s natural taste and when we eat the blackberry, we can taste its bitter-sweet flavor. Our KUPILEK wine tastes the same. Why is blackberry wine so strong? Blackberry wine has a specific alcohol level and it enhances blood circulation. When consumed, we feel our temperature rising and cheeks going red in no time. In short, to keep the wine from going bad, an extra protection (conservation) is needed and it s widely known that the best wine protector is alcohol. Please take into account that the recommended daily dosage of KUPILEK wine is approx. 0,5 dcl. per person. This is an extremely small dose of alcohol that we introduce to our body and therefore we are not to be alarmed. When and how much of KUPILEK is recommended to take? A daily dosage of KUPILEK consumption is approx. 0,5 dcl per person. It is best in the 2 / 6
morning before a meal. Many of our buyers can t drink the wine in the morning (not used to it, driving, etc.). To keep benefits of KUPILEK wine at the satisfactory level in the organism, we recommend consuming it in the evening before the sleep or at least after the meal with the compulsory pause of 45 mins between eating and drinking the wine. This is necessary for the absorption if the wine is consumed straight after the meal (when it s the tastiest!), it will quickly leave the organism binding to the food and not being absorbed in the blood stream to consequently improve our blood test. There is no need to consume more than the recommended dose of 0,5 dcl of wine per day. More important is to repeat taking the same dosage for 2-3 months. IMPORTAN IS CONTINUITY, NOT THE DOSE! I am not anemic can I have a greater dose of KUPILEK wine? More and more of our customers are saying that they drink KUPILEK out of pleasure. As we have described in our product section, KUPILEK can be consumed before the meal as an aperitif with spicy food, cheeses, venison, fish, etc. As a desert wine, it is excellent with cakes and other sweets. It can be drunk in a no specified quantities on its own or diluted with a still water. 3 / 6
Does the blackberry syrup have the same effects, as does the wine? The blackberry syrup is heat treated (heated up for the pasteurization), while the wine is produced by a means of natural fermentation in a closed stainless steel cisterns and has preserved all the vitamins and minerals found in a blackberry fruit. It is known that by heating, there is no loss of iron in the food, meaning that the syrup too is a good addition to our nutrition and a supplier of iron to the blood. We would recommend it to those people who, for whatever the reason, do not drink alcohol, and to children. Which way do you protect and nurture your blackberries crop? As previously mentioned, blackberries are grown under the strict ECOlogical regulations. The crop is protected by a removable hail protection net and is irrigated by a drip irrigation system. In protection and cultivation of our crop, we use organic compounds part of which we produce ourselves. Those include i.e. a mixture of nettle and comphrey, horse-tail teas, chilies and potassium soaps, water-glass, etc., while the reminder we buy at the specialized ECO equipment stores. In fertilizing, we use barn compost, grass manure and other organic waste. For the development of our production, we are especially grateful to Mrs. Marija Ševar, Mr. Ivan Pelin, to The First Ecological Station and to The Advisory Services for Organic Agricultural Production in Croatia for their professional and selfless advices regarding the ECO production. 4 / 6
Who controls your products and issues you with the Certificates? An ecological check of our estate is done twice a year by The First Ecological Station Zagreb issuing us with the ECO CERTIFICATE for our products. Blackberry wine analysis is done by The Croatian Centre for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (former Institute for Viniculture) identifying type of wines and issuing us an approval for wine selling and wine stamps confirming the satisfactory quality of wine and its controlled production as per the declaration. What would you state as your main advantage compared to the other blackberry wine producers? 5 / 6
We have been in the business of growing blackberries since 1991. Through years of hard work, we have developed a rich experience in their production and processing. Through professional advices and by learning through trial and error, we are now producing products of a high standard. Taking into account our long presence in the market, we have a large number of customers/buyers of our products that keep returning to us. That way we have managed to close the magic production to sale circle. By following new ECOLOGICAL and ENOLOGICAL ways of production on a daily basis, as well as maintaining high standards of products quality, we have been investing into an increase in the production as one of the main prerequisites for success and survival on the global market. 6 / 6