The Sibon sparkling wine is made from Pušipel (Šipon) and got its name according to a legend about a French soldier in times of Napoleon who tasted this wine and said: c’est bon (it’s good). Thus, the name Šipon came to be, and Sibon is a variation of it.
The Sibon sparkling wine was tasted on a presentation held by the Zagreb’s company Vivat Fina Vina. Production in the Međimurje’s wine cellar DGA lead Gordan Horvat (economist) and Alen Švenda (lawyer), son of a famous singer Mirko Švenda Žiga who plays with his band Bandisti for decades on Zagreb’s scene. We have tried brut and extra brut sparkling wines. On most prestigious wine awards at London’s Decanter this year Sibon brut 2015 got silver award.
Guys from Međimurje brought with themselves complete equipment for making sparkling wine. One could degorge, and fill with expeditionist liqueur to have brut or extra brut style. Then, on a bottle under pressure, a plunger plug is attached to a special device by a wire and decorated with a foil. In the end labels are put in front and at back of a bottle with “made by” mark where you can sign your name as a proof this bottle was done by you! The DGA winery produces 10,000 sparkling wine a year. With market placement they have no problem. Sibon is also popular in the homeland of the sparkling wines in northern Italy. The vineyards and wineries are located in Banfi near Štrigova, and the business went to the hobby in 2011 with 1800 bottles.
For the next year, in honour of marking the 115th anniversary of the founding of the Međimurje factory of champagne "Strahija i druzoni" they created a special sparkling wine Animo, as the old predecessor, and filled 115 bottles. In the Technical Museum in Zagreb, the original machines from this factory are preserved.