RPT-Blunt bailout talk? AIG CEO's true passion is wine

(Repeats Sept. 2 story for wider readership)

* AIG's new CEO develops Zinfandel in Croatia

* Was determined not to miss first harvest

* Wants to leave behind a viable business when he dies

By Adam Tanner

VIGANJ, Croatia, Sept 2 (Reuters) - AIG's (AIG.N) new CEO,
Robert Benmosche, has sparked just about as many headlines as
one executive can in the past few weeks -- and all while on
holiday at his villa in Croatia looking over the Adriatic.

He has been unusually outspoken for the head of a major New
York-based corporation that has been bailed out by the U.S.
government.

He recently made waves by saying that New York Attorney
General Andrew Cuomo had acted like a "criminal" and also
ignored concerns about corporate excess by showing a Reuters
reporter around his 12-bathroom villa in Dubrovnik. And his
very presence here has upset some -- as he came to Croatia on
holiday only days after taking the helm at AIG on Aug. 10.

But perhaps the context for some of this can be found in
the passion the 65-year-old American has for his avocation as a
vintner. When he was CEO of the largest U.S. life insurer
MetLife Inc (MET.N), Benmosche dreamed of retiring here and
producing wine from the nation's vineyards.

Benmosche, who first visited Dubrovnik on a corporate
retreat in the 1980s and was charmed by the city and scenery,
spent millions to make that dream come true. He bought and
renovated a massive villa, acquiring vineyards and then after a
year of seeking approvals from U.S. and Croatian authorities
importing 1,500 vines from California to produce the popular
American Zinfandel type of wine. Coming out of retirement to
one of the toughest jobs in corporate America had not been part
of the original plan.

This summer was the first harvest from these vines -- now
multiplied to 6,000 plants -- a harvest Benmosche had no
intention of missing.

"My hope is that the vineyard becomes a source of true,
high-quality wine for this region," Benmosche said last week
during an interview at his Dubrovnik villa.

"Because they are really not there yet. They are just
struggling coming back from the war, they are still struggling
with this whole idea of capitalism. If they become part of the
European Union, their wine making is not going to compete
unless they make a better class of wine. I want to show them."

An apparently solved mystery around the original source of
the popular American Zinfandel type of wine added to the allure
of investing in vineyards on the Peljesac peninsula, halfway
between Croatia's ancient cities of Split and Dubrovnik.

Zinfandel grapes once grew in abundance in Croatia but
virtually disappeared a century ago after being hit by disease.
In California, since the late 19th century fruity Zinfandel
grew in popularity and is now the state's third-most popular
type, according to the Wine Institute, a California trade
group.

In recent years, DNA testing has linked Zinfandel back to a
Croatian grape variety called Crljenak, and Benmosche wanted to
reintroduce Zinfandel grapes.

"I was curious to see what would happen. My original theory
was if it is true, why not see if it grows?" said Benmosche,
who began to dial back from some of his more colorful outbursts
on Tuesday when he said he regretted comments about Cuomo.

"My idea was that if Zinfandel grapes came from Croatia --
they weren't sure then, but they are now -- what I said to
myself was ... when the time came to retire I had stuff going
on here and I would just hit the ground running."

WINE TOURISTS

Experts say that reintroducing Zinfandel wine to Croatia
makes good business sense.

"Zinfandel is an established wine variety with a global
market," said Carole Meredith, a grapewine geneticist whose
2001 DNA tests linked Zinfandel's origins to Croatia.

"The wines from those vines can be labeled Zinfandel and
can compete on the world market, assuming that the quality is
going to be good," she continued. "There is almost no market
for the other Croatian grapes because the names are
unfamiliar."

Another plus is that the Zinfandel name could lure wine
tourists to Croatia, said Meredith, who now runs her own
vineyard in California's Napa Valley, a region north of San
Francisco where such visitors are a significant business.

Benmosche has already created a pilgrimage site on his
five-hectare vineyard of terraced hillside rising from half a
kilometre (three-tenths of a mile) of seafront in Viganj, an
area across the water from the medieval walled island city of
Korcula.

Small steps lead up the side of the hill and rocks surround
three plants that he says are three original Crljenak plants
dating back to the area's cultivation many decades ago.

"They are absolutely original plants, they don't know why
they are alive, they don't know how they survived," Benmosche
said. "It's like a shrine -- we built the steps going up the
shrine and there are the three plants that overlook Korcula.
It's like unbelievable."

Boris Mrgudic, who manages Bemmosche's vineyards in Viganj
and a second area nearby that are used to produce Dingac wines,
says the first Zinfandel harvest in August went well, although
it will take years to show a profit.

"In 10 or 15 years this will be shown as a very good
investment," he said while showing off the vineyard land
Benmosche bought starting in 2006.

Although Benmosche, whose impressive villa is a two hours'
drive to the south in Dubrovnik, clearly enjoys dabbling in the
wine business, he says his ultimate goal is to help his
children after his death.

"This is about leaving something behind that I know is
self-supporting," he said. "I want to make sure that the estate
that I leave behind is not only of value, but is a viable
business."
(Reporting by Adam Tanner, editing by Martin Howell and
Matthew Lewis)