Dalmatia is a modern-day paradise, perched alongside Croatian’s Adriatic coast. Vacationers the world over flock to its crystal blue waters and enchanting historic cities from Dubrovnik to Cut up and Zadar on the area’s northern restrict, their crimson roofs basking within the solar.
Dalmatia’s coast and plentiful islands have lengthy harboured a wine tradition constructed on indigenous grape varieties which might be powerful to say and spell owing to their Slavic roots and considerable consonants.
The flagship wine for Dalmatia has lengthy been Plavac Mali, a hearty crimson selection recognized for its greater alcohols and ample tannins. However because the area turns into a summertime playground for vacationers and critical wine drinkers starting to discover Dalmatia’s myriad varieties, a lighter, more energizing fashion is being sought in crimson and white wines.
I not too long ago visited the area twice after a 10-year hiatus and was taken by the wines being produced right this moment and the recent, youthful power driving a wine renaissance.
Scroll down for the tasting notes and scores from a few of Dalmatia’s rising stars
The traditional stone partitions at Bucavac, a UNESCO heritage website, date to the traditional Greeks. Right here, solely the indigenous grape Babić grows. Credit score: Clive Pursehouse
The California connection
Whereas the youthful US wine business is extra established than Croatia’s, the coastal area of Dalmatia has been intimately linked to California. Zinfandel, the variability which launched California’s effective wine increase within the late nineteenth century, is genetically similar to the indigenous grape from Dalmatia.
Recognized regionally by two names, Crljenak Kaštelanski and Tribidrag. The Dalmatian area of Kaštela and its rocky soils have been confirmed as the unique house of Zinfandel in a genetic evaluation by UC Davis scientist Carole Meredith performed within the Nineteen Nineties.
The discovering has reinvigorated native curiosity within the selection that had lengthy given floor to the extra regionally common and simpler to domesticate, Plavac Mali. Varietal Tribidrag and Crljenak have seen plantings enhance within the final 10 years.
Along with California’s effective wine origins having deep Dalmatian roots, one of the vital traditionally vital American winemakers additionally comes from the Dalmatian coast.
Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich was born within the hillside village of Desne, above the Neretva River, in April 1923. He would flee (what was then) Yugoslavia through Germany and Canada earlier than making his approach to the Napa Valley in 1958.
There, he would craft maybe a very powerful wine in American historical past. At Chateau Montelena, in 1973, Grgich made the white wine that gained the 1976 Judgement of Paris, besting the most effective white Burgundies within the competitors and shaking the world of wine to its core.
His Chardonnay confirmed that America might produce wine in addition to wherever on the earth.
A stylistic shift
The variability most related to Dalmatia is the massive, boisterous crimson wine from the long-heralded Plavac Mali. Hearty and a tad rustic, Plavac Mali is excessive in alcohol and tannin.
It has lengthy been the first driver for the area’s effective wine business and is chargeable for the effective wine world being attentive to Dalmatia.
The area’s signature wine, it may definitely develop magnificence with age however stays a strong wine that stylistically is a little bit of a throwback to the times of excessive scores correlating to huge fruit and opulence with very low acidity, making stability a problem.
One of the best examples present refinement and ageability, making a case for Plavac Mali made in a extra elegant, basic fashion.
And as Dalmatia’s winemakers evolve their method, they’re embracing white and crimson wines which might be lighter, more energizing, and extra in vogue.
Leaning into the historic indigenous grapes and exploring worldwide varieties, a choose group of Dalmatian producers are elevating the bar in Dalmatia, making recent, fascinating wines.
Dalmatian producers on the rise:
Winemaker Ante Sladić amongst his younger vines. Credit score: Clive Pursehouse
Ante Sladić
Within the tiny village of Plastovo, among the most enjoyable wines in Croatia are being made. Simply across the nook from the famend pure wine producer Bibich sits Ante Sladić, an thrilling Dalmatian vineyard that leans on generations of wine rising and winemaking custom.
Winemaker Ante Sladič embraces more energizing takes on indigenous grapes like Maraština, Debit, Plavina and a wonderful selection that solely grows within the hills exterior of Skradin close to the Krka River, Lasina.
As crimson wines in Dalmatia go, Lasina is an outlier. Its vibrant acidity and savoury, red-fruited character make it a standout, evocative of Pinot Noir or maybe Gamay. The cool evenings of the realm surrounding the Krka River protect Lasina’s brightness.
It’s a troublesome grape to farm and to make wine from, owing to its vigorous canopies, uniquely excessive acidity and decrease ranges of sugar accumulation. Properly well worth the effort, it’s a wine of purity and precision, without delay delicate and vibrant.
Lasina is a uncommon selection that solely grows in a 50-kilometre radius across the hills of Skradin; nonetheless, it could level in direction of the way forward for Dalmatian wines when it comes to fashion, light-bodied and decrease in alcohol, a particular chillable crimson for these sizzling Dalmatian summer season days.
Degarra
The Degarra vineyard, a translation of vin de storage, is in Zadar County, the far northern coast of Dalmatia. It’s a partnership between Mate Pestić and Dane Šulentić, together with Dane’s spouse Dragana, the winemaker.
The partnership got here collectively as Mate Pestić inherited a household winery from his grandfather, and serendipity introduced Dane and Dragana Šulentić into his orbit. They make wine in an previous Yugoslavian navy depot, which apparently previously saved every part from landmines to trombones.
Degarra produces wines from native varieties in addition to worldwide grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot. Whereas these wines are wildly common regionally, their therapy of the indigenous selection Maraština is a standout from all of the Dalmatian wines I’ve tasted.
They’re critical about ageability, which stands out as the key to unlocking the nice potential of Dalmatian wine.
The Neretva River delta. Credit score: Eliza Dumais
Prović
South in direction of the Pelješac Peninsula, the Neretva River flows from its headwaters within the Dinaric Alps by means of Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier than passing by means of Croatia to the Adriatic Sea.
Within the decrease Neretva delta, the property vines of the Prović vineyard are cultivated close to the city of Opuzen. Right here, the vines are planted in soils reclaimed from the river delta, sea shells embedded within the fertile soils.
Now in its second era, younger winemaker Vjeko and his sister Monika Prović lead the household enterprise.
Wanting down on Opuzen from the foothills of the Dinaric Alps sits the small village of Desne. The birthplace of Mike Grgich, one of the vital crucial figures in Croatian and American wine.
Grigch opened his Croatian vineyard in 1996, Grgić Vina, inspiring a revolution in effective wine right here. Spurred on by Mike’s landmark American wine from Chateau Montelena, they’ve planted Chardonnay, the primary within the southern reaches of Dalmatia, amidst greater than 100 indigenous varieties.
A saline minerality and sterling acidity mark their excellent white wines. It’s a throughline throughout the vary from the indigenous Zlatarica to the celebratory Chardonnay, which shines alongside the wealthy river gastronomy of frog and eel, distinctive to the area.
A view of Komarna from the Rizman winery. Credit score: Clive Pursehouse
Rizman
Rizman has a protracted historical past in Dalmatian wine. The present winemaker and proprietor, Damir Štimac, can hint his household’s roots in wine to the early twentieth century; his great-grandfather, Mihovil Mijo Popich, made wine within the city of Opuzen and was recognized by the nickname Rizman.
At this time, the vineyard and tasting room sits atop the hill in Komarna, a area they based. Looking on the bridge to the Pelješac Peninsula, the views are breathtaking. They started planting 22 hectares of winery in 2008, together with over 1,700 olive bushes.
The area is fully natural, and the Štimac household is dedicated to indigenous varieties. Plavac Mali and Pošip comprise 90% of their plantings, with Tribidrag (Zinfandel) making up the rest.
Whereas it’s a sizzling area, the wines retain nice stress and acidity; Damir credit the wind and chilly nights excessive on the uncovered slopes above the Adriatic Sea.
The Plavac Mali bottlings from Rizman, notably their Primus, present a refined and basic character to the variability that’s few and much between.
Korta Katarina
Staring out on the Adriatic, Korta Katarina sits on the Pelješac Peninsula. Perched alongside the highway, simply earlier than the city of Orebić, the place one takes the ferry to the island of Korčula. Korta Katarina was based by an American couple, Lee and Penny Anderson, who bought the property after serving to rebuild Croatia after the conflict.
Along with a winery planted utterly to Plavac Mali and their vineyard, Korta Katarina operates a luxurious villa on the property.
Usually, when wines are hooked up to a bigger resort property, they’re seen as an adjunct; at Korta Katarina, they’re the main target. Over time, they’ve developed a status for crafting among the best Plavac Mali in all of Dalmatia.
They supply fruit for his or her high wines from each Postup, the place the property vineyards sit, and close by Dingač, each on the Pelješac peninsula. These two areas are thought-about Dalmatia’s high appellations with protected designations that date to the Nineteen Sixties and Yugoslavia, planted completely to Plavac Mali.
Winemaker Ante Cibilić is likely one of the younger names elevating the profile and modernising the types of Dalmatia’s indigenous wines. Crafting age worthy wines that present nuance and a way of place.
Korta Katarina’s Ante Cibilić. Credit score: Clive Pursehouse
Dalmatia rising: 15 wines from the area’s high producers
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