Dalmatia Wine Expo 2016: Three Things I Learned

By Cliff Rames

(Note: I first visited the Dalmatia Wine Expo in Split, Croatia two years ago in 2014. You can read my 2014 “Three Things I Learned” post HERE.)

Drinking wine could be compared to reading a book. Some books, like some wines, serve as mere entertainment, devoid of depth and enjoyed in a moment. Quickly they fade into the past without commemoration or recall.

Great books, though, capture and captivate your imagination. Glued to the page, each word enthralls…every sentence propels you deeper into the folds, eager to know what comes next…how the plot develops…what happens to the characters. The best among them may even influence and affect your life’s journey.

Croatia’s Grgić Winery Heavily Damaged During Pelješac Wildfire

(Photo courtesy http://www.24sata.hr)

Late Monday night, a savage wildfire consumed large swaths of scrub pine, olive and fig trees, and vineyards on the Pelješac peninsula in Dalmatia, one of Croatia’s most renowned wine-growing regions, leaving as many as 600 hectares of rocky landscape–as well as cars and some homes–blackened and charred at the height of the tourist season.

Especially hard hit was the area around the tiny seaside hamlet, Trstenik—home of the world-famous Grgić Vina, a winery founded by legendary—and Croatian-born—Napa Valley winemaker, Mike Grgich of Grgich Hills Estate in Rutherford, CA.

Croatia’s 2014 Dalmacija Wine Expo: Three Things I Learned

By Cliff Rames © 2014

Sensory overload. That is how I would describe any one of my whirlwind visits to Croatia.

I mean it in a positive way. The country is simply brimming with vinous, culinary and natural delights. Gnarly old grapevines improbably clinging to sun baked seaside slopes. Nearly 1,200 islands sprinkled like seashells on the impossibly blue Adriatic. Countless villages and hamlets of seminal charm nestled in coves and on mountainsides. Fresh caught seafood and farm-to-table produce so succulent and cooked to perfection. The warm faces of family, old friends and new acquaintances (and an occasional donkey).  Swoon-worthy views and secret spots where you can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature that – to this New York City boy – are so intimate, pure and wonderful.

Dingač (Photo © Cliff Rames)

And then there is the wine. Indigenous grapes, local producers. Most of it delicious and distinct. So this is what all this beauty… this land…this Croatia tastes like, you may be inspired to declare.

Sunday Snapshot: Postup

Located on the Pelješac peninsula along the Adriatic Sea in Dalmatia, Postup is Croatia’s second oldest geographically protected wine-growing appellation (granted in 1963), lying just northwest of its more famous sister region, Dingač.

Like Dingač, Postup is home to the Plavac Mali grape and produces bold, powerful, sometimes off-dry to slightly sweet wines such as the benchmark Postup Mare from Bura-Mrgudić.

Behold the beauty of this terroir: Postup!

(Photo: Copyright © Cliff Rames)

Sunday Snapshot: The Road to Dingač

Accessible through a dark, single-lane, 400 meter-long  tunnel and curvy, mountain-hugging road (in photo), Dingač is Croatia’s oldest geographically protected wine-growing appellation – since 1961.

(Photo: Copyright © Cliff Rames)

On the steep, southwest-facing slopes on the Pelješac peninsula, Plavac Mali grapes ripen in the blazing sun and are usually harvested between late September and early October.

Wines labeled “Dingač” may only be made from Plavac Mali grapes grown on these slopes along the Adriatic Sea. They are bold, dark wines with expressions of sun baked black fruit, cherries, dried fig and cranberries, roasted Mediterranean herb, coffee, and sometimes salty minerality.

Leading producers of Dingač wines are Bartulović, Bura, Kiridžija, Madirazza, Matuško, Miličić, Radović, Saints Hills, Skaramuča, and Vinarija Dingač.

Borak is one of two villages on the Pelješac peninsula near Dingač. The other is Potomje.