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Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          The Bibić Family have always been outsiders to some degree. Wine has been in their blood for a long time, but they've never really played by the rules. For instance, when everyone else was selling to the collectives during Yugoslavia, they didn't. When everyone else stopped making wine in Skradin because of war, they didn't, making them one of the very few producers in the region currently. And when everyone started spelling their names with a 'ć' instead of 'ch', they named their wines Bibich, instead of Bibić. These may seem like small things to the casual observer, but it was our opinion that they are the points in life and history that defined winemaking for the Bibić family today and specifically for the man at the helm, Alen Bibić.     We had the incredibly good fortune to sit down with him for several hours in his lovely new wine bar and restaurant (actually a joint partnership called, 'Alante'- Alen and his friend Ante) in Skradin for a meal and a taste of his wines.     Skradin is in and of itself a different kind of place. Located near Šibenik, about an hour south of Zadar, although Skradin is near the coast it is a bit inland and has a totally different feel than most coastal towns along Dalmacia. During the times of Yugoslavia it was an ethnically mixed area, comprised of both Croatians and Serbs, so it saw a good deal of strife, conflict, and blood during the war of the 1990's that made Yugoslavia no more. Out of this, in 1995 at the mere age of 22, Alen Bibić picked up winemaking from his grandfather and set about building up the business properly. It wasn't easy going. His first had to clear the fields of mines to start re-growing the vines. Then he has to rebuild the old house and cellar that were his family's. Then, he had to get his wines recognized.     It was the last part that was probably the most difficult, since Croatian wines, until the last five years or so, weren't that highly regarded outside of the country. While many of his compatriots were selling out their stock domestically, Alen wasn't and with good reason: his wines are very different from normal Croatian wines. Once again, the fact that the Bibich family does things differently came in to play. While this could hurt many a winemaker because their wines never get a market, it seemed to only help Alen for in our opinion, his wines take on much more New World characteristics. They're deep, complex, smooth, earthy, and well, just delicious in a way that is different from what is standard Croatian fare. This probably explains why the vast majority of his vintages are exported.     But, enough about the history of the Bibich winery (you can't drink that), let's move on to the wines in Part 2.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          Hrvoj Baković is a tad tricky to find. It's true that he's in one of the biggest towns on Brač, Supetar, but we were on the lookout for a full winery and instead found his home. He was a little surprised by our tenacity (as were we) but he was very welcoming nonetheless, inviting us in for a little chat.     He's quite a character who worked for many years as a sailor in New Zealand to save some money to start his own winery, before returning back to his homeland. Once there, he bought five hectares of land and worked to build up his winery. He started at something of a disadvantage because while his family has a history of growing grapes, they didn't have a history of making wine.     None of this has held back Hrvoj and he has learned a great deal about the climate of Brač in a short time. He knows what grapes work and what don't. He is one of the few wine makers who has tried other grapes only to fall back on Plavac Mali because the grapes can handle the climate the best. Others varietals grow fine for some time and then just dry up suddenly without warning. His vines are on the south side of the island, getting regular sun as well as the sun which reflects off the water, making for a lot of light on his vines. There is another place this happens and that is in the Dingač region on Pelješac. How does this effect the taste? A great deal as we found out.     And this is why Baković was such a surprise to us. For one, we weren't able to taste his wine on the spot and had to take a bottle of Plavac Murvica 2003 with us for later. Once opened, the aromas were fantastic. There was a sweetness to the nose that reminded us of, yes, that's right, Dingač Plavac Mali. But, his Plavac built upon this with nice plum aromas. The body was a lot of fun and lovable. The oak tones were very subtle and the finish was clean. It's a wine that we highly recommend for eating with red meats. There is a touch of dryness to the finish develops in a way that is perfect. It is an astounding example of how good Plavac Mali can be and how a perfect Plavac should taste.     With some Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon vines coming in to production over the next two years, Hrvoj is one to watch and the reason that so many critics in his homeland rave about his wines.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          Dol is a small village tucked away in the deep recesses of a small valley of the island of Brač, which explains the name that merely means 'valley' in Croatian. It's a really lovely village that doesn't seem to see a lot of traffic and because it's not near the beach, the look of the town is 100% authentic with no ugly beach apartments. This also explains why there are only 112 people living in a village that once sported a slightly more bustling 750 souls. It is here, nestled in a 130 year old house and wine cellar that Frane Matulić makes his wines.     He started four years previous and is currently pumping out 27,000 liters of wine a year. This is produced from the one hectare that he cultivates and about 20 more that he buys from. There is a wine growing tradition in his family, which has been additionally tempered with a dose of large business acumen working as the general director for Badel 1892, a massive alcohol producer in Croatia that is based in Zagreb. It was only after working there for 25 years that he decided to somewhat retired and start making wine. Of which, he makes several varietals: Plavac Mali, Pošip, Viver (a red), and Vivera (a white).     We started off tasting his 2005 Plavac Mali barrique. It has a nice earthy nose on top of standard Plavac aromas. There are a bit of moist blackberries that carry though under the top aromas of the nose. While the body is a tad acidic at first, it mellows out a great deal with air. The finish cleans up with some nice round buttery tones. Even still, Frane is something of a perfectionist and says that his 2006 vintage will be even stronger because it actually spent less time in the barrels. We could taste the difference the barrels made when we moved to the 2005 Plavac Mali that hadn't been barrel-aged. The lack of oak in this vintage makes it even more drinkable than the barrique. The body is very light and easygoing. The light berries in the nose come through even easier and as Frane showed us, it is quite splendid when blended with the barrique 50-50.     Frane is very interesting fellow who, despite his business background is right at home amongst the grapes. Given his ability to change and grow with his wines, the vintages in the next few years will undoubtedly be sound examples of the fine wine making tradition on Brač that died out for awhile, yet is coming back to some degree.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          The island of Brač, the third biggest of the 1,184 off the cost of Croatia, and the biggest in the region of Dalmatia, is mostly known for its postcard-perfect beach in the town of Bol. Described by the Croatian Tourist Board brochures as "the most beautiful beach on the Adriatic", the famous Zlatni Rat (Golden Beach in Croatian) owes its fame to its original cone shape and for being one of the very few on the Croatian coast that features sand instead of rocks, pebbles, or the most unfortunate: concrete.     Although currently the economy of Brač is based mostly on beach tourism, historically it has always been famous for its wines, goat cheese, and olive oil (as well as its white stone which, as a side note, it was used to build the White House in DC).     Nowadays the biggest and oldest winery in Brač is PZ Bol, the island's cooperative that now belongs to the Jeruzalem wine company in Zagreb. Founded over a hundred years ago, in 1903, it is located in quite a scenic location right on Bol's harbor overlooking the ships by the shore, just a few minutes away from its famous beaches.     During our brief visit to Bol we didn't get the chance to suntan, but me managed to taste PZ Bol's main wines, their standard quality Plavac Bol and Pošip. They also make table wines made grapes from their cooperants all over Brač's land, but the Plavac is only made of grapes from the Bol and Murvica area.     The Plavac Bol we tasted, from 2004, had the typical aroma of Plavac Mali grapes, but it had a bit stronger nose than others. The body was quite dry with a slight fruitiness to it and a relatively smooth finish.     The Pošip, from 2006 was a pleasant white with a fresh finish to it. The nose had some apricot in it, and the body had a touch of dryness as well as some citrus tones to it.     Overall, it was surprising to find such drinkable wines at very affordable prices in such a touristic location. From the flow of sunbathers that kept leaving the place with piles of bottles, it appears that our opinion was shared.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          The wineries of Sviličić and Roki's are two of the many small producers on Vis along the Wine Route. They are working to grow their production capacity without stunting the quality of their wines. Obviously this is not an easy goal, but they both have long family traditions on the island that should give them a foundation for making this possible.     Starting 10 years ago, Sviličić has been producing from two of his own hectares. Out of this, he produces 10,000 liters a year, of which 70% is white. We first tried his white, the 2006 Vugava. It has a good deal of fruit to the nose. The body sparkles a bit more than other Vugavas that we tried and there is a delicious touch of apple in the body. The finish pulls out very smoothly. From there, we tried his 2006 Plavac. It is a much more dry version of the wine than we're used to. You can even smell the dryness in the nose, as well as some good berry aromas. The finish comes out well enough, but the wine overall is probably best for real Plavac aficionados.     A bit down the road is Roki's, which is a winery and restaurant combination. We talked to the owner's wife, Valerie who is an expat from Australia that has lived on Vis with her Croatian husband since 1976. The house where they are making their wine is about 100 years old and the family has been producing wine at varying levels this entire time. They produce from their own four hectares of wine as well as buy grapes from their neighbors.     They make several different wines including a Plavac, a table level red, and Vugava. We only tasted the white Vugava 2006 and found it to have a light, quiet, fruity nose. The body had some rather enjoyable honey tones to it and it all cleaned up in to a crisp finish.     These two wine makers are indicative of many on the island of Vis. After decades of geographic and military isolation, they are all starting to grow and produce more. You can taste it in a flight of different years that they're having to understand their land again after the vines declined for years. With large-scale planting of Plavac Mali and other grapes on the island, they will undoubtedly be producing some signature reds in the years to come.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          PZ Podšpilje is one of those anomalies from the former Communist period in Former Yugoslavia. Despite being a central collective for the grapes in this area of Vis since 1924, it was never actually a state-owned collective like others that we've visited. Even though is was free from Communist oversight, it still maintains the rather heavy Socialist look to the building that makes it none too welcoming, although the people who work there are very friendly and were happy to see us. This is not surprising given the almost complete isolation that Vis lived under for decades.     Showing us around and giving an introduction to the wines was Roki Srećko, the general manager. He also happened to be the enolog, which gave him a bit more character than the standard managers that we have often talked to. While they produce 300,000 liters a year from the 60 hectares that they source from, he only has about six people to manage all of this. We quickly got down to the business of wine and tasted their offerings.     First was the 2005 Plavac. It's quite a light wine and has slight berry aromas to the nose. The body is rather dry and typical of a standard Plavac that way, but even still the wine carries a great deal of freshness to it that is pleasing. Form there, we moved to the 2006 Plavac, which was less dry and had more fruit. The body was a bit more meaty and had a smoother finish. These two growing years were rather similar, so a good deal of these differences were probably from one wine being younger and the 2006 will probably shift more to the 2005 characteristics with time.     We also tried their 2005 white called, Vugava. The nose is best described as wooden. Despite this, the body is light and easy to drink. As the wine gets more air in it, a soft, fuzzy fruit develops in to the nose that then grows in the body as well. All of this cleans up with a nice clean finish.     Their strongest wines were definitely the Plavacs and given that about 80% of their production is based in that, we think they're on track to produce some good wines that more people will know about in time.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          Only 8 miles to the Southwest of Hvar, lies another island with an even longer wine-making tradition than the former: Vis. The furthest inhabited island from the coast, Vis was founded in the year 4 BC and for nearly all that time, it had been producing wine. Already in the year 28 AD some Greek poet praised the wine from Vis (which at the time was known as Issa) for being far better than that of the other islands.     Nowadays, Vis' wines lag behind those of neighboring Hvar due to their less advanced technology and lack of economic development on the island. During World War II, Vis, because of its strategic importance, at one point became the main hideout for Josip Broz Tito and the partisans (the Yugoslav resistance movement) and after the war the Yugoslav Army continued to use it as one of its main naval bases. For that reason, until 1989 Vis was closed to all visitors and tourists, and all its economy revolved around keeping up the military. During that time many of its inhabitants left the island, and the wine making industry dramatically dropped (on a side note, quite a few fishermen from Vis island ended up in Southern California).     After almost 50 years of isolation, now Vis' economy has finally started to recover and tourism is slowly developing on the island. At the same time, new wineries have started on the island, based on family tradition, and old ones have been bolstered and renovated. Moreover, they have printed Vis Wine Route (Vinski Puti in Croatian) brochures and have put up road signs indicating where each winery is.     While Vis' main points of interest for visitors are its two coastal towns, Vis and Komiža, the development of the Wine Route gives the opportunity to discover the quiet villages in the interior and to learn more about the centuries old wine making tradition in the island. And although its wineries need some further investments and technical development, they are definitely interesting to visit.          By the way, if you are interested in other wine routes, check out the one in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          As is usually the case in a small place, everyone seems to know everyone and this was perfectly illustrated when we were tasting at Svirče and they realized we hadn't met with Ivo Carić, another local wine maker on Hvar. Despite the fact he is technically the competition, they called him up and told him to stop by with some of his wines to for us to taste. Just a bit later, in the door walks this large man, dwarfing the bottles he carried (no, that's not a split he's holding up in the photo, it's a full 750ml) who, like most wine makers was delightful to talk to.     Ivo started making wine as a full enterprise in 1993. Like most who started in the nineties, he was born of a long family tradition of wine making that stretches back five or six generations. He is something of a small producer making 50,000 liters a year. The grapes that go in to the production come from four hectares of his own and grapes he purchases from his neighbors. He makes two different Plavac wines (or Plovac in the Hvarski dialect) as well as a Rosé, Bogdanuša, a white blend called Cesarica, and then 'stolno' level red that he sells in bulk.     Ivo's 2004 Plovac Ploški is a wine that starts out rather light in the nose, but opens up very quickly. The body is buttery and very well tempered with good, round qualities that carry in to the finish and even give a touch of cherry in there which is fun. In contrast, the 2004 Plovac Ploški Barrique takes all of these flavors and puts a nice, spicy oak in to the nose. The body is even smoother than the non-barrique and the wine is incredibly well-balanced. It makes for some really good drinking and is one of the smoothest finishes to a Plavac Mali that we've found.     While just a quick taste and conversation, it was great to see what one simple phone call could do!

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          We visited two wine makers in the town of Jelsa on Hvar: Tomić and Duboković. While there are some similarities in the end result that you taste, the wine makers couldn't be more different. The difference really comes down to personal style.     Tomić is a bit, well, blustery. The picture at the top of this article is one of the main ones that adorns the wall in his tasting room in Jelsa and is a theme echoed throughout his wines. For instance there is a side profile of his face on his bottles. He calls his tasting room a "wine studio" for some reason. In person he has a demeanor that is hard to crack, although friends of his that we met, say that is just a first impression, so we'll give him the benefit of a doubt on that.     But, egoism aside, how do his wines stack up? Well, they're good. They weren't our favorite on the island mainly due to how light the body is. For instance, the nose on the 2006 Pošip is very pleasant with a hint of summer melon and apricot to it, but the body doesn't follow through as strongly and is much more citric. His Plavac 2006 has a very soft nose, which is very light and while it is pleasing to drink and a bit of a departure from the rest of the Plavac grown on the island, it is not all that fulfilling.     Tomić's more high-end wines like the Sveti Klement, Sveti Klement Reserve, and the Plavac Mali barrique are all tasty, yet very dry and lacking plush tones that we have come to expect in a good Plavac. The Sveti Klement will deserve another taste though as they're grown on Paklenici Otoci (The Devil's Islands) just off the coast of Hvar Grad. This is a much different growing area than the typical one on the south side of the island, so it will be interesting to see how these wines progress with time.     So, compared to Tomić, Duboković is something of the polar opposite. We would have never even found his cellar if it weren't for the owner of the pension we were staying at leading us there himself. The labels are very subtle and quite pleasing and there is a calmness to his cellar which we enjoyed.     But once again, the proof is in the vino, so how did they taste?     Their 2005 Rosé offered a sweet flowery nose. The body wasn't overly sweet and pulls out in to a decent finish. Overall, the wine could nearly pass for a good white, rather than a rosé due to this very different qualities to it that make it very pleasant for everyday drinking.     Their 2005 '2718' (Plavac Mali) had great herbs and tobacco on the nose. The body was very dry, but that pulled everything together very well. There was just a slight bit of fruit to it and a good finish that, much like the rosé and all of their wines made it wonderful drinking.          So, when you compare these two, what is the end result? We think that the wines are really quite similar. They're both good examples of what you can get out of Hvar. Given the very light textures to Tomić, we would have to say that we preferred Duboković just a bit more due to our tastes.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe          We have visited many of the formerly state-owned, large cooperatives that were remnants of the Communist area until they were sold off in to private hands. Our treatment has ranged from pleasant to here's our boot and there's the door. Svirče on Hvar has changed all this, because despite the fact they are a big producer (700,000 to one million bottles a year), they were very inviting and were great people to sit and talk about the wine production on this very touristic island.     These guys are the biggest producer on Hvar and if you're a grower there and not selling your grapes to Plenković, Tomić, or Plančić, then you're most likely selling to Svirče. Even though they could let this go to their head, they don't and they know how to make some really good wines, which naturally, we had a good taste of. Actually, it was a great taste of nearly everything they produce, which we'll sum up with some of the shining examples showing that big wine making can make great wines.     Their 2005 Plavac Hvar is a light wine at 12.2% alcohol that has quite a light nose. Despite the $6 price tag, it's a nice wine that's easy to drink through to the finish. While nothing about it really rallies any cheers, it worked as a great lead in to the Plavac Barrique 2001, which is just slightly more expensive at $9, but is much more complex. There is more spice and a touch of tasty leather to the nose. The body is dry and smooth, maybe with a little smoked ham as an undertone. The overall texture is very buttery, but when it comes to the finish, the dryness comes out.     Despite the dominance of Korčula in Pošip production, the folks at Svirče make one that is grown from the grapes on Hvar. It's good with a stronger nose than standard Korčula Pošip. There is also a taste of raspberry to it, which was surprising and as it opens up more, a little bit of pear comes in to the picture.     One of the last wines we tasted was the 2003 Ivan Dolac Exclusive EKO. It's almost cruel to talk about the wine because it is amazing and because of that, intertwined with limited production, naturally almost impossible to find. It has rich oak and tobacco on the nose. Due to the amount of sun the grapes get, there is higher sugar which translates in to a body that is dry, but full of meat. There are subtle berry tones in to the finish and it is flat-out amazing.     We would like to thank the Svirče people for not only changing our perception of former cooperatives, but also sharing some outstanding wines with us.

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