Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe.          The home of the Miljas family was built in 1897 when the great-grandfather of the family began to produce wines in the Konavle Region at the southern-most tip of Croatia. With the invention of Yugoslavia, their winemaking stopped as they had to feed their grapes in to the general collective for wine production and could not produce it themselves. As Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia, they again began to produce, but only to be forced to abandon their homes when the Yugoslav Army rolled in to the area for a lengthy occupation. While their vines didn't immediately suffer any damage, the fact that they couldn't tend to them caused a great deal of harm to the old vines and they were forced to replant nearly all of their vines. Thankfully, they did not have to contend with landmine removal as a great many winemakers in the area of Slavonia did, which greatly sped up the process of replanting. Today, they are growing again and producing good quality wines from the region.     Like most wineries in Konavle, they were very hard to find and are actually in a small village, which as it turns out is two kilometers from one village, four from another, and maybe eight or maybe seven from another. Suffice to say, we ended up circling for a bit before finding the house where they do their production. Located in the floor of the valley that is Konavle, the vines stretch out in all directions from their home. Some are theirs, some are their neighbors, but one trait you see again and again is that these are mostly all young vines. This might be why in their current production of 16,000 a year, 70% white wines as these come across with great fruity flavors, despite the young age of the vines. The Maraština (also called Rukatac in other areas) was very bright with piquant citrus tones to both the nose and the body. In a competition for the region, it had won the gold medal in its class in 2003.     We also tasted the 2005 Plavac that they make which despite being a bit young, they were still enthusiastic about letting us taste. It will need a bit more time in the barrel though, as the nose hasn't fully worked itself out. The body was quite good and the oak had set up well with it. In another six months, it would be interesting to taste the wine to see how it takes to a bit more oak and glass, as it holds a great deal of promise, because the 2004 from the bottle is a very solid, dry example of the wine that makes for a good drink.     Like many places we've been visiting during this trip, it's very encouraging to see an old family business come back to life and start again with what they do best.     

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe.          Čilipi is a small town in Croatia near Dubrovnik and it's not known to many foreigners as being anything other than home to the airport for Dubrovnik. But, just over a hill or two, in a village of Čilipi called, Komaji is the family winery of Crvik.     It's a nice, out of the way setting that is very much off the beaten path and takes some searching to find. There, in a little vale, Crvik grows their two hectares of vines amongst a very forested area that is a sharp contrast to the rugged grey rocks that are a dominant part of the Damatian Coast of Croatia. Like most wineries, they also source grapes from the Konavle region as well to meet their 100,000 liter a year production. All of this is barrel-aged in oak from Slavonia, the top, eastern-most region of Croatia.     Like most wineries in the region, the breakup of Yugoslavia was very tragic for them. They lost all their old vines because they were unable to tend to them and had to replant everything again upon returning home after the war. Thus, all of their wines are from new vines, but that doesn't mean they're lacking in any depth. The Plavac that we tasted had a bit of chocolate to the nose with a strawberry finish. It also wasn't as dry as a typical Plavac. Their two white wines, Maraština (also called Rukatac in other regions) and Malvasija both had great fruit and sweetness to them. The Maraština was bright and crisp, with a hint of grapefruit that led in to a fruity finish. The Malvasija was a quite a bit more fruity and had a deep body, which was to be expected given that it was just a semi-dry wine.     In addition to these, they also have a Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which we unfortunately couldn't taste. But, given the backdrop of having to start from the ground up just 10 years ago, this small group is turning out some good wines.

Over a summer, two travelers drink their way through the wines of Mediterranean Europe.          The Konavle region is at the most southern point of Croatia, even further south than Dubrovnik, bordering Montenegro. Historically, it was the region that produced all of the food for what was the Ragusan Republic and is present-day Dubrovnik. These days, the fields are covered with a great many grapevines and a lot of that feeds in to Dubrovački Podrumi, which is a very large wine producer in Gruda, a small town at the southern end of Konavle.     Upon first glance, the building is anything but welcoming. The concrete construction that echoes the "aesthetic" of Socialist construction is menacing. There is no business name out front and we had to look for the tell-tale signs of new bottles on palettes to know we were in the right place. With some rather awkward Croatian, we talked to a worker who was leaving for lunch and were guided around to the other side of the building where they've built a very pleasant tasting room, but without any signs pointing you there. Upon entering, we could see why the signs were scarce, since it was very apparent that they were set up for large tour buses to come through on scheduled trips. Only two people on a wine tasting quest were something of an anomaly. Regardless, they were very hospitable, found someone in the office who had the best English, and took us in for a tasting.     Dubrovački Podrumi produces a wide range of wines and they let us taste several of them. We first started with their basic table wines. The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon was a light wine at 12.3% alcohol that had subtle fruit tones and licorice flavors that kicked back in to a smooth finish. The 2004 Plavac at 12.5% alcohol was very dry, but had a light, delicate nose that was surprising given the quality level of the wine. These were both below six euros a bottle, so it's easy to see how they're regarded as basic, everyday wines given the price.     Our host then pulled out two of their higher-cost wines that started at 22 euros a bottle. The 2004 Trajectum was very good. The nose had a bit of rose to it which made the body difficult to describe, despite it being made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. A little bit of berry, a touch of mint, and a slight earthiness are the words that came to mind for this wine. Very tasty, but it would be a big departure for the normal Cab drinker, although some might really enjoy that.     The other wine we tasted of this level was the 2004 Merlotina. Straight out of the bottle, it was phenomenal. The nose had great plums tones to it as well as an aroma that, for lack of a better word should be described as delicate cake. Through the body, you could almost taste the earthy stones from which the vines grow. It is comprised of 100% Merlot and is at least on a par if not higher quality than most Merlots we've had in California.