One of the most popular programs we offer is the private wine tour of Hvar.
The island has become a top destination for almost everyone visiting Croatia and a half day escape from the crowds to the world of traditional scents and tastes is in high demand.
Hvar island is known not only for it’s exceptional beauty but also for great wines – tradition that dates back to the ancient Greek colonizers who first inhabited these shores along with the Illyrians. Stari Grad Plain is a cultural landscape that has remained practically intact since it was first colonized by Ionian Greeks from Paros in the 4th century BC. The original agricultural activity of this fertile plain centering on grapes and olives, has been maintained since Greek times to the present. The site is also a natural reserve. The landscape features ancient stone walls and trims, or small stone shelters, and bears testimony to the ancient geometrical system of land division used by the ancient Greeks, the chora which has remained virtually intact over 24 centuries.
Our wine tour starts either in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on the availability.
The program takes the clients to the wine cellars of Tomic and to Svirce but often, when available, we introduce the visit to Dubokovic wine cellar as well. Andro Tomić was born on the island Hvar and has dedicated his whole life to wines and oenology. After 20 years of professional training, he decided to return to Hvar to produce his own wines. Firmly believing that Hvar, with its authentic varieties, exceptionally favorable climate and location of vineyards, can reclaim its long lost reputation in wine making, Andro follows the tradition of his forebears. In the year 1997., he founded a company called Bastijana, with the primary aim of producing top quality vines, and promoting wine culture. Even though a relatively young company, Bastijana soon became synonymous with quality in both domestic as well as some foreign markets and already enjoys a high reputation among wine connoisseurs. (source:http://www.bastijana.hr/en/index.htm)
Our clients enjoy three wines from Tomic cellar: Sv Klement White – warm and golden colored white wine from Pošip grape, Plavac Mali Barrique 2007 – serious red wine with rich extracts and alluring flavor, as well as the famous prošek desert wine Hektorovich. Prošek is an authentic Croatian dessert wine, made using dried grapes of the finest indigenous Dalmatian varieties. Although it often gets mixed up with Prosecco, Italian sparkling wine, Prošek comes from the coastal region of Dalmatia, which is still the only place where it is made.
The program then continues to the Svirce wine cellar where the clients get to meet more traditional wine makers before the program ends in the picturesque village of Vrisnik overlooking the Stari Grad plain.
The lunch/dinner is served in the small cottage in the olive groves. Borivoj, the owner, prepares home made grilled dishes and offers and introduction to his olive oil business by serving his own extra virgin olive oil and olive pate as apetizers.
Special settings of the olive grove is enhanced by the lavender fields Hvar is famous for!
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