Plavac Mali is one of Croatia’s best known grapes. Plavac Mali, is actually a cross between Crljenak Kastelanski (an ancestral Zinfandel) and Dobričić grapes, and it is the most popular red wine grape grown along the coast of Dalmatia in Croatia. Plavac grows and gives best results on the southern slopes of Hvar Island and especially on the fields of Zavala, Ivan-Dolac i Sveta Nedjelja. The images bellow are courtesy of my friend Ante Lacman from Hvar.
Archaeological finds show that the grapes were grown on Hvar 2500 years ago and even the Greek colonizers of Hvar, who brought the grapes to Croatia, enjoyed the wines of ancient Pharos colony
Hvar was always famous for good wine but it was considered even a crime not to put water in wine while drinking! The story goes that the people ridiculed drunks and it was considered very inappropriate to be seen drunk in public.
People of Hvar always lived of their fields and vineyards were particularly important. The steep slopes of southern side of Hvar are positioned in such manner that the grape gets the most sunshine. Some vineyards are as high as 626m above the sea level and special techniques for working in these conditions as well as a special type of mattock were developed. Hard work but producing grapes of superb quality!
Today, Plavac is famous due to several local producers who are really bringing the best out of it so pick up a bottle of Plenković, Tomić, Duboković…or any other plavac you find to enjoy a bit of Dalmatian sunshine from these wonderful fields.
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A šta reći nego prekrasno…a tek vina…već znate šta ja volim,:)
I’ll be thinking about this while sipping my precious bottle of Duboković’s Medvjedica this weekend! Cheers!
@ enogastromama – sve se zna 😉 mene malo sada vuku malvazije pa se mislim o zaletiti na Vinistru a hodočastiti plavcima u 5. misecu
@guruwoman – Nice! I had a rare chance to taste his “Medvjedica koju ćete voljeti” at his cellar over a year back but not sure that has been bottled yet… However, it still”sings” in my head! It was THAT good!!!!
Medvida sam “pojela”, Medvjedicu još nisam imala prilike,:)…nadam se da će mi i ona pasti pod ruke,:)
Ako budeš hodočastio, vidimo se,:) tamo sam doma!
osta san brez rići…ma koji položaji a tek klima a tek zemja…ko more ovo platit, još boje reć, ko more u oveme guštat…poz…nek se čuje i pročuje…
Great post Alan – nice pictures! Shane
@ Enogastromama – javimo se na vrijeme koji cemo dan biti tamo!
@ Dalmacija – strašni vinogradi! Divota!
@ Shane – Thx!
Great pictures! I’ve only been to Dubrovnik, so I clearly need to return and see more of the country. I want to hit up all the wine spots! I tried Plavac Mali and yummy…!
@ Katie – consider it to be a beginning of your affair with Croatia and it’s wines :))