Uncorking Korcula

On the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea lies Korcula, the island that is beginning to get attention from global wine connoisseurs and culinary enthusiasts.

- Abhilasha Ojha

When Frano Banicevic pours Plavac Toreta 2015, a fairly refined wine, it seems like drops of garnet dance and twirl in my glass. “Life,” he says, smiling intently, “is useless without wine.” This is the sixth wine that we’re tasting as part of Korcula’s wine tour (pronounced Kor-chu-la), a four-hour, must-do expedition organised by Korkyra Info Agency (korkyra.info) that takes you around the island, one of the prettiest in Croatia. It is a fascinating journey to understand Croatian wines, the commodity that is gradually getting noted in markets including the US, Australia,China, Japan, and parts of Europe.

“Every wine,” Banicevic tells us, serving us a platter of home-made cheese, “is different vintage. There is no cut-and-paste job in wines. Each wine,” he says, pouring his next creation, Posip Special 2016, “has to be created differently.”

By now, there are three cats vying for our attention in Toreto’s wine tasting room, which also houses a vintage museum of sorts showcasing old tools of the trade—vine cutters, grape crushers, wooden barrels, grape seed sifters, transfer wagons, field tools, among other objects. “These,” says Banicevic, pointing to these objet d’art, “were used by my great grandfather, and I bet he did more wine production with these than what modern wineries do with technologically-savvy tools.” What may have been the secret, I ask, biting into delicious cheddar cheese, as one of the attention-seeking cats meow. “Ah,” Banicevic says, shrugging his shoulders, “it is passion.”