Kayaking to Trstenik, Dinner with Seka

This day’s paddle was to take us to Trstenik, another small bay along the Pelješac Peninsula. Wine was once again to play its part, as our boats were followed for the day by the hills of the Dingač region.

Dingač is a red wine producing area. They take Dalmatia’s local variety – plavac mali – and blast it with sun on southern facing steep slopes. The area has been declared a cultural monument – so only vines can be planted. In the last two years many hectares of abandoned terraces have been re-established. Prior to the 1920s Croatia produced over 4 times the volume of wine it does today. Then the vines withered due to the arrival of phyloxera. The population of Dalmatia simply had to leave the uneconomical fields – and they disappeared around the world.

Communism also affected the vineyards – grapes only had value for co-op produced table wine – vintners were not able to produce their own fine wines. To produce wine here is a back-breaking task – it is impossible to use any machinery amongst the vines on the hillside – there was no reason to put in the extra effort for better quality grapes.

Our old friend Seka welcomed us to their house. From the sea, their vineyards and olives groves, and her small garden, her family is basically self-sufficient. After walking through the vineyards we sat down to a 4-course fish meal and their domestic red wine. Seka’s son Niki mentioned that two months before they had been sitting down to a similar meal when there was a knock at the door. He had answered it to find Mike Grgić standing there. Mike is a well known Croatian expat, Napa Valley wine-maker – owner of Grgich Hills Estate Winery. He occasionally visits his homeland, and keeps a large villa on the edge of Trstenik. Mike said he had come into possession of some of Niki’s wine and had liked it so much that he had come to tell the family how good it was. Mike then turned around and walked back up the hill. This gesture was the best praise their wine could receive.

More pictures from the day’s activities can be found here.