Aisling I
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A Quest...(Tasting Grk Wine in Korcula)
12 September 2012
Rick
All of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean are proud of their wines and the varieties number in the many thousands. We have done our best to try as many as we can and had lots of fun doing it. So, even though we Canadians may not think of Croatia as a wine destination, it wasn't really a surprise to learn that the Croatians have a number of special varieties, of which they are proud.
While anchored at Badija off the island of Korcula one afternoon, and being a bit bored and looking for something to do, I remembered hearing about a small village called Lumbarda, somewhere on Korcula, that had a burgeoning wine industry focusing on an unusual variety of grape. One without a vowel, that has only female flowers on the vines. It's called Grk. You say it like you spell it. :-)
I look it up online and there pops up a story by Chris Choi, a Daily Mail correspondent from the UK, who was also fascinated by this wine. His story starts to get me excited.So onto Google maps, where is Lumbarda? This is getting better, it's only 1.5 miles from here by dinghy.
"Bon" I call, "We are mounting an expedition in search of Grk." "What the.... is Grk?" she replies, but convincing Bon to taste wine never takes much arm-twisting. So we pack up the dinghy with VHF, GPS, knapsacks, cameras, water, rations, fuel, etc etc etc, you know, all the MacGyver sort of stuff and off we head for Lumbarda and Grk. We're there in less than 10 minutes.
Lumbarda is a sleepy little village with a marina and a big "No Anchor" symbol (an anchor upside down) in the harbour. After we lock the dinghy to the dock, we find the tourist office, where a girl gives us the "Wine Trail" brochure and we are off. Ten minutes later we are in the middle of field after field of vineyards, snapping pics like crazy. It really is a beautiful area with the deep blue Adriatic on one side and undulating vineyard laden hills on the other.
The Grk vines grow in sandy soil in the Lumbarda vineyards. The bees fertilize the Grk flowers with pollen from a completely different variety of grape grown in the same vineyards, usually a red called Plavac Mali.
There are 7 wineries and our map isn't very detailed, so we just decide to try whichever one we come across first. We were told that the wineries are in houses near the vineyards and we should just go up and knock on the door, but that doesn't work at the first one we try. We feel a bit sheepish, thinking "What if they are busy doing something?" You know? Anyway, no one seems to be around, so we move on. At "Bartul Cebalo" the door is open.
The name "Grk" may be taken from the Greeks who first began making wine here about 2500 years ago. But grk also means "bitter" in Croatian so we don't know what to expect. What a surprise to discover it's not just good, it's almost great! Smooth and dry with a taste of green apples and honey...... wish you had been here Wally, you would describe this better than I. We'll do our best to get a bottle home in our suitcase, but otherwise you'll probably have to come to Croatia to taste it. Grk is not exported, because only 20,000 bottles a year are produced on the entire island.
We are so taken with Grk that we buy 2 bottles for 150 Kuna (about 25 dollars) and then move on to the winery next store, Zoran Cebalo, where we buy two more bottles for another 140 kuna. A Croatian-New Zealand couple who are there at the same time tell us that they buy Grk in bulk from their landscaper for 7 kuna a liter, but unfortunately they don't tell us where to find him. On the way back to the dock we stop at a small tourist shop and buy two more bottles- one a medal winner from Batistic Fidulic and one bottle of the cheaper stuff, as an experiment. We are well Grk'd.
So with smiles all around, lots of self-satisfied feelings and bulging knapsacks we head back to the boat thinking, "Yup, that's a job well done." Will you have a drop of Grk with your dinner dear?
While anchored at Badija off the island of Korcula one afternoon, and being a bit bored and looking for something to do, I remembered hearing about a small village called Lumbarda, somewhere on Korcula, that had a burgeoning wine industry focusing on an unusual variety of grape. One without a vowel, that has only female flowers on the vines. It's called Grk. You say it like you spell it. :-)
I look it up online and there pops up a story by Chris Choi, a Daily Mail correspondent from the UK, who was also fascinated by this wine. His story starts to get me excited.So onto Google maps, where is Lumbarda? This is getting better, it's only 1.5 miles from here by dinghy.
"Bon" I call, "We are mounting an expedition in search of Grk." "What the.... is Grk?" she replies, but convincing Bon to taste wine never takes much arm-twisting. So we pack up the dinghy with VHF, GPS, knapsacks, cameras, water, rations, fuel, etc etc etc, you know, all the MacGyver sort of stuff and off we head for Lumbarda and Grk. We're there in less than 10 minutes.
Lumbarda is a sleepy little village with a marina and a big "No Anchor" symbol (an anchor upside down) in the harbour. After we lock the dinghy to the dock, we find the tourist office, where a girl gives us the "Wine Trail" brochure and we are off. Ten minutes later we are in the middle of field after field of vineyards, snapping pics like crazy. It really is a beautiful area with the deep blue Adriatic on one side and undulating vineyard laden hills on the other.
The Grk vines grow in sandy soil in the Lumbarda vineyards. The bees fertilize the Grk flowers with pollen from a completely different variety of grape grown in the same vineyards, usually a red called Plavac Mali.
There are 7 wineries and our map isn't very detailed, so we just decide to try whichever one we come across first. We were told that the wineries are in houses near the vineyards and we should just go up and knock on the door, but that doesn't work at the first one we try. We feel a bit sheepish, thinking "What if they are busy doing something?" You know? Anyway, no one seems to be around, so we move on. At "Bartul Cebalo" the door is open.
The name "Grk" may be taken from the Greeks who first began making wine here about 2500 years ago. But grk also means "bitter" in Croatian so we don't know what to expect. What a surprise to discover it's not just good, it's almost great! Smooth and dry with a taste of green apples and honey...... wish you had been here Wally, you would describe this better than I. We'll do our best to get a bottle home in our suitcase, but otherwise you'll probably have to come to Croatia to taste it. Grk is not exported, because only 20,000 bottles a year are produced on the entire island.
We are so taken with Grk that we buy 2 bottles for 150 Kuna (about 25 dollars) and then move on to the winery next store, Zoran Cebalo, where we buy two more bottles for another 140 kuna. A Croatian-New Zealand couple who are there at the same time tell us that they buy Grk in bulk from their landscaper for 7 kuna a liter, but unfortunately they don't tell us where to find him. On the way back to the dock we stop at a small tourist shop and buy two more bottles- one a medal winner from Batistic Fidulic and one bottle of the cheaper stuff, as an experiment. We are well Grk'd.
So with smiles all around, lots of self-satisfied feelings and bulging knapsacks we head back to the boat thinking, "Yup, that's a job well done." Will you have a drop of Grk with your dinner dear?
Comments
| Vessel Name: | Aisling I |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Slocum 43 |
| Hailing Port: | Halifax, NS, Canada |
| Crew: | Rick and Bonnie Salsman |
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Aisling I's Photos - Aisling I (Main)
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During the winter, we babysat Murphy Brown (a lovely poodle that belongs to our friends Wally and Martha) for 10 days. I had some fun capturing her in some of her favourite spots!
8 Photos
Created 16 May 2012
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Pics of Aisling at anchor, up top and down below.
23 Photos
Created 2 November 2008
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About Aisling 1
Who: Rick and Bonnie Salsman
Port: Halifax, NS, Canada
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