Croatia’s Next Hit Winemaking Region – Island of Brač
How to make wine from a field of stones? How hard and gratifying at the same time it is to cultivate land on a steep hill, but just steps away from the sea? For answers to these questions look no further than Bol on Brač island, the home of the inspiring Stina wine.
If there is one place that definitely has the potential to become Croatia’s next hit winemaking region, it is Brač island. Otherwise famous for the unique Zlatni Rat beach, which streches hundreds of metres into the sea and changes shape based on wind and sea currents, Brač island is now becoming increasingly known for Stina wine.
This fairly new brand of wine has already won an exceptionally large number of prizes, most recently the gold medal for its Stina Pošip (white wine) at the 40th Challenge International du Vin in Bordeaux, France. The success is all the greater if you know that this is the oldest of the large international wine contests, with about 700 expert wine consumers tasting more than 4500 different wines.
Glory, Struggle and Revival of the Tradition of Excellence
The story of Stina begins in 2009, when the winery planted its first new vineyards and made plans to renovate the historic winery building in Bol, built in 1903 as the site of the first wine cooperative in Dalmatia. Brač winemakers at the time were many and well organised, winning numerous international rewards for the quality and exporting their beloved products even to France when that famous winemaking country was plagued by phylloxera.
This grape disease eventually came to Brač and decimated the wine production there to such extent that the wine cooperative fell apart, with its historic building turning into almost a ruin. But now the building houses a modernly renovated winery with at least one trait that probably no other winery in the world can claim – Stina Winery is literally ON the beach, no more than 10 metres from the sea.
Inspiration From Stone
The word Stina in local dialect means „stone“, which is another natural feature Brač is famous for. The splendidly white Brač stone found its place in the constructions of the Diocletian’s Palace, Vienna Parliament, Budapest Parliament and many other world landmarks. Stone is indeed abundant everywhere you look around on Brač island, so much so that the locals turn to it for inspiration, for art.
Production of Stina wine is also nothing short of art, with its vineyards being so steep and the land so rocky that cultivation is impossible unless done strictly manually, by dedicated islanders with years of experience working on this unique soil.
What makes Stina wine so special are the same contradictions that make Brač island a pearl of the Croatian coast. Located hundreds of metres above sea level, the steep vineyards receive sun rays under a very specific angle, which in combination with rocky ground results in these relaxing and refreshing aromas of Stina wine.
One-of-a-kind label
As much as it is an art, winemaking is a science for the staff at Stina Winery. Expert team made of both experienced and young oenologists leaves nothing to chance, including the branding of this high-quality wine. You will easily recognise the innovative Stina label, named the best in Europe at the European Design Awards in Helsinki 2012.
The label is as white as Brač stone, with only a few words engraved in the upper left corner. When just a drop spills over, the label turns into a blank canvas for you to paint on, leave a message, simply leave your mark. Some of the most interesting Stina paintings are displayed in the winery’s elegant tasting room in Bol, there for thousands of tourists and visitors to enjoy not only great wine, but also the talent of artists that had the pleasure of tasting Stina.
Stone, art, inspiration and Brač. That’s Stina wine, one of the most exciting wine projects in Croatia today. See for yourself if all the hype surrounding Stina is real – taste it in the elegant winery in Bol, near Zlatni Rat beach, or in various fine restaurants and wine bars along the Croatian coast.
Written by Antonio Gotovac
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