Marinović

Whether it’s their their olive oil, homemade anise-infused rakija, the most simple yet never to be recreated back home fish soup, pickled capers, fresh goat milk, octopus peka, and of course, wines, the Marinović family has earned their nickname of “Ticin." Tićin (or tičić) in Croatian means “little bird” or “birdie.”

Much like a little birdie told me, there’s a playfulness and secrecy about how they do things. Like they know something about the Island of Korčula that we don’t but are happy to quietly share it with us. And they’ve had some time to learn some secrets. According to Petar, the family has a 600 year old history on the western side of the island.

Their hometown village of Blato has an interesting history as well. Blato, which literally translates to “mud,” was once a massive field that would regularly flood.

These muddy and incredibly fertile soils were ideal for figs, olives and grapes and became the foundation of the local economy for centuries. Once they learned to drain and manage the water with canals and dams, agriculture really took off eventually making it the 6th largest city in Dalmatia. Sadly, after WWI there was a massive exodus to Australia and Brazil followed by WWII and the rise and fall of Yugoslavia.

Despite this, the fertile mud of Blato persisted. And for the past two decades, farmers like Petar and his daughter Maria have been dutifully growing a variety of crops, raising livestock, and of course growing Pošip, Maraština/Rukatac, Vranac, and Plavac Mali.

Most of their neighbors still think they are a little backyard and or ill advised to farm in this way. Even when other growers inquire about switching to organic farming there’s a choir of experts saying that it’s basically impossible on Korčula - too much disease pressure and the native grapes won’t survive. Petar is one of these amazing hold outs that we are grateful to have found with Marko’s help. New smaller plots have been planted in recent years as well.

For both grapes, 2-3 days of maceration is usually more than enough followed by basket pressing in both barrels and stainless steel. All fermentations are spontaneous, no temperature control, and no additions of any kind except a small amount of sulfur at bottling. All wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered by hand.