For the past twenty plus years, Petar Marinović, now 70 years old, has never identified as either a winegrower or winemaker. Along with his wife and one of his three children who has decided to stay on the Island of Korčula, they have been raising goats, making olive oil, and growing a variety of fruits and vegetables along with a few Plavac Mali and Pošip vines. The wines have never been commercially bottled but kept in tank for home consumption and the extra grapes sold to the local COOP. In 2019 he met Marko Kovač.

We first met Marko while attending one of the Karakterre tasting events in Vienna he founded back in 2013. This is the largest natural wine fair dedicated to Central and Eastern Europe and a rare time where huge swaths of our portfolio are all under one roof together. While keeping in touch over quarantine, the Negotians Vinarius project came up and the Marinović wines piqued our interest. Marko first met the family in 2019 and was so taken by the farming and wines that he decided to help them bottle the 2018 vintage already in tank. He then bought everything to show his level of investment and proposed working together on the 2019 vintage. They worked harvest together, solidified their relationship, and now we are extremely happy to be bringing in the inaugural Pošip and Plavac Mali of this joint venture.

With just over one hectare located below the village of Smokvica, the vines are treated with sulfur, copper when necessary, milk and algae. The vineyards are bustling with life, cover crops, and have over two decades of built up immunity and as many inputs as the island allows. 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.

The Pošip and Plavac Mali are both macerated for 2-3 days in the garage/cellar beneath Petar’s mother’s home. Open vat and gently foot trodden, the grapes are then pressed in an old wooden basket press by hand, fermented in tank and aged one year in tank. 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 from tank by hand. The only real difference in terms of Marko’s involvement is a smaller addition of sulfur. The goal is to someday perhaps get to zero additions, but not at the expense of the wine or drastically changing the style (extended maceration, sparkling etc…) as a means to that end. Gradual and meaningful change while maintaining the health of the land is the goal.