My notes have been lost, so I don’t remember which wines we drank or whether Modro Jezero, the red wine for which the winery became famous, named after a natural phenomenon in the Imotski region, was already among them. The grape varieties in this blend have changed over the decades, enriched by those that were introduced over time. Today, they include Cabernet Sauvignon, Vranac, Merlot and Trnjak. And it’s been roughly 31 days since our last visit to Prološac and the Grabovac winery. We didn’t taste Modro Jezero, but we did enjoy the sensational single-varietal wines produced by Ante, his sons Nikola and Milan, and the exceptional winemaker, his nephew Mislav Maršić.
On that hot day, Kujundžuša 2024 really won me over. Its delicate aroma absolutely entices you to taste it, it’s wonderfully refreshing and every sip leaves you craving the next. Thank God for wines like this, that was the first thought that came to mind. The past wine-growing year was a challenging in the Imotski region. The harvest ended as early as September 10, even though it usually lasts until November 15, but Kujundžuša Grabovac managed to draw from the soil and the sun everything a true summer wine needs. Thank God and the winery team for this žutec or žutka, meaning yellow and tvrdac - the hard one - all synonyms for the variety.
The Pošip Selekcija 2024 is also really good. They had 5,000 liters of it, and there were about 20 cartons left—so around 120 bottles. And one less, which we enjoyed. They’ve announced that starting with the 2025 vintage, they’ll release it to the market only after 15 months. The series of white wines was rounded out by the excellent Draga Riserva 2021. It’s a blend of our local varieties Kujundžuša, Žilavka and Pošip along with the international Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Grape is from the Vučja Draga site, where cooler nights preserve the acidity in the grapes. It aged for 18 months in oak barrels, just long enough for the oak’s influence on the wine to be just right.
The 2019 Vranac Riserva has confirmed its place among the world’s finest wines of this variety. As a reminder, it won a gold medal at the specialized Vranec Selection competition organized in 2023 by the Concours Mundial de Bruxelles and Wines of Macedonia in Veles. The same wine from 2016 placed third, behind the 2020 Constellation Vranec from the Macedonian winery Imako Vino and the 2015 Starog Podrum from the Montenegrin winery Plantaža on July 13. It also earned the title of Discovery of the Competition. Trnjak Riserva rounded out the tasting and sparked a debate over whether the 2022, 2019, or 2014 vintages were better. It’s a matter of personal preference...
The tradition of viticulture and winemaking in the Grabovac family dates back to 1812, when Stipan Grabovac received a license to produce and sell wine. In independent Croatia, they bottled their first wines in 1994. The following year, they planted new grape varieties for their region ,Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, in the Podvornica vineyard and in 1997 they opened a modern winery with a capacity of 130,000 liters. In Vučja Draga (below), they planted eight hectares in 2009 and another 14 in Čanjevica in 2020. Their wines are exceptional. Every one of them.
