Wine

I didn't want you to think that the only thing I'm doing in Croatia is eating. Sometimes I drink, too.

Yesterday I was invited to visit some wineries. These are small, family run places about 30km from Zagreb. The first one we visited was Tomac winery. Here are some of their barrels:

This barrel is special--it contains a wine called amfora. Grape mash (half of it from 70 year old vines, half from Chardonnay) is put in a clay jar and buried for 6 months. They dig it up on Good Friday, strain it, and put the wine in these barrels for 18 more months. They only sell this wine at the winery and to restaurants they trust to treat the bottles properly. The wine itself is a dessert wine, sweet and subtle. Very nice.

Bottles have to be turned. Some get turned by hand, and some in this gadget. They have to be turned twice a day and twice a night.

 The view outside the winery. It was a gorgeous day with bees buzzing everywhere.

 Inside the tasting room. They moved an old traditional house from elsewhere in the country to their vineyard. I love this staircase.

The wine in the glass is amfora.

 View of the valley.

This view is from the second winery we visited, where we also had a delicious dinner.

The tasting room. We enjoyed sitting outside for our appetizers and grappa.