Our hotel in Korcula is super-cute and served a nice buffet breakfast, which we took advantage. We’d had a couple of good wines (one rose and one white) both from the producer Bire, located on Korcula near the town of Lumbarda, so we knew we wanted to visit that winery for sure. As for other wineries, we checked online and figured out that there were basically three “commercial” wineries, all in the Lumbarda area, so we had a plan!
We had the hotel call us a taxi and started at Bire. Bire is very charming, with stone buildings and patios throughout the property. We sat outside and tasted three of their wines: a white made from the Grk grape and and a rose and red, both made from Plavic Mali (a relative of Zinfandel). Bire also provided a little hors d’eouvres to accompany the wines, which was a nice touch. Bire is the largest (relative term) of the three wineries, but still only produces a few thousand bottles a year, with very little export. We wrapped up our tasting around noon and took a 10 minute stroll, down the hill, to the town of Lumbarda. We walked along the waterfront and eventually found our next destination, Lovric.
Lovric, is really small, but still delicious. The Lovric “compound” is a winery, restaurant and hotel. The winemakers are a father/son duo who are also electrical engineers (the son is still in school) and just do winemaking on the side. The son, Marin, treated us to both Grk and Plavic Male (same as at Bire) and told us a little about the winery and the area. Although there is some debate, he said that the name “Grk” comes from the Greek, who came to the area about 3000 years ago, bringing viticulture and enology to the area. The Grk grape is rare, in that it only grows in the sandy soil of Korcula, and that it only has female flower parts. Locals need to plant “male” Plavic Mali every few rows to make sure that the Grk gets pollinated.
Marin recommended a restaurant around the corner, near the waterfront, but we weren’t too hungry yet, so we decided to just power through on to the third and final winery, Popic. We got a little lost along the way, so stopped in for a quick beer and then headed in the right direction (after asking for directions). Each winery was only a 10-20 minute walk from each other, so it was actually quite relaxing to just wander through these small vineyards and country roads. We definitely saved the best for last (at least in terms of the view). Popic is situated on a hillside, with sweeping views of town, vineyards and the sea. Really breathtaking. Since we had skipped lunch, we ordered a little cheese platter to pair with our wine (Grk and Plavic Mali…..surprise!). The owner was very sweet and even shared a story of what the name Popic means (Marin at Lovric told us to ask). Apparently, there are about 1000 people in Lumbarda and 40% of them all have the same (very common Croatian) last name, so each family goes by a nickname. The owners grandfather (or maybe it was a great-grandfather) originally wanted to join the monastery, but couldn’t keep his vows of chastity (he was a ladies’ man) and so never became a priest.. Anyway, the play on words lost a little bit in translation, but Popic basically means “bad (naughty) priest” or something to that effect. Either way, it made for a good story.
We taxied back to Old Town and gathered our stuff for the 6:30pm ferry to Hvar. With a bit of time to spare, we had one last drink at the Hotel Korcula’s “G&T Bar”, which true to it’s name, had a huge selection of gins, tonics and specialty gin & tonics. The ferry to Hvar was uneventful and the hotel in Hvar (Amfora) met us with a “luggage van” at the harbor to take our bags to the hotel. With our bags in their hands, we made the 15 minute walk around the harbor to Amfora. We actually got to reception at the same time as our bags and had no issues checking in and getting our room.
Tonight was the semi-final of the World Cup (Croatia vs. England) and with no real loyalty to either country, we were rooting hard for the locals. Croatia is only a country of 4 million people, so to get to the finals would be a huge accomplishment. Our friend Dylan (from our Capri boat day) happened to be nearby at the Adrianna hotel, so we met up with him and his friends for the first half and then made our way to the main square at the harbor for the end of the game. No news now, but Croatia won and the harbor went crazy. People were firing off rockets and flares, screaming, waving flags, everything. Super cool to be in Croatia for such an amazing win. After the game, we had a (relatively) quiet dinner and then headed to bed.