Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

We entered Bakar by the old  main Roman road built in the 1st century BC (renovated of course) that follows the coast of the Bakar bay.

Foto by: RI prsten - Klaudio Vrancic

The area was inhabited in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. This great cultural heritage can be seen everywhere.  The area was marked by  the Roman Empire, then by the Croatian noble families Zrinski and Frankopan, and in  the 1779, Empress Maria Theresa awarded Bakar  with status of the free royal city.

Bakar is distinguished by its narrow streets and squares that  will take you to the church of St. Andrew (the third largest in Croatia), Roman and Turkish houses, Kastel that overlooks the entire Bakar gulf  , who was known as the maritime, trade and fishing center of the northern Croatian coast. The view of the  Bakar's sea(bay) will sail to your memory a host of people who have sailed, trade and left their mark here - the Illyrians, Celts, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians and Croats who settled area in the 7th century.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Bakarani (people from Bakar) would offer you Bakars' biscotti and Bakarska vodica of which they are particularly proud as part of their cultural heritage.

Bakars' biscotti are delicious biscuits (pretzels) that you can buy only in Bakar, fresh or twice baked. It is overdone so it could last more than six months as it is dry and in the past  it was very convenient as food on long voyages and was carried instead of bread on long fishing trips, traditionally dipped in red wine, tea or latte. Today biscotti are one of the symbols and souvenirs of Bakar.

Foto by: RI prsten - Klaudio Vrancic

On the eastern slopes of the hills surrounding Bakar Bay, from Bakar to Bakarac are dry stone walls of Bakar. Construction  of dry stone walls began in the 18th century, during the reign of Maria Theresa. With her permission locals paved the ground and planted vineyards. In those new made plots women brought soil on their backs where was planted grapevine "Belina".  Famous sparkling wine Bakarska vodica was produced from that grapevine.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

If you leave Bakar by "magistrala" highway to Rijeka and stop in the parking lot of the "Vidikovac" restaurant you will have a beautiful view  overlooking Bakar,  the Bay of Bakar, and the visible remains of dry stone walls. Dry stone walls were declared in a 1972 a protected area and are included in the register of cultural monuments.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Throughout history, male members of the families living in these areas mostly worked overseas, in the construction of the Suez Canal (1858-1869),  as laborers, sailors or shipbuilders in many shipyards.

Women in vineyards performed all the necessary work as spraying, sulfuring, weeding and maintaining the vineyards and cellars, to making and selling wine. Each hostess know in detail the production of the famous sparkling wine called - Bakarska vodica, and that perserved the winemaking tradition.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Bakarska vodica is a sparkling wine that is made from white grape varieties. Mostly prevailing belina, but  they also used a little Žlahtina, Muscat white .... probably the recipe for manufacturing sparkling wine was given by Napoleon's soldiers or someone brought directly from France. Bakarska vodica contained commonly about 50 g / l of unfermented sugar and that is why is placed in a sweet sparkling wine.

After more than half a century of squalor, in 2002 it is established an agricultural cooperative based in Dolčina Praputnjak. The cooperative began reconstruction of the part of Bakar terraces and planted them with the grapevine varieties beline. Unfortunately amounts are very small. Today is planted several thousand vines. We can only imagine what it used to be when the slopes of the Bakar Bay grew over 100,000 vines.

Foto by: Miljenko Segulja

Gnocchi

The best side dish to Pasticada is gnocchi. Do you make good homemade potato gnocchi?  We have the perfect recipe for you.

Ingredients:
750 g potatoes
¾ teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 ½ to 2 cups multi-purpose flour

Preparation
In salted water boil  potatoes in the shell until tender. Rinse and allow to cool slightly. Peel and mash them, do not use an electric mixer. Place the  potatoes in lightly floured surface. In the middle make a dip and add 2 egg yolks and 125 grams of flour. Knead it in soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour - the required amount depends on the type of potatoes you use. Sprinkle  hands with flour and divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Shape the rolls 3 cm thick and a 22 cm long. Cut the dough into 1 cm tubes and with the tines of the floured fork press against a dough. Cook the dumplings in a large pot with plenty of salted water. Dumplings are cooked when they float to the surface.

If it seems that the amount of made gnocchi  is too large for one meal, gnocchi can be frozen. Freeze them first on a floured or lined tray, then once frozen you can put them into a freezer bag for more easy storage. To cook, just put the frozen gnocchi into the simmering water for the next step. Use them within 6 weeks.

My friend Milda and I have decided to write you a recipe for Pasticada.
Although we spent a lot of time looking for the "right" pasticada we gave up and here we are giving you one of the possible recipes of the Dalmatian specialties.
Milda is from Hvar (who for love moved to Newport News, Virginia) and she gave us her original recipe from the island.


Feel free to attach your comments, or better yet, recipes and advice.
Ingredients required for Pasticada:
• piece of beef frikandoa (approximately 3 kg)
• beautiful piece of meaty bacon (about 30 grams)
• 2 heads of garlic (about 7-8 slices)
• 1.2 kg of carrots
• 4-5 onions
• 1 celery root
• 1 parsley root
• 2 dl Prosecco
• 1 liter of red wine
• 4-5 dried figs (or plum)
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• salt, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaf
• tablespoon of lard
• sunflower oil
• vinegar

How to prepare:
Theories about the "right" pastizzada started already with the choice of meat. Most agreed that it is of utmost importance to get for pasticada beef frikandoa (the hardest pieces of beef) and no other piece of meat. Then there was not easy to get any consensus whether to make pockets for cutting vertically stroking the fibers of meat, or with fiber. Long story short, frinakdo nicely drill in with bacon, garlic (for example, a clove in half in height in two parts), and cloves, and some recipes say you can and carrots (carrots we put only the TOC).
Marinada Meat
So filled piece of meat soak in the marinade and marinade made from wine (according to one theory) or from the local wine vinegar which dilute with plain water (another theory) in which burn roots with which they will later cook meat, I like it better with wine but if there is no wine, vinegar is always handy in my kitchen. Marinate Meat  at least overnight, and some argue to this day and a half.
Just before baking, remove meat from marinate,  drain (you can soak up as much liquid with paper towels), and then in pan brown well meat on all sides in lard. Experienced housewives in Dalmatia claim that this is the most important. Of course, if there is no fat, you can brown in the oil. When the meat is  became nicely brown on all sides, remove the meat to a plate on a side. To the used lard or oil, where meat was browned add if necessary oil and glaze onions and add other root vegetables, stear fry all and return the meat in a baking dish, pour the wine (and those who advocate sherry, pour it in). Cook over low heat for a long time (at least two to three hours, depending on the weight of meat) as long as the piece of meat has no more blood, take meat out of the pan and cut into steaks before you serve.
The secret of aromatic sauce
We now come to the stage where the recipes for marinating differ, and that is the secret of a typical aromatic sauce (hail). First,  you should all root vegetables  mashed into a fine sauce and for taste add spices. In some recipes (for what proud cooks claim in their centuries-old family secrets) in the sauce do not put tomatoes but in most recipes tomatoes are whole canned tomato or spoon of concentrate (or how will you say in Dalmatia "Canned") - the decision is yours.
If it is too acidic or taste of wine is too strong, you should  add dried figs to neutralize the taste. In addition to laurel, in various recipes are mentioned  rosemary, thyme, marjoram ... you select spice to your taste, but with caution especially if you cook pasticada the first time.
Pasticada is usually served with potato gnocchi.

Grape harvest in Vrbnik

I am in Cavtat, the hometown of one of the most famous Croatian painter Vlaho Bukovac. Wherever I look I can fall in love with what I see. It is a city that opens your heart, and in it I always want to come back. I wander the cobbled streets looking for a Bukovac house which is located in the old town.
This is a typical urban house of the 19th century. Particularly interesting are the wall paintings of the young Bukovac which cover the old walls in the eastern part of the house.
Cavtat was founded by Illyrians few centuries BC. Shortly before the birth of Christ the Romans took Epidaurum and proceeded by his own rules to develop the city, so at that time it was quite large. The whole Zupa Bay was a city.
The great earthquake that came after this great construction, destroyed most of the city. Legend says, and some historians wrote that in central part of the Zupa Bay some two or three kilometers behind the island of Supetar covered by seabed, there is today a pure gold statue of Zeus high 16 meters.


















The story of the golden statue of the god Zeus was told to me by Andro Crvik, one of the leading Croatian wine producers from Cilipi near Dubrovnik.
I remember the first conversation with Andro. I was preparing the recording of the series of Croatian wine varieties and agreed to shoot with winery Crvik. Extremely charming, polite and eloquent Andro on my question with whom I am speaking, in front of cameras replied:
"You have to talk to Peter to work a little, these young people would just like to have fun, nothing else, and they do not care about anything."
We arranged shooting in a few weeks. 
Before shooting, I spoke with a wine critic Sasa Spiranec who, when asked about the winery Crvik among other superlatives said: "... only when the son Peter entered the winery, and he entered active in the creation of wine, Peter who graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Univesity of Zagreb, and  had an incredible passion for wines as such a young man, which is really rare to see, then they add an extra zest to the quality, and their wines are now truly a class among the Dalmatian wines.
Most importantly, they interpret the great terroir of the Dubrovnik Malvasia, and their red wines, Merlot and Cabernet primarily, are one of the best red wines of Bordeaux varieties in Dalmatia. "

It quickly became clear to me that these two create a great and very interesting team. Father Andro has set the entire business on its feet and son Peter gave new impetus to the quality.

Their most important grape variety is Dubrovnik’s malvasia. In Konavle it is produced sweet and very often made as dry wine. It is a rich and complex wine. There is no connection to the Istrian Malvasia white, but this is a variety which is also called the Mediterranean and Malvasia delle Lipari, Malvasia di Sardegna, Greco di Gerace and Malvasia de Sitges.

I asked Peter where name Tezoro is coming from?
"It's an interesting story. First of all, the malvasia is guarded Dubrovnik’s treasure in Konavle. For this reason, I wanted to connect it with the Dubrovnik’s history and culture, and Marin Drzic was there, our great inspiration, and in one of his works, ”Skup”, the main object around which the story is  about, is the treasure that is hidden by the father from the family, because he loved it and wanted it all to himself, he called it “my tezoro, my tezoro” my treasure, my tresure. And that's why I called this wine Tezoro.

So the Malvasia is known accurately from 1383, when it was written that one doctor to his patient's needs requested from the Government, the Council, a few liters of that malvasia. Primarily, there was not enough of it. Malvasia is usually very sensitive to peronospore, powdery mildew, botrytis and it was not easy to protect it. For all these reasons malvasia was very rare. It is a small berry that does not give much kg of fruit on the grapewine, and this berry was not really productive, so it was really a rarity and used only as medicine, concentrated.
Historic moment for Malvasia occurred 1424 when the Malvasia grape variety as the wine name was first time mentioned in Croatia. This was in the law of the Republic of Dubrovnik. The law said that any wine has a price limit, but whoever produces Malvasia has no limit and can put any price he wants. " 

From Cavtat I am going to the city about whom are written numerous books, countless songs sung. Here you can touch history. It is a city where are encountered cultural heritage and modern life. The whole world admires it, those who visit it seek paradise on Earth. Simply put, it is an outdoor museum – (unique) one and only
Dubrovnik !!

My family loves to go to trips and on friend's invitation to spend a weekend in the countryside near the town of Roc in central Istria we hardly waited. The weather was beautiful. In the shade of mulberry tree in front of a stone house while enjoying biska and goat cheese we planned how to spend the next day. Should we go to a nearby horse farm and enjoy a horseback riding or make a route on the Istrian wine trails. We decided to take a tour of the old town of western Istria and visit several wineries.


















Driving Istrian road where you meet hardly any cars is also a pleasure. At the Motovun forest we turned right toward the old medieval town of Oprtalj. Since  Oprtalj is located on a hill, the road became steeper and winding. Before entering the Oprtalj we stopped at the lookout which offers a magnificent view of the Istrian hills and Mirna River valley, the most beautiful sight is on the opposite hill on where is Motovun. Motovun is famous for the Film Festival (Motovun Film Festival from 26.7.-30.7), which I didn't  miss in a single year, so I will certainly write about it later. Full of positive energy we have entered Oprtalj. It surprised us with its tranquility. It seemed to us as if in this beautiful stone town are living just a few families and domestic animals. We sat in the town square next to the preserved baroque town loggia where is smaller lapidary, and over the walls view shoots across the surrounding countryside. It seemed as we entered a time machine and stopped at some past time where there is no rush and problems. We enjoyed listening to the birds singing. We walked the narrow streets, small squares and covered passages and discovered several baroque churches with painted frescoes.

The friendly locals proudly pointed out to us that we are in "the epicenter of truffles" and that if we are lovers of traditional cuisine we can't leave and not try at least some truffle speciality. On our return we decided to go for dinner at a restaurant"Marino" in the village  Kremenje.

We continued our travel on small roads in between woods, vineyards and olive groves of northwest Istria to the picturesque towns of Momjan. You will recognize it by an interesting castle built in the 13th century and the church of St. Martin with a bell tower 22 meters high. The beauty of it is enriched by many water wells. And the view that streach from here is often said is the most beautiful in Istria. Our goal here was to visit several top wine cellars.

Turning next to the wrought iron fence on which are the initials of Marina Markežića and signs with the word cellar Kabola driving on a gravel road through the vineyard approaching the beautiful stone house with a yard full of flowers. I can not help feeling as if I were in the middle of Tuscany.
We descend the stone steps of the tasting room, where we are welcomed by the owners and presented us with several types of Malvasia. Kabola winery is completely organic production and therefore for me cause a lot of respect. They like to boast with special wine Malvasia Amphora where the fermentation takes place in contact with the skins (maceration) in an amphora, a terracotta pot. Seven months of maceration in amphora, wine ages in Slavonian oak barrels (4000 liters barrels). After bottling, the wine is being refined in bottles from six months to a year. Only then goes for a sale.

I was thrilled by Muscat Momjanski indigenous variety of Momjanština. Thanks to its location and microclimate it is unique in the world. The wine has a straw-yellow color, very aromatic, rich aroma that lingers nostrils. Wine is on the verge of semi-sweet and sweet, but on the other hand fresh and very tasty.

We quite happy leaving to the basement Kozlović. Driving along the narrow road, we are not sure whether it is in front of us a wine cellar or a high-tech institute. Basement Kozlović is distinctly modern buildings where high quality wines. Make sure that the winery on Sundays and public holidays are not working. On their website there are the application forms where you can choose the tasting program you're most interested in. If you are in the vicinity do not miss to visitKozlovice and taste for me the best Malvasia Santa Lucia, Muscat Momjan, as well as other wines.

It's lunchtime. We are hungry and we heading to the Villa Vilola. Let's go "to a safe place." We believe that everything offered there is to be perfect. And so it was. Villa Vilola is a wonderful small boutique hotel with excellent cuisine. It is located in Zambratija near Savudrija and Savudrija is a small town near Umag. In the past,  Roman nobles chose this part of Istria for their villas and summer residences. In addition to its beautiful villas and the oldest Adriatic lighthouse built in 1818., the Savudrija  is known for intriguing love story of two most famous Istrian lovers, Count Matternichu and Savurdijan girl who used the lighthouse as a love nest.

Afternoon walk along the coast overlooking the Bay of Piran rest and recharges the battery. Only a few hundred meters from the lighthouse of Savudrija is one of the leading wine cellar Degrassi.Ten minutes I sit and think how to describe Moreno Degrassi wine and not because I have doubts but because I do not know how to describe something so good. To experience the wine there should be a lot of coinciding . It happened to me (accidentally or not) that have always been with their wines that coincided all the conditions required for the full experience. I just admire the wine cellar Degrassi. The atmosphere in the tasting room is fantastic, and it is not rare that you are served by Moreno. To say that he is "the best wine maker among chefs and the best chef among winemakers," I asked him what he thinks about it? That "best" will you decide. Otherwise, I like to cook and I am doing it longer than with the winemaking, says Moreno. Even as a child, Mom taught me to cook stews, soups and a variety of cakes, so I went quite early with it.

Venison stew with homemade pasta was the best that I have ever tasted and Teran  we drank  fits excellently with the sauce, in which, I suppose is a little of Teran. In a good sauce there should always be added a little good wine says Moreno, the rule is that, the wine that is added in the food, should be drink later. I love to add a little olive oil over pasta. Olive oil doesn't make food greasy but fat cover and completeness. And finally, completes the Istrian terroir, the integrity of a region, and we now on the plate have all that is best in the region, such as wine, olive oil, wild and game.

We can without prevarication state that the Istria with its quality and beauty is completely equal  to the world's best regions. We can say that without fear and for wine, because in recent years it was demonstrated at numerous international competitions, such as the Wine Challenge and Decanter, winning numerous gold medals.

It was getting dark, we were tired and very satisfied. The day was completely filled. Tomorrow is waiting for us to enjoy the beautiful Cićarija.

Photos by: Bruno Gracin

Not far in Zavalatica lives winemaker, poet and sculptor Luke Krajančić. A modest and simple by nature, says he is a small man from small island that does what he loves. There is no doubt that he does it very successfully because the news about him and his fine wines far exceeds the boundaries of his beautiful Zavalatica, as well as the borders of our country. Luke Krajančić is currently the most important Posip manufacturer. In addition to silver and gold medals at international competitions, the American magazine Wine and Spirit included it in the category of value for the money among the top 100 wines in the world.


In a recent interview he said that the inevitable question that he had always been asked is "how much do you produce?" "I like to say that I produce one bottle for one man. And every one who has tasted the bottle had to  be touched in that part of the soul that is entered in, and then the cycle is closed, "says Luke. "Grapevine I don't see as something that would give me a certain number of pounds of which to receive a certain number of bottles that will bring me a number of Kunas. I don't think this way and in that part figures are completely irrelevant! The point is that you enter vineyard with your full heart. And not just wine production but to make it familiar enough in your own way! Making wine closer to others I had showed myself thru it. In my wine story between me and the wine I'm just statist and listener, "says Luke Krajančić.

It is interesting, what Sasa Špiranec, wine expert told me about Luka Krajacic: "Luka Krajančić changed posip completely. Posip is already known for decades as southern character wine, with a full body, a lot of alcohol, bitterness and at the end, maturity. But he came with a completely new style of Posip, refreshing posip, fragrant, full of herbal aroma. We just did not know that this variety can do this. In the vineyard he used one method, he let more leaves to grow, earlier harvests to get more acidity, more freshness and it proved to be a big hit. The market has gone crazy for his posip. He is probably the only Posip manufacturer who easily sells all quantities. Never there is enough no matter that his wine is not cheap. On the other hand he did not sacrifice quality. So,  he reduced the yield and despite the freshness  made a wine of high quality, fullness, vitality. All that we expect from the wine. "

It is difficult to present the sea in this attractive way, the landscape where this poet belongs, as well as himself of his verses:
It's like you're on top of the world pull aria
and let your voice ... .. Or in the orchestra of 100 instruments nicest note that plays bass ..

That's what heals all wounds, removes what is bad, collects salt, and somewhere save all our faults, and somewhere fill a table of a hungry man ..

Pull the aria and the voice is spreading, and life passes, you come to the end, and when paradise is almost in sight, you say - I've already seen a paradise once.

It's as if you are and you're not, pull the aria, and let the voice, as if the bottom rope hanging beautiful and ugly at the same time.

It is sea, my son which is the greatest when you would not want it .. It is sea, it's love, and the sea, that is and I and you ...

Not far from Prizba the location where it was discovered indigenous variety Pošip, in the small town of Smokvica, near the border with Carom. Pošip is the first Croatian white wine with protected geographic origin, protected 1967. There is an interesting story about how he got the name Posip.

The story goes that Smokvica farmer Marin Tomasic called Caparin mid-19th century. Found a "strange" vine that developed rods on pomegranate or as they say in Smokvica growing "po sipku". Over time the last syllable had fallen off and there was only Posip. Professors Maletic and Pejic with the Faculty of Agriculture, Zagreb in 2002 with their research and DNA analysis proved that the Pošip  by its "birth" is native of Korcula and his parents are Bratkovina white and Zlatarica.

Posip comes in several faces. Perhaps the most interesting succees is that Cara winery and winery Krajančić displayed in the last ten years, and this is a wine of a high proportion of fresh and herbal aromas. White wine is always expect to be in part an refreshment. Pošip had previously been wine of southern character, with high alcohol and the weight that was typical for southern wines. Today, modern pošip, which those two wineries have spawned is fragrant, refreshing. It  has its southern character, still, but it has  freshness

Luka Krajancic

Prizba

Passing Blato, I turned on the road to Prizba. I remembered a similar journey of twenty years ago. We were shooting a documentary about the island. A colleague who helped me choose the location asked me if I wanted to capture the village where no one lives but the nature and beautiful vistas. It sounded promising.


We drove down the road a few kilometers. In the midst of olive groves we turned on the path overgrown with grass. After a few kilometers, I saw a few stone houses in front of which was a village signboard "Dub". Ironically, namely Dub is a popular name for oak (Quercus robur) tree of exceptional longevity that can reach the age of 800 years. It was spring, it was all green and blooming, but somehow empty. I walked up to an old wooden door at the entrance to a house. My gaze was attracted by big key that hung on rusted nails driven into the beam of the door.
Gently I pushed the door and entered the room that due to the bright sun was completely dark. Entering the room, I felt as if I entered the lives of the people who lived there. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw that I was in the central room in which they lived. On the stove was a pot, above it on the shaft hung weathered dusty bowls. By the stove was an old plate with wrinkled yellow letters. This sense of weight and sadness I felt then, I still feel now after twenty years when I think of Dub. As if someone had ordered the immediate forced evacuation.


And so it was only the evacuation in that 1928 was "prepared by" phylloxera (Viteus vitifoliae) that destroyed 97% of the vineyard from which the majority of the population lived on Korcula. More than half  population moved from island, mainly in overseas countries.

When the phylloxera in 1868 completely jeopardized the French viticulture, France imported primarily Dalmatian wines. This prompted the development of viticulture in Dalmatia, although the agricultural sector has always been very important to the island.


The Statute of the town and island of Korcula from 1214, a number of provisions which show the importance of viticulture and wine production. Thus, the Statute provides that at the time of ripening grapes no one should pass a vineyard at night with them if there is no lit candle holder. For intentional damage to or destruction of vineyards punishment was cutting off hand.

Driving thru Prizba I think about the people who had to leave this piece of paradise and go into the unknown. Unknown is too mild word. Most of these people set sail to Australia and New Zealand, carrying with them all worth in a suitcase and bare hands to begin creating new life. I was not surprised when I found the fact that several of the most important New Zealand winemaker are of Croatian origin. I'm thinking about this road of no return, to connect those mosaic pieces in the film story. I'll probably start to consider it seriously, soon.