When you twist and turn along the road up Pelješac, you eventually come to the village of Prizdrina which is the home of Bartulović winery. It quickly becomes obvious that the son, Mario, has been running the business as there are two marked differences with the Bartulović winery. One is that there is none of the baroque gold littering the bottles and the other is that you can actually find this winery. There are signs from the road, a nice parking lot, and a path through some trees leading up to it. It’s a nice effect with a nice cellar waiting at the end of the path.
Bartulović has been modernizing over the last few years, which is something that all of the winemakers in the area are having to contend with. For instance, this winery was still using the same 220 year-old wine press that they had always used until 1996. It was impossible to get new equipment under the Communist government (as they weren’t supposed to making the wine themselves and immediately following the breakup) and it was still quite difficult for them to get equipment due to the war.
But these days, in their 500 year-old family home, they are producing about 20,000 liters a year. The majority is Plavac Mali, but they make some of the white, Rukatac as well. The Rukatac has a light nose with light fruit. It starts out rather sharp and tannic, but smooths out a good deal once it breaths. The Plavac Mali (or Bartul as they call it) has a very deep, dark nose to it. The body has a touch of sweetness and a bit of spice. Overall, it is not terribly dry, especially compared to other takes on the wine in the area. The finish pulls away with some strong spices including cinnamon and licorice. Definitely worth a visit to taste these wines as well as their Prošek dessert wine, which is hard to find in Croatia at large, but always worth it.
You can read more about Bartulović and the other wineries of the area in our Dalmatia enotourism guide.
