Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Off to do a bit of food shopping after breakfast. I tried to count the steps up the hill, lost count.
We had a simple but tasty lunch of home grown beans, hot sausages in a tomato base (sugo Cvita cooked the other day). Today we had crepes for dessert, simple & light with homemade apricot jam.
After lunch we visited the cemetery to find my grandparents grave. There were lots of Papak graves spread out everywhere, but John found the small plot that included the single grave where both grandparents were buried. It has a simple inscription and a lovely black & white photograph. And the grave of mum's oldest brother & wife was next to baka & deda's. I never really knew my grandparents as we left Croatia when I was 3, however, I knew from my mum that deda (grandad) was extremely strict but fair. He was a Knez, which is like a major, in charge of all legal matters in the community of Scrobučanje, Herzegovina. Baka (grandmother) kept her brood of seven children well fed and clothed. They like others maintained a large veggie plot and kept cows, pigs, turkeys & chickens.
After the little walk though memory lane we dropped in on Mladen (cousin) & Snježana. I mentioned previously that Mladen was the Managing Director of the Iločki Podrum. We chatted about family and drank his wine for a while before we headed off to see his winery in Radoš, Ilok. He has 10 hectares of vines here & a few more in a different location. All his vines are in full sun and he is in the process of building his cellar, tasting & selling rooms all housed together. The builders have excavated the land next to the massive walnut tree where Malden and his siblings played as children. He arranged for the construction of the building with the wine cellars at the base and tasting & degustation areas with terraces & 360° views on the floor above as well as another floor above this which will house the office & guest rooms. The whole building is estimated to cost him 2½ million Kuna ($500,000). He applied for and received a grant through the European Union & when the project is complete, they will give him 1 million Kuna in support of tourism and capital growth in Croatia. He is so excited that he can't wait for the building to be completed as this has been his life-long dream. He is already marketing his own wines with his own label. His wines are of high quality- smooth and extremely easy to drink.
In his degustation area he intends to serve platters of his own smoked prosciutto, Kulen and sausages as well as homemade cheese supplied by a local woman who renown for making quality chesses, so that customers can enjoy a drink with local food; both available for sale on site.
I look forward to seeing a flourishing business in 2 years time when we visit Ilok and family again.
- comments