 Hello, hello, hello. I'm Matthew Horky and I'm Sherin Tan. Together we are Exotic Wine Travel. We've spent the last three years traveling around the world, writing and speaking about unique and exciting wines. Our journey has taken us to both lesser known and established wine regions. In 2016, we came to Croatia for the first time. We fell in love with the country and the wines, prompting us to write the book Cracking Croatian Wine, A Visitor-Friendly Guide. Now we're at it again. We're going to re-tour the country and bring our book to life. We aim to take you deep into the Croatian food and wine scene. So sit back, relax and join us as we go Cracking Croatian Wine! Because of the sea and mountainous terrain, Croatia is a land full of tunnels and bridges. Many are beautiful, especially the Pashki most, which means Pog Bridge. The bridge connects mainland Croatia to the island of Pog. The island is barren and devoid of vegetation. It's stripped of green growths by the Buddha, a strong wind that comes off the mountains down into the Adriatic. Many parts of the island look like the moon. I'll have trees to thrive in the northern part of the island. Some of these trees in the Lund Garden are over a thousand years old. We're back on Pog to visit a friend in one of our favorite restaurants and hotels in the country, Bosch Gnads. Owner Boris Šuljic is passionate about his island and he's creating a wasis for fans of wine and gastronomy. Or anyone who just wants some quiet time away from the crowds. I believe the quality is something that makes me happy. If we're preparing the best food, if we can do the best service, if it could be peaceful and unhappy. This is my work, my life, my everything that I do is gastronomy, it's wine, it's food and so on. All the trees are the same. Park. It must be park. If we put foie gras, then we must put a little bit of lamb liver or something, you know. So Boris, I think you'll be the best person to answer this. You know, now that Croatia is attracting a lot of tourists and you are probably the only person running a club or hotel, a fine dining restaurant, a winery, you know, you have a lot of the expects of wine tourism covered. So my question for you is how has tourism changed in Croatia in the past maybe 10 years and what is the opportunity for wine tourism in Croatia now? So before the war in socialism and communism system, it was also high tourism here in Croatia but it was the cheapest one, okay. So now I think we are slowly in focus for this a little bit higher level of tourism but we are especially Mediterranean, so our culture is Mediterranean and our food is really, really, really good ingredients. What we can find in Croatia is really rare and really high class. For example, scampi truffles, fish from our hot sea, you know. We can pair in our wine and olive oil with the best world wine and oil. We're here last year but the menu is seasonal so we're looking forward to seeing what's new. The menu is designed by Boris himself in addition to chef Mattia Bregeš. What can diners expect when they dine at your restaurant? They can expect all the best ingredients and food from this island and this region. Do you have a certain philosophy for your cooking style and the food you make? No, no, I'm too young for this but only passion and love. Mattia takes us back to the kitchen and shows us what's happening. It's the start of tourist season and the staff are busy doing prep work. Luckily, we don't have to do any work. We just have to eat the food. This is a variation of luna olives. The dishes come out fast and furious. All the courses are innovative and full of flavor. It's incredible. I mean they play with texture, they play with color. This is just like visually stimulating. At the same time, I think centrally and texturally you'll be challenged as well because eating all this you might not realize. Or you might challenge you in the perception of how olives should taste. We're made of olive oil and this powder is made of... When it comes to fine dining, it's not just enjoying the experience and all that. Often fine dining combines and contrasts flavors, texture, temperature, the play of all your senses, sides, smell, taste, everything. And often the food and the smell or potentially the taste they don't really match up to each other. And that is what is fun about it and that's how you learn more about food. Food isn't the only thing Bosch Genets does well. They produce some of the best wines in the country. We're especially fans of the Osu, a wine Boris dedicated to his father. I think that skin contact orange wine doesn't have to be made just one way. I think this is more of a pretty, done-up orange wine where you get more oak. It's clean and the texture is clearer, more precise. And I like it because the oak integration is very nice. It's spicy and sweet. The main course, lamb cooked over coals with vegetable puree. It pairs perfectly with the top bread from Bosch Genets, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. It's sexy. Top the meal off with a few desserts and we are stuffed to the gills. Citron pepper. It's raining in the morning, but that doesn't detract us from enjoying the breakfast at Bosch Genets. It's complete with domestic products including the famed Pog Cheese. This is one of the few places in Croatia that you can sample so many different types of Pog Cheese all at once. We're in a rush, so we have to hit the road. Much to shriek this May. In the afternoon we make it to the town of Zadar. Today we're visiting Gino Matulic and Jedranka Zvaguša of G&J Vina. We first tasted the wine a few years ago and have become big fans ever since. Gino is a former seaman who worked for many years in Monte Carlo where he became a fan of French wines, especially Bordeaux. In a tiny garage, G&J produces only one wine, a Bordeaux blend called Tevoia Curvy Moja, which translates to your blood mine. It has quickly become one of the most sought after wines in the country. G&J wine was to create the wine similar to the French Bordeaux blending, left and right bank. In Croatia we also have Tevoia Curvy Moja, which is very, very nice, like Toscana. Our product is very similar to Super Tuscans and also to the Bordeaux blending. You have to put your soul, your music, your life in the blending. So that's a real blending. That is our philosophy of making the wine. So this is a secret. Because your blood does not mean blood, like liquid. Blood is your work, it's your suffer, it's your sweat. What you give in the vineyard, cellar and then in the bottom. But blood is your effort, what you give to your wine. And that's the reason why we decided to put your blood and mine. Your and mine. Matthew, your and mine. And you and mine. It's our wine. Our wine. Our wine, Matthew. Our wine. It's our wine. It's not mine, yours. It's our wine. That's our philosophy. Later in the afternoon we meet up with Marko Ducevich. His company, Adriatic Shell, produces high-end preserved seafood. Most recently he started an underwater wine cellar named Coral Wines. This is like algae. Before we visit this underwater cellar of Coral Wines, Marko's family has invited us to their guest house for a little party. The weather is perfect and tonight we're going to enjoy a few classic Croatian dishes. The hot coals are prepped and the seafood is cleaned. The first dish up is peca, a traditional dish that's made with potatoes, onions, olive oil and either fish, octopus, veal or lamb. It's cooked under a bell covered in hot coals. Next is brodet, a traditional seafood stew. Some salt, parsley, olive oil and white wine is slowly cooked with prawns, clams and fish. That's so good. Ah, it's hot. It's so good. This is the way to eat with your hands along with some music, friends and great wine. And then the peca comes. Tender fish and potatoes soaked in guts and juice. Yum-oh! Now for some dark, sea-aged beer. Maybe because it's the right amount of sugar. Follow that up with more sea-aged wine and the party goes on until the wee hours of the night. The next day, before we take a look at the Coral Wine cellar, the Tarazza Grill has a little surprise for us. Yeah, super. Oh, nice color. They've prepared a local specialty, pot lamb slow-cooked over a spitfire. It's rustic and delicious. Tell me your national solution to things. No, no, no, no. Krakia. Krakia's all problems. All problems. What kind of problems? So you have a stomach problem. Problems at work. If you are happy and if you are sad and if you are... Yeah, I need to work in the morning. You won't get to go fast asleep. You always drink Krakia and it will help you with everything. We're stuffed, but now it's time to go visit the underwater cellar. Marco gives us a little background on how we get started and how wines actually develop under the sea. When I started this, I didn't plan to do this. So, the first, I'm a wine lover. I do this for the love of the wine. I like to drink wine. And the second, all winemakers come to me as a friend to the wilderness and they stay a few days and they always leave a few bottles. So, at the end of the year, I put it in the sea because I don't know where to put it. If we choose the right wine and in the right moment and we do that in a correct way, sometimes the wine can age faster in the sea. It's like, in best results, we have like one year in the sea. It's like four to five years in basement. But it's not the same development. It's like a little bit different. That all sounds good, but we look forward to putting this to the test. We arrived at Marco's farm by a small boat. He has a mussel farm for his food products and the wines are stored near the mussel cages. It's a quiet, serene spot. We start off with a rosé from Slovenian producer Kaby. It's interesting to taste the same bottle, same vintage aged in the sea versus one aged in the cellar. Initial thought was the one that wasn't in the sea is better because of the acidity and freshness. But I find myself just going back to the one from the sea. There's just a certain harmony in the taste. Next, we do the same with a Santaki Pinot Noir. Another Croatian wine we adore very much. The finish is longer. The palate is more harmonized as well. It's much smoother. It's so strange, but I feel like it has more weight as well in the mouth. And to me, in terms of the quality we're talking, and I think the one that hasn't been aged is in the sea, that's like tier one level. The one that has been aged in the sea is probably a tier three level. So you're surprised? Yeah, definitely. This is kind of like single vineyard appellation or something along that line. Marco and our other friend Kreshemar even chitch sued up to check out the underwater cellar. Today we're planning to pull a cage of wine out from the sea, but they have to make sure everything is fine first. Hungry? First. Water? Why? Which one do you want? Well, we need to hurry because we need to take the whole cage out. All looks okay, so we head out to pick up some wine. I thought it would be a quick process, but it turns out there's a lot of work involved. And after all that, we still have to wash the bottles off and pack them into boxes. It's been a long, crazy day, and the sun is setting on this chapter of our journey through Dalmatia. Fortunately, there's much more ahead for us. In the next episode, we take you to Cortula as we go hunting for the best food and the best wine made from the local grapes, gherk and poachers. If you would like to learn more about Croatia and Croatian wine, keep a lookout for our next episode and check out our book, Cracking Croatian Wine, A Visitor Friendly Guide.