Volarevic Winery (Komarna, Croatia)

History of the Komarna Vineyard Region

Volarevic Vineyards are located in the Komarna region of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The relatively young Vineyard was started in 2005 by meliorating the local dry karst area. Thick shrubs were cleared, and rock deposits were ground at 60 cm depth to ensure the best growing conditions for vines. After the terrain preparation. 12 ha of vine were planted in two 2008 and 2009. 90% of the vine was the Plavac Mali variety. The first harvested grapes were fermented into wine of 2010.

The Plavac Mali variety grows well on barren lands and doesn't require a lot of water to grow. The advantage of Komarna are cool nights that allow sourness to accumulate in the vine. It adds to the quality of the variety as Plavac Mali's quality and harmony of taste depends on preserving the sourness of the grape.

The Volarević Family

Our wine story began in 2005 with the passion and dedication of a father and 4 sons who already have a very successful at leading a plant/vine nursery in Croatia. Driven by curiosity and willingness to work more, we made a leap in the wine business and very quickly established ourselves as one of the most famous wineries in Croatia. The Volarević family winery successfully markets its products on markets such as Croatia, the United States, Singapore, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Switzerland, Belgium, and Singapore.

The Volarevic family is extremely proud of the quality they produce, thus creating a meaningful tradition for future generations. Their commitment to quality and detail resulted in a series of outstanding, award-winning wines!

The family mission is to create the best wine story while combining science and tradition, thus providing customers with delicious and rewarding with a lot of manual work invested.

Plavac Mali - the indigenous variety

Synonyms of this vine variety are Zinfandel, Primitivo, and Crljenak Kastelanski!

Plavac Mali is an indigenous Croatian wine variety, and considered the original, “grandfather” of the more internationally famous varieties Zinfandel and Primitivo. Its breed is connected to middle and South Dalmatia. It was bred by a spontaneous hybridisation of two indigenous Croatian sorts: Crljenka Kastelanska (also known as Zinfandel or Primitivo) and Dobricic.

Stunning and organic vineyards at the sea!

Plavac Mali succeeds best on sunny slopes where it never lacks in sun and warmth but also finds hydration by burying its roots deep under the porous rock while cooled by constant air circulation. The sort is defined by exceptional quality, high yield, and a particular resistance to illness – which makes this grape easy to grow under organic growing conditions. In addition, the climate and soil conditions in the Komarna region allow for organic production, as high temperatures during the summer, constant winds, cool nights, the raw nature and the biodiversity of flora and fauna create perfect conditions for vine growth in an ecologically acceptable way. Due to hard natural conditions and the hardness of the Plavac Mali grape, minimal quantities of copper and sulphur are used in the production abiding by organic production laws. The weed that grows around the area is pulled out manually to ensure better insolation which helps with sugar saturation, air flow and other parameters necessary to yield high quality grapes.

All of the above ensures the production of exquisite wines which boast a high alcohol percentage, the fullness of taste, the purple-scarlet colour with blue shades. It is an astringent, high-extract wine.

The positioning of the stunning Volarevic Vineyards allow for Plavac Mali to grow to its best quality. The entire area of the vineyard is exposed to the South and has three types of insolation: sun-vine, sun-rock-vine, sun-sea-vine. Due to the extreme conditions and high temperatures, the vineyard is also equipped with an irrigation system necessary during drought periods.

Altitude: 72-132 m

Yearly insolation (sunshine): 2,650 h

Rainfall: average 750 mm (Singapore: 1,880 mm!)

Size: 15 ha

Soil: lithosol (soil consisting mainly of partially weathered rock fragments), rock percentage: 50%