Mate Violić Matuško winery from Potomje on the Pelješac peninsula was presented at the forum "It's time for ..." in Zagreb. Violić graduated as an agronomist and in the period from 1990 to 1997 he successfully led PZ Dingač. Since 1998 he has been starting his own private wine journey. He filled his first bottles of Plavac mali in early February 1998, followed by years in which he slowly built a cellar as the vineyards grew. Today, the cellar has 2,500 square meters and during the year it is visited by 70,000 wine lovers from around the world and Croatia.
The winery also has its own cellar in Dubrovnik in the old town, and representative offices in Split and Zagreb. Apart from the neighboring countries of BiH, Montenegro, and Serbia, the wines are exported to Austria, Germany, England, and significant quantities to China on several occasions. 350,000 bottles are produced annually on our own 20 hectares at the positions of Dingač, Postup, Župa pelješka. And in Sveta Nedjelja on Hvar, in an excellent location, there is another hectare planted with Plavac.
Of course, the most famous and strongest location is Dingač on the southern position of the peninsula, 10 kilometers long, and the tunnel from Potomje to there was broken in the mid-seventies. At that Dingač location, the sun shines on the vine and "feeds" it three times; directly from the sky, through reflection from the sea, and by the land covered with small stones. Special wines from the Matuško Violić cellar are Dingač Superior (selected from dried berries), Reserva, which has a resdual sugar of about 5 grams an,d the most expensive Royal wine (price in the cellar 760 kuna) with a residual sugar of 10 to 12 grams and 16 percent alcohol.
At the presentation we tasted Pošip 12.5% alcohol from 2021. Grk 14% 2021. Plavac mali Matuško 13% 2019, Postup 14% from 2017, Zinfandel 14% 2018 and Dingač 14.5 2017. Pošip 2021 is a smaller part of the grapes from Potomje and larger ones bought in Smokvica. The Grk 2021, as sommelier Tomislav Jakopović said, retains high acids, iandand s a very soft wine, mothe uth is full and it asks for a sip more. It has elegance and high alcohol does not matter. It was found that both initial wines look older than 7 or 8 months when they were made. Technology is important here and it is moving forward, so wines are coming to market more and more mature.
Zinfandel wine does not have a lot of tannins, it is elegant, drinkable but it has a thin body. In terms of marketing, Matuško decided to include this variety, which was once widespread throughout Dalmatia (until it sank due to downy mildew) in its range. After Plavac Matuško, Postup and zinfandel, the tasting ended, as expected, with the best wine of the Dingač promotion from 2017. Small doubts arose about the amount of fermented sugar, ie whether it is dry or not? The wine is dry and least adapted to the market. Matuško has all the necessary knowledge in the process of wine production, an instinct for sales and trade ,and excellent positioning in the market. His work has been recognized and awarded, mostly at Sabatine (he was a champion four times). In Bordeaux, he won, several years ago, gold for Reserva and Royal and silver for Dingač.
photo: Marko Čolić
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