Day Two: Wine Tour Dubrovnik (and oysters)
Question of the day: Does Juliana actually like oysters or does she use them as an Avenue to consume cocktail sauce and mignonette?
I managed to get a decent nights sleep in my room despite the heat and noise (from what I can only describe as someone taking out the recycling for 2 hours). Woke around 6:30am, got dressed and ready, and grabbed a coffee and croissant at the restaurant downstairs for $13. Expensive but convenient, and the Main Street was so nice and quiet at the early hour.
I had tried to book a wine tour with Dvino wine bar but it turned out the guy has Covid so I did a last minute change and booked with Dubrovnik Wine Tours. I liked that Mario replied as soon as I inquired and was super responsive.
Short complaint: I wish there was a wine tour for people who know a little bit already. I’m really no expert, but I know slightly more than the average person and would like to hear more technical details than swirl, sip, taste. Mario was super knowledgeable but seemed annoyed when I tried to chat with him which was disappointing as a solo traveler. Luckily the other people in the group were mostly nice and friendly.
We took an hour drive where Mario spoke on wine 101 for most of the ride. The history was cool, as wine has been made in Croatia since the beginning of time but while the country was Yugoslavia they were not allowed to sell wines so production was slowed and relatively unknown. They are beginning to make their way back on the map now. Their main grape in the south here on the coast is called Plavic Mali (means the small blue) and it is a descendant of Zinfandel but with more tannin. It’s actually quite yummy!
We started the tour with a short little boat ride to some Ston oysters. On the boat, the man pulled oysters right out of the water and shucked them for us to enjoy with some lemon and wine.
I was nervous. (Also I think it’s a scam bc the oysters looked pretty clean compared to the ones on the rope that were still growing. I think they clean them and hide them there to pretend like they are pulling them out.) But honestly they were pretty delicious! I ate all three of my allotment!
Next stop was the winery which was a small little family owned place. We entered the cellar where there were about 20 barrels aging and the owner and Mario spoke about each wine. We had a sparkling rose made from Plavic Mali that was a little sweet for me. Then a white blend (Malvasia, posip, and something else) then just Posip (Croatian white grape) then two Plavic Mali wines one you and one old. They were all quite good. Mario noted that the young wine was too tannic and he wouldn’t drink it this young. I asked him his favorite wine and he brusquely told me that he doesn’t have a favorite wine and turned away. Wine people are sooooo arrogant! 🙄 I tried to talk to him maybe 3 times and each one he brushed me off and emphasized how much he knows.
After the winery we stopped in a little town called Ston that had these old walls looking like the Great Wall of China. Ston is known for oysters and salt! They have been farming oysters there since the 13th century and made lots of money selling salt around the world. We were only there about 25 mins but that’s all we needed. I wandered the streets, took a few pictures, and bought some salt!
(( Side bar: there is a man on this tour from Canada who has essentially spoke for an hour about how much he hates Trump. Literally questioned people “Did you vote for Trump?” and then said “no judgement” as he continually judged. Stating “I just know that I would have absolutely nothing in common with someone who voted for Trump” and honestly I just can’t imagine being so close minded about politics and the world. Just because you disagree about politics I am sure there are other things we could have in common. He is searching for confirmation bias and truly made this car ride back so awkward as he pontificated about his views and why everyone else is wrong. The idea that we avoid topics that we don’t agree on is really mind blowing. How can you ever learn and expand your view if you don’t want to hear something you don’t agree with? ))
That about summarizes the half day tour. It was nice to see something different and be in an air conditioned bus. I liked the wines and oysters. There was a nice family from Seattle who I chatted with.
Dubrovnik is super hot and I want to see more things but it’s like, too hot to move.
