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Wildfire wreaks havoc at Grgich winery in Croatia
A wildfire on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast has destroyed vineyards and thousands of bottles of wine at Grgich winery near Dubrovnik.
As reported by Decanter.com, owner Mike Grgich lost some 25,000 bottles of Plavac Mali from the 2010, 2011 and 2012 vintages in the blaze.
The estate is one of the best known in Croatia and a sister winery to Grgich Hills in the Napa Valley.
The wildfire started due to the perfect storm of incredibly hot temperatures paired with strong winds, leading the municipal government of Dubrovnik to declare a state of disaster in the region.
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Despite hundreds of firefighters battling a blaze, around 100,000 vines in the village of Trstenik on the Peljesac peninsula were destroyed in the fire.
In addition to Grgich, a number of smaller producers also lost vines to the fire, though fortunately no lives were lost.
Thank you to everyone for your concern regarding the forest fire on Peljesac, home to Grgić Vina, our winery in Croatia. Most important, everyone is safe. The winery and nearby town were evacuated. Our stone winery is fine but we did lose an attached metal building that held much of our current bottled wine and some of the surrounding vines were burnt. We’re not sure of the extent of vineyard damage yet. Our bulk wine was not affected and we still plan on harvesting this year. Thanks again to everyone for your good wishes.
Violet Grgich