As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, the Sladic Winery is engaged in the production and cultivation of various indigenous Croatian varieties, they have vineyards in three locations which stretch over six hectares and produce a massive 35,000 bottles a year. The business is run by Joso and his sons Ivan and Marko, and in Plastovo near Skradin, they have a tasting room where guests from all over the world come and taste what they’ve produced. Ivan Sladic pointed out that the most common foreign guests are French, Americans and British nationals, and although their original market is the rest of Dalmatia, 20 percent of the Sladic Winery’s production is exported to Sweden and Germany.
“Growing these vines and wine production has been in our tradition for a long time now and has evolved from generation to generation. The tradition began with my great-grandfather, but for the last 25 years, the Sladic Winery has had bottled bottles of the highest quality wine placed on the market. For us, the past year was challenging and unpredictable and marked by the collegiality of those in the catering and hospitality industry, as well as winemakers, to help get rid of old stocks in this difficult situation,” said Ivan Sladic.
The Sladic Winery’s current focus is on autochthonous varieties and they have as many as ten labels under their belts, and in 2020 they placed one of the first sparkling wines in Dalmatia from the Marastina variety. They believe in this variety the most and started building a business with it, and they make four different products from it – fresh maraschino, sparkling wine, aged wine in wood and dessert wine.
“Our Deorum, a maraschino dessert wine, has a special story behind it. It is produced according to a traditional recipe that is over one hundred years old. We also made a documentary about it, which showcases the entire production process. The maraschino dessert wine meant a lot to our region and was one of the biggest European brands. It was appreciated among people because the production process involved with it is very difficult, only 10 percent of the total amount of grapes is actually obtained, so we can say that it is real nectar in terms of wine,” explained Sladic, emphasising that this wine was recognised back in 1934 by the Institute of General Pathology and the pharmacology of the Royal University of Zagreb, which approved for maraschino to be used for the preparation of medicines and medicinal wines.
As he added, this is a unique case in this country, and there are few examples in the world of a wine being officially included among medicines. They plan to plant two more hectares of the lasin variety, which thrives exclusively in the area, to place their babic on the market, and to improve the technology in their cellar from the Wine Envelope.
“We care about constantly improving our products in order to achieve the maximum, because our varieties have excellent parameters to be side by side with the world’s great wines,” they concluded from the Sladic Winery.
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