December the 14th, 2023 – The famed Miljenko Grgić has sadly passed away, after making an enormous name for not only himself, but for Croatian wine as a whole, globally.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, famous winemaker Miljenko Grgić, who was also often lovingly referred to as the “King of Chardonnay”, passed away on December the 13th, 2023.
Miljenko ‘Mike’ Grgich, as he is called across the pond in the United States of America, was an exceptionally well known and highly influential member of the Croatian diaspora. He was born on April the 1st, 1923 in the village of Desne, within the Kula Norinska Municipality in the Neretva Valley. He was the youngest of eleven children. His family owned a small vineyard and they produced wine, like many villagers living in that part of the extreme south of Dalmatia during that era.
As 24sata reports, Miljenko was just over two years old when he drank wine diluted with water for the very first time. One year later, at the age of three, he was already out working in the vineyard, stepping on the collected grapes with his father, and learning the ropes.
Learning all about how wine is made and nurturing a true passion from a very early age, wine would not only remain with him for life, but shape his entire existence.
