A spectacular new building for a well-known winery.
The official opening of the new Galić winery building will take place on 9 November, which will be the 10th anniversary of the winery’s foundation. The number nine has a particular importance for Galić, who considers it his lucky number. Still, the doors of the new Galić winery building were opened a little bit earlier for the media and business partners, so on 16 October, we were able to see what lies inside the impressive concrete cube in Kutjevo.
The new winery building is made of red brick and gray and industrially unfinished concrete, and the only decoration on the building is a well-known stylised letter G. Tomislav Ćurković and Zoran Zidarić from the “Two Architects” studio designed the new building, while the interior design was done by project manager Danijel Juričević and Josip Galić himself, who is the true father of the winery. Assisted by the main oenologist Slaven Jeličić and Andrej Markulin, the Galić winery manager, he personally presented the new facility to numerous visitors.
“It took us two years to construct the new winery. Some 15 million kuna was invested in equipment, and part of the equipment was financed through European funds. We have been drawing plans for days, taking care of every detail. We just wanted the winery to look exceptional and I think I have fulfilled my dreams,” said the entrepreneur and visionary Josip Galić from Požega in Slavonia, who has been dealing with wines for the past ten years.
Galić is fascinated by the number nine and the new cellar had to be adapted to this, so the number nine or its sums and multiples are present in many details. For example, the surface area of the building is 3,330 square metres, small tanks have a capacity of between 330 to 900 litres, the total capacity of the winery is 630,000 litres, although Galić is not planning to produce more than 333,000 litres.
The Galić winery was initially inaugurated in 2007 when 40,000 vines were planted on the surface of 6.5 hectares. Today the vines cover 60 hectares, which the hands of hard-working winemakers turn into 300,000 bottles each year. Bottling plant, presses, tanks, the engine room and laboratory prove that this is a facility which follows the latest technology and wine trends, and additional details have been designed to enhance the tourist aspect of the winery – with red wine vinificators made from French oak whose glass sides allow visitors to see the contents and the fermentation itself.
The winery is exceptionally well-equipped: large wooden 3,300-litre barrels for wine, small 330-litre barrels for brandy, concrete cones for future wine maceration, stainless steel tanks, vinifiers and presses – all that is part of Galić’s new facility. As he himself explained, the idea of this new cellar is to develop the possibilities which it provides, the possibilities of exploring the potential of wines and everything that wine can develop into through different processes. In addition to the tour of the cellars, which literally glittered from stainless steel tanks, a culinary presentation was held in the new restaurant and tasting room.
The programme was followed by the tasting of wines from the region at the Kutjevo Castle atrium. The visitors tasted the best wines from wineries Dvanajščak Kozol, Sontacchi, Bolfan, Kopjar, Petrač, Šember, Feravino, Krauthaker and Tomac. Saša Špiranec held a workshop “Wines of Slavonia and Danube” for visiting journalists from Austria, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, USA and Croatia, who were introduced to the wines of the region. The workshop on wine market trends followed so that visitors from abroad and Croatia could get the latest info on the current situation and the anticipated development of Croatian wines on the markets of Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Poland.
Of course, we must praise the extraordinary stubbornness and faith in the success of Josip Galić, his enthusiasm and plans for additional investments, since this new winery, the most modern in the region, proves that this wonderful part of Croatia has not fallen into oblivion. Bravo, Galić!
