August the 17th, 2026 – The tragedy of the horrendous Omiš fire knows no bounds as one local wine producer says his next harvest will be set back by about 7 years. He said that the fire engulfed everything he owned in just an hour.
Index reports that the massive Omiš fire destroyed the vineyard belonging to the Mimica family, and right before the harvest. For winemaker Marko Mimica, the fire destroyed in just one hour the plantings he had been investing in for 25 years. This year’s grape crop, which was already ready for picking, burned completely.
“It’s difficult at this moment in time to say anything coherent. Twenty-five years of work and struggle with this hillside disappeared literally in an hour,” said winemaker Marko Mimica in conversation with Nova TV. The harvest had been scheduled for Friday and the team had already been gathered, but the fire interrupted everything. “Everything was pointing to a more than good harvest despite the severe drought,” Mimica added.
a major setback and a long road ahead
Mimica emphasised that the chances of the existing vineyard recovering are very, very small. “Now, as a family we will gather ourselves and try to clean all of this up. We’ll try to get straight back into planting and revitalising new vineyards,” he stated, explaining that this work includes uprooting the destroyed vines, removing the fence and posts, and then clearing and preparing the whole terrain again.
This determined winemaker also thanked his colleagues who have constantly been offering him financial and moral support over the last two days. He is however more than aware that no money can compensate for such a loss. He assumes that a natural disaster will be declared, through which he hopes for state aid as well.
The process of planting a new vineyard, Mimica explains, takes two years. “On this karst, stone and meagre soil it will certainly take another five years until the first harvest. So that is a job of about seven years,” he specified. He took over the winery from his father five years ago and says he has enough strength to continue. He says that by giving up the winery he would also lose his own identity, which he has been building for almost 30 years.
