The wines of Zlatan Otok

Zlatan Otok is one of the best wineries in Croatia. They make wines on the small island of Hvar in the Adriatic Sea and directly across on the mainland. Most of Zlatan Otok's wines are made from indigenous Croatian grapes. They receive great appreciation both at home and abroad. Zlatan Otok's winemaker has already been named Croatian Winemaker of the Year twice.

Zlatan Otok was founded in 1986 and focuses on making quality wines that do justice to Croatian winemaking traditions. It is held in high regard both in Croatia and far beyond. In recent years the house has won a wheelbarrow full of medals at wine competitions in Bordeaux, Zurich, Zagreb, London and Paris. At home, the house's winemaker, Zlatan Plenković, has twice been named 'Winemaker of the Year'.

Its vineyards lie on the southern slopes of the small island of Hvar in the Adriatic Sea and on the mainland, near Makarska and Šibenik. The slopes are very steep, 40% to 60%. Maintenance and harvest are done by hand - machines can't reach these steep slopes. Zlatan Otok has never pursued organic certification, although it would probably obtain it easily, since the sea wind and the heat of the dry summer make pesticides unnecessary.

Zlatan Otok manages several of its own vineyards, both on Hvar and on the mainland. It also buys in grapes from a few winegrowers with very good vineyards. In those vineyards you find Plavac Mali grapes, Crljenak, Merlot, Babić, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and the white Pošip, Bogdanuša, Maraschino, Yellow Muscat, Zilavka and Chardonnay.