Mario Androvic

Winemaking has been a tradition in the Andrović family since the 1880s. It started with Mario Andrović’s great-grandfather, known as Steely Pavo. His children built up the winery and it has continued to develop unique Plavac Mali wines. “Here I am doing the exact same thing my great-grandfather was doing a 100 years ago.”

Plavac Mali is the type of grape that really needs a lot of attention and tough, rocky terrain to express itself. When establishing the vineyard, Pavo would show his children how to plant vine cuttings in the deep cracks of bare rock. He always said that the more a vine struggles to grow, the better the fruit, and resulting wine will be.

Peljecšac is the home land for the Plavac Mali grape. It has all it needs to thrive here, perfect soils, climate and salty sea air. It grows better here than anywhere else in the world. Mario’s farm is in the village of Ponikve in the heart of Pelješac.

Mario’s ancestors have been farming Plavac Mali here since the 16th century, when they migrated to Pelješac and saw the potential of the land. The Andrović family has called the farm home for more than a century. “It means everything to me. This is where I was born and raised.” Mario’s father taught him how to make wine here on the Andrović farm. He hopes someday to pass the family winemaking tradition and the century of knowledge on to his children.

The Pelješac peninsula overlooks the clear, blue waters of the Adriatic. It is free of the harmful effects of industrial pollution. No additives are needed for the soils and the vines are minimally sprayed with only copper and sulfur treatments. The simple philosophy of minimal intervention allows the natural expression of each vintage. Each vintage reflects the environmental conditions. The result is a wine that has big changes in concentration and flavor from year to year, but it always tastes like real Plavac Mali.

Cultivation is done the way it always has been on the farm. The techniques are the same that Mario’s great-grandfather was using. They kept all the methods, and even some of the same equipment. The important thing is that the winemaking techniques haven’t changed.

Mario’s first bottled vintage was 2009. Prior to this the family only made wine for themselves and sold all of their excess fruit to co-ops around Pelješac. All of the wine rests in Croatian oak (Slavonian). Each barrel is hand made. There is a special, older barrel that was made by Mario’s grandfather 60 years ago, and is still in use today.