Josić Restaurant and Winery – 'Quality by Nature'
Plus a bonus Croatian Wine of the Week
My May 2024 wine tour with Osijek-Baranja County – after stops at Belje and Gerštmajer – continued with a lunch and tasting at Josić in the village of Zmajevac.
Instead of using our tour driver, we walked through the rolling hills of Baranja’s countryside It was quite warm and humid, but it was the best way to get a feel for the area’s rustic beauty. Our walk also included a stroll through the surduci (from the Turkish word Surduk) – the wine cellars – which reminded me of those I had visited in nearby Hungary.
Upon our arrival, we were treated to an amazing multi-course lunch specially curated by Chef Tomica Đukić.
In between meal courses, we would pop into the tasting room to taste a wine, then bring it to our table to enjoy with the food. Insider secret: tastings are complimentary.
When Chef Đukić learned I could not eat gluten or dairy, he sprang into action – creating on the fly some of the best dietary accommodation dishes I have ever tasted.
In 1999, Damir and Vlatka Josić purchased a 42-meter-long wine cellar built in 1935, to which they have added modern winemaking technology. Today they make a variety of wines including Cru-Cru sparkling, Graševina, Chardonnay, Traminac, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cuvée (red blends), and a Cabernet Franc, my bonus Croatian wine pick of the week.
Josić Cabernet Franc Superior, Baranja-Zmajevac 2019
This bold Baranja beauty exemplifies the ‘mother of wine’
From Zmajevac in Baranja comes this rare single-variety Cabernet Franc. Selective and smaller grape yields, natural fermentation, low intervention winemaking, and a 14-month rest in oak barrels before being bottled unfiltered and unfined makes for a rich, ravishing red. It may be small batch, but it is big on aromas and flavors like blackberry, black cherry, dried plum, toasty oak spice, and a whiff of smoke. It is an ideal match for hearty meat dishes like beef, lamb, and pork, like the main course I enjoyed at the restaurant.
