Meet the Winemakers: Marija Mrgudić

1.Who taught you? Say the name.

I was born into a family of winegrowers, so it was only natural that, from an early age, I became involved in the various stages of grape and wine production. My father was passionate about viticulture and winemaking and devoted all his knowledge and enthusiasm to these activities. However, during my childhood, which took place under the socialist system, private winemakers were not allowed to bring their own wine labels to the market. In other words, there were no independent private wineries. We sold all our grape production to the local cooperative, which marketed the wine under its own label. In our small family wine cellars, we were allowed to produce wine solely for our own family consumption.

Nevertheless, the cooperative's management included members of the cooperative itself, among them my father. He was one of those who strongly advocated bringing modern knowledge, innovative approaches and new technologies to our community, a small village far away from the major centres.

This is how I gained my first knowledge of viticulture and winemaking, primarily through my father. Unfortunately, he passed away when I was still young, leaving my mother alone with two minor children, my brother and me, to take care of the family estate. At that time, I worked alongside my mother, helping with everything I could. Those experiences became the foundation of my love for viticulture and winemaking and inspired me to pursue my education in this field.

Therefore, my greatest knowledge and earliest lessons came from my late parents, Ivo and Jelisava Bura. They taught me the importance of honesty, integrity, sincerity and dedication to one's work.

Later, throughout my education, I had the opportunity to learn from various professors and mentors. Among them, I would particularly like to mention Professor Jelaska and Engineer Bakarić, who generously shared their knowledge and professional experience with us, their students, and were always available to guide us and offer their support whenever we needed it.

2.Who have you taught? Where are they now?

Throughout my life, I have had the opportunity to work with many different people. In order to achieve the results you envision, you must be willing to teach others, share your knowledge and show them how things should be done. Many of the people I trained were seasonal workers, some of whom later moved on to other industries, while others remained in the wine business.

I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful people, among them my dear friend, the American businessman Benmosche. He was eager to learn as much as possible from me, but I also learned a great deal from him. He wanted to discover the natural and traditional methods of winemaking in Dalmatia, while I was equally interested in learning from him about the characteristics and diversity of wines from around the world, which he had had the opportunity to taste throughout his life.

Above all, however, I am most proud of my three children: my son Boris and my daughters Antonia and Lucija. They grew up learning through everyday life on our family estate, absorbing its traditions, values and way of working. Today, they are gradually taking on more responsibilities and becoming increasingly involved in the family business, continuing the story and tradition we have built over the years.

3.Which vintages do you date your life by?

That is a very beautiful question. Every vintage has its own story, but some leave a deeper mark on our memories because of the events and circumstances that made them special.

One of the most painful periods of my early childhood, when I lost my father, left a profound mark on my life. I was just an eleven-year-old girl when I first stepped into the winery to help my mother make wine for our family. It was the 1974 vintage.

Another particularly memorable vintage was 1995, following the Croatian War of Independence and the arrival of democracy in my country. For the first time, we were free to enter the market under our own wine label. In our small family wineries, we could process more grapes than we needed for our own family consumption and finally produce and market wine under our own names. This was a truly important turning point.

The 2000 vintage also holds a special place in my memory, as it was the first time I received an offer to export our wine to the US market.

Then came the 2009 vintage, when we produced our first Zinfandel in our cellar, followed by the exceptionally high-quality 2011 vintage.

Every vintage is different, but certain years remain unforgettable.

I believe that 2026 will also be remembered as a very special vintage, particularly for the exceptional concentration of flavours and components in the grapes, resulting from unprecedented drought conditions. Unfortunately, droughts in our region are becoming increasingly severe with each passing year.

4.What has changed in the trade since you started that somebody your age would notice and a new hire would walk right past?

Viticulture and winemaking are not simply professions for me and my family; they are our way of life. Over the course of my lifetime, many things have changed, and the wine business has changed along with them.

First and foremost, technology has advanced tremendously. Access to new knowledge, modern processing methods and greater mobility have transformed the way we work.

During my childhood, we mainly relied on donkeys to transport grapes from the vineyards, and on manual tools to cultivate the land. In the cellar, we depended largely on our sensory skills and experience, using basic instruments such as hydrometers and ebulliometers.

Today, things are entirely different. The latest technologies in grape processing, transportation and laboratory analysis are now used even in the smallest wineries. For young people working in the wine industry today, the methods we once relied on are almost unimaginable. It is certainly a good thing that we have progressed in this direction, as modern technology and knowledge give younger generations the opportunity to influence the styles, quality and overall health of the wines of the future.

However, something has gradually disappeared along the way, something that we once nurtured and valued greatly, but which seems less important to younger generations today: the sense of community and solidarity among winemakers.

In times when we lacked advanced technology and had to rely primarily on our own knowledge and experience, we depended on the help of our neighbours and friends, both near and far. Through spending time together, we exchanged experiences and knowledge and helped one another in practical ways.

This spirit of togetherness extended far beyond winemaking and became an essential part of everyday life. It was customary for everyone to come together and help with the grape harvest of anyone who had lost a close family member that year, someone facing illness in their household, or someone who had suffered significant damage due to a fire or another misfortune.

Sadly, this kind of solidarity is becoming increasingly rare, and I regret seeing it disappear.

I still do my best to preserve that spirit of community and togetherness with everyone around me. However, I find it increasingly difficult to maintain this tradition among younger generations.

5.Walk me through a day at the peak of harvest, hour by hour.

Harvest is always an extremely busy time, with a great deal of work to be done at every stage, from the vineyards to the winery.

The first step is to prepare the winery properly for the harvest. For us, this preparation begins during the summer, and as harvest seems to come earlier and earlier every year, we spend almost the entire summer emptying our tanks and preparing the winery to receive the new vintage.

Next come regular walks through the vineyards, accompanied by measurements of sugar and acidity levels, in order to determine the optimal harvest dates. Every year, however, we are increasingly surprised by how early the grapes reach their ideal ripeness.

Our vineyards are located in several different positions, which allows us to produce wines with distinct characteristics and styles. Therefore, we carefully decide which vineyard sites to harvest and at what time.

We begin with Zinfandel, which grows close to the sea and ripens earlier than Plavac Mali planted in our other locations. Next, we harvest Plavac Mali from the steep slopes overlooking the sea, particularly Dingač and Postup. Finally, we harvest Plavac Mali from the fertile valley.

All our grapes are harvested by hand, which means that we need to organise a considerable number of people to ensure that we have the required quantity of grapes for processing every day.

Since harvesting takes place during the summer, when temperatures are often very high, we cannot work throughout the entire day. Instead, we start in the early morning hours, often while it is still dark, and continue until around 9 a.m. We then take a break until approximately 5 p.m., when we resume harvesting and continue until nightfall.

An important part of the harvest is our shared morning meal, or marenda, which is always a wonderful opportunity to bring the team together and boost everyone's motivation.

We make every effort to bring the harvested grapes to the winery for processing at the lowest possible temperature. Since we work predominantly with red grape varieties, we do not normally cool the grapes before processing.

At the winery, we carry out the standard processing procedures and prepare the must for fermentation. Grapes from the steep southern slopes ferment in smaller open-top tanks, where the cap is punched down manually. In contrast, grapes from the valley ferment in larger fermentation tanks, where the cap management is carried out automatically.

In the evening, we plan the number of people needed and the quantities of grapes to be harvested for the following day.

For me, keeping detailed records is particularly important. Today, there are numerous software programmes and applications available for recording and monitoring all these activities, but I still belong to the old school: I keep a notebook and write everything down, documenting the work carried out both in the winery and in the vineyards.

I still have the notebooks kept by my father, my father-in-law and myself. They allow me to look back over many years and follow the continuity of changes and developments in both the vineyards and the cellar. These records are an invaluable source of knowledge and experience, connecting generations and helping me understand our vineyards and wines over time.

6.What decision do you make that you cannot fully explain to somebody else?

When my children were still young and my brother was away at sea, I was able to make decisions on my own, without having to explain or justify them to anyone. These decisions most often concerned the amount of time the wine needed to spend in oak barrels, as well as decisions regarding blends made from different barrels or vineyard sites, and similar matters.

Today, things are different. Such decisions are now discussed and agreed upon collectively, between my brother, my children and me. The decision-making process has become much more collaborative.

I actually enjoy working this way. It means that everyone is involved in the process, everyone has the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and perspective, and each of us can step in and take over when necessary. No single person is indispensable, and the business does not depend entirely on one individual's knowledge or presence. For me, this is one of the greatest strengths of working as a family.

7.Tell me about a harvest that went wrong. Start at the beginning.

Every vintage is different, and each has its own story to tell. Some remain in our memories because everything went smoothly, while others are remembered for the obstacles and challenges we had to overcome at every step.

One vintage that has remained particularly vivid in my memory is the harvest of 1989, which I had to manage entirely on my own, without anyone's help. My mother was ill, and my brother was away at sea, working as a seafarer. I did not even have any seasonal workers to help me.

At that time, we were still required to deliver our grapes to the cooperative. Every day, from early morning until evening, I worked alone in the vineyard, and eventually I made the wine for our family entirely on my own in the cellar. I was just a young woman of 28 years old.

Fortunately, towards the end of the harvest, friends and relatives came to help me. In those days, the spirit of solidarity and helping one another was still very much alive, and people truly stood by each other when help was needed.

I also vividly remember the war years of 1991 and 1992. We went out to harvest our grapes with a constant sense of fear and uncertainty, always anxious about the possibility of aerial bombardment.

Those were very difficult times, and these harvests have remained deeply engraved in my memory, not only because of the work itself, but also because of the courage, determination and solidarity that those circumstances demanded.

8.Who is the legend around here? Somebody people tell stories about.

There are countless stories in our region, dating back to the Illyrians, Greeks, Romans and Slavs, all of whom ruled these lands and cultivated vines on our Peninsula.

However, when it comes to the history of wine as we know it today, the true legends are undoubtedly those who left an indelible mark on our history, a legacy that we are fortunate to inherit.

One such remarkable figure was Mrs Anđelka Ančić. An oenologist, she came to work for the cooperative in the 1960s. As a woman working in a profession dominated by men, in what was still a rather patriarchal society, she managed to bring all the cooperative members together around a common vision. Thanks to her dedication and determination, the Dingač vineyard area received the first geographical designation of origin in 1961 (DOCG), followed by the Postup vineyard area in 1967. I believe she truly deserves to be remembered as one of the great legends of our wine history.

Another important chapter in our history began with the post-war revival of private winemaking. One of the pioneers of private winemaking, even during the socialist period, was Ivo Violić, known as Indijan, who established a relatively modest winery in 1988.

The subsequent rapid development of private winemaking on the Pelješac Peninsula owes much to Miljenko Grgich, a great winemaker of Pelješac roots who made his name in the United States. In 1994, he opened his winery on Pelješac, in many ways paving the way for the new generation of modern wineries that would follow.

All of these remarkable individuals have since passed away, but they undoubtedly deserve to be remembered as legends of Pelješac winemaking.

Other pioneers of private winemaking who deserve special recognition include the late Ivo Skaramuča, Frano Miloš, Vedran Križija, Pavo Miličić, Mato Violić and, of course, my own brother, Niko Bura, from our family winery.

They were among the people who helped shape the identity of Pelješac wines and lay the foundations for the private winemaking tradition that we continue today.

9.Is there something that happens at the end of harvest every year? Same thing, same way.

In Dalmatia, we call the end of the grape harvest Sabatina, and it is traditionally a time of celebration and joy. Everyone feels happy and relieved that all the grapes have been brought into the winery and that the wine is safely in the barrels.

Dalmatia also has a wonderful tradition of bringing winemakers together for an event called Sabatina, organised by the Cooperative Union of Dalmatia. It is an annual gathering featuring tastings of both young and mature wines, as well as socialising, entertainment and celebration. The event takes place in a different location in Dalmatia each year.

In addition to this larger gathering, individual wineries and families also organise smaller celebrations to mark the end of their own harvest.

This tradition is still alive today, although I feel that younger generations are showing less and less interest in continuing it. I hope that we will manage to preserve this beautiful custom, because it represents much more than simply celebrating the end of the harvest. It is about friendship, togetherness and the shared joy of bringing another vintage to life.

10.What do people outside the trade always get wrong about this work?

Many wine lovers tend to see winemakers in a rather romantic light, as great creators. However, I believe that wine is a product of nature, and that through hard work and dedication, a winemaker can help nature achieve its best possible expression.

You simply cannot produce an outstanding wine from grapes grown in poor vineyard sites. The potential of the grape variety, the characteristics of the vineyard site and the climatic conditions, combined with the winemaker's work, all contribute to the final result in the bottle.

Once all these elements come together, there is another essential participant in the process: microorganisms, known as yeasts, which transform grape must into wine.

I believe that winemakers are, above all, good stewards of these processes and devoted servants of the vineyard. Our role is not to create nature's work, but to understand it, guide it and allow it to express its full potential.

11.What's the first thing you got wrong, and who caught it?

Every year, I make a mistake or two, and there is always someone ready to point them out. However, what really matters is that these mistakes never cause any serious damage.

When I was younger, my greatest critic was my mother. Today, that role has been taken over by my children.

I suppose every generation needs someone to keep them on their toes!

12.Is there something you still do the way you were taught, even though you know a faster way exists?

Yes, absolutely. There are a couple of things I still prefer to do the traditional way.

First, I still keep my records by hand, even though there are many faster and more modern ways of doing it. I simply enjoy writing everything down in my own handwriting.

Second, when determining grape ripeness, I still rely heavily on my senses and organoleptic assessment. The same applies in the cellar: I always want to taste and evaluate the wine myself before looking at the laboratory analysis.

Thank goodness my work does not require me to rely too heavily on artificial intelligence! And I sincerely hope that, at this stage of my life and career, there will not be too many more changes for me to adapt to.

13.What were you taught that you've since stopped doing?

At the very beginning of my winemaking journey, we fermented our wines using indigenous yeasts. Later, commercially selected yeast strains became available and were adopted by a very large proportion of winemakers.

At that time, I also started working with selected yeasts. However, I soon noticed that their use was changing the flavours and aromas of my wines. The reason was that I had to use various Bordeaux yeast strains or similar commercial cultures, simply because there were no selected yeast strains available on the market specifically suited to Plavac Mali and to the style of wine I wanted to produce.

For this reason, I decided to abandon that practice and return to fermenting with my own indigenous yeasts. Many people were sceptical about this decision, but I believe it allowed me to preserve the authentic character, flavours and aromas of my wines.

A great deal has changed over the years, including the values and parameters we consider important in winemaking. One example is pH. In the past, pH values received relatively little attention, partly because pH meters were not sufficiently accurate. Greater importance was therefore placed on total acidity.

Today, with the development of highly precise pH meters, the situation has changed considerably, and pH is often given greater importance than total acidity when assessing wine chemistry and stability.

This is another example of how winemaking evolves over time, as technology advances and our understanding of wine becomes more sophisticated.

14.Is there a tank or a piece of equipment that has a name?

Our vineyards are located in several different areas, and each area has its own name, so every vineyard has its own name. We do not have any special names for the tanks, barrels, or tools in the winery.

15.Somebody walks in knowing nothing about wine. What do they already know that you can build on?

If everything has been done properly in the vineyard and the winery, then the wine has a soul and a life of its own.

I believe that wine is a living substance that continues to evolve and mature, from fermentation all the way to the glass. It is precisely when the wine is enjoyed that an interpretation takes place between the winemaker and the person drinking it, with the wine serving as their means of communication.

What matters first is what the consumer feels, senses and smells when experiencing the wine. Everything that comes afterwards is additional knowledge and understanding that true wine enthusiasts and connoisseurs may wish to explore.

It is much the same as when you first catch sight of someone you are attracted to. What you feel in that very moment is what matters most. Only afterwards do you begin to seek out more information about that person.

In both cases, I believe we could call it love.

16.Whoever pours your wine for a stranger, what do they need to know that isn't in the tasting notes?

As I mentioned in my previous answer, what matters most is that the wine appeals to the person drinking it. Everything else can be discovered and understood later.

Ideally, every wine consumer would have the opportunity to visit the vineyard and the specific vineyard site where the grapes are grown, and begin to understand the entire process behind the flavours and aromas they experience in the wine. Unfortunately, this is simply not possible for everyone.

That is why we make an effort to take everyone who wishes to visit us and learn more about our wines out into the vineyards, to the very sites from which our grapes originate. We believe that experiencing these places firsthand helps visitors gain a much deeper understanding of the flavours and aromas found in our wines, as well as the connection between the wine, the land and the conditions in which it was created.

17.What would someone have to watch you do to understand your wine? Something the glass doesn't give them.

When the work in the vineyard is done with honesty and sincerity, and that same dedication is carried into the winery and reflected in the character of the wine, there are no secrets that a consumer cannot recognize in the glass. The greatest mystery is nature itself, something we must continually study and learn to understand if we are to achieve the best possible results in both the vineyard and the wine.

Whatever a winemaker does with love and passion will always be recognizable in the glass. The same is true in every profession: the results always reveal the love and passion that the maker has put into their work.

18.What's your favorite wine that you don't make? Describe it without using tasting notes.

I can't really say that there is one particular wine I love most. What makes wine so fascinating is its diversity and its ability to express the authenticity of each grape variety and vineyard site, something that makes it unique among all other drinks.

That said, I do enjoy a good French Syrah or an Australian Shiraz: mature, full-bodied wines with distinctive terroir characteristics. And I'm always happy to enjoy a glass of Champagne, especially when I'm reminded that life is beautiful and short, and that we should take time every day to enjoy its beauty.

19.When you make a great one, do you know right away? What comes to mind when it happens, a place or something you remember?

My mother taught me that wine is made in the vineyard, and that the grapes give us our first indication of what the wine might become. However, it is only once the wine has come out of the press and we have tasted it that we can speak with a little more confidence about the quality of the vintage. Then, over the following year or two, we must take great care not to spoil what we have worked so hard to create.

With the experience I have gained over the years, I can now recognize with confidence the wines I have in my cellar. And every time I taste a wine, I think of my mother, because she was always the first person we would bring a new wine to taste.

20.One pour, one stranger. Which wine, and what do you say before they taste it?

Zinfandel is both one of our own and a foreigner. It is ours by origin, yet foreign because, after the phylloxera outbreak, it was no longer cultivated in Dalmatian vineyards. Around thirty years ago, thanks to Mike Grgich, its Dalmatian roots came to light, and its cultivation began to spread more widely throughout Dalmatia.

That is how we came to plant a Californian Zinfandel vineyard in partnership with Robert Benmosche. Today, it has become a wine of real distinction, and we are very proud of that collaboration. Sadly, my partner Benmosche has passed away, but the vineyard is still cultivated and the wine is still being produced. Part of it is sold in the US market and part in Croatia.

Whenever you pour it for someone, you can say: "It is so much ours, and yet so foreign."

What do you remember about that first day in the cellar with your mother in 1974? What was your job?

Back then, my task in the cellar was to hand my mother the tools and whatever else she needed, as long as I could reach or lift it.

Is there one entry in your father’s notebooks that you go back to? A line, a vintage, or a note in the margin.

I often refer to my father’s notes. The experience recorded in them has helped me enormously in my own development. Today, I mainly use them to compare past and present yields, as well as sugar levels and alcohol content in the wine. It is also fascinating to compare the timing of budbreak, leaf development, flowering, and harvest in order to see just how much the climate has changed over the years.

How did you and Robert Benmosche first meet? And when you call the Viganj vineyard “Californian,” do the vines come from California?

Bob Benmosche bought a house in Dubrovnik in 2000. Being a great wine lover, he recognized that Pelješac was an ideal place for growing grapes. While searching for the perfect location and quality, he came across my wine and wanted to produce something just like it.

He approached me and proposed investing in my vineyards and winery. I turned down his offer because my life is my work, and I did not feel that bringing outside investments into my life was something I could do.

After that, we spent some time enjoying a friendly exchange of knowledge and experience. I shared my knowledge of winemaking, while he shared his extensive knowledge of wine.

Out of that friendship, the idea emerged to establish new vineyards in which he would invest and where we would introduce Zinfandel vines from California (Sonoma). My responsibility would be to take care of growing the vines and producing the wine.

That is how our collaboration began in 2007, and it has now lasted almost 20 years. Sadly, Bob is no longer with us, and I am also gradually stepping away from the business. Today, most of the responsibility is in the hands of his son and mine.

What does this work take away from you that people don’t see?

I don’t feel that my work has taken anything away from me. On the contrary, I feel it has given me so much. First, it has provided a livelihood for me and my family. Secondly, it has given me a sense of belonging and a deep connection to my roots, as well as to the beautiful place where I live.