Following the success of his first winery, Podrum Franjo, Kreso Petrekovic brings his second passion project to life —Vinas Mora. This co-op winery focuses on producing natural wines from Primošten, a historic and UNESCO-protected area in coastal Croatia, near the city of Split. Kreso, a former somm, wine professional, and importer in New York, found himself in his coastal house in Primošten at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Passionate about the area, its unique terroir, and Babić grape variety, Kreso always advocates drinking wines made by the local farmers who have no or very little commercial success.
A play on words in Croatian, the winery name means “wines from the sea” because of the vineyard’s proximity to the Adriatic. Most of the growers involved farm vineyards only a few meters above sea level, where Babić vines literally grow in the rocks. However, the previously rocky, hardly accessible terrain saw incredible transformation through extreme human effort into agricultural land by manual clearing. Dry-stone walls separate the tiny plots with only three to four plants each, making it extremely hard to farm and harvest here, not to mention impossible to use any machinery.