Vis Pt. 2: ‘So much to do, so little time’

Time is relative on the island of Vis. Not just for the islanders. You quickly become drawn into that subtle trap of “not giving a damn” about the plans you made, the time of the day or month it is, or even coming home at any point. Who knows, you might even find “paradise lost”; the one you never knew you were looking for in the first place!

For instance, we were planning to just “shortly stop by” Antonio Lipanović, the island’s most renowned winemaker, and ended up staying there for hours, although we tried only two wines, and were quite hungry. He is the only one who somehow managed to “get in” one of the ex-military mines and use it as the ideal room for making and storing his wines.

We ended up discussing how Vis would flourish if wine making became serious business, as it was centuries ago (in ancient times, more than 1/3 of the island was covered in wineyards) and if the goverment let locals use abandoned military real-estate for various projects, wine making being amongst them. The whole bunkers and mines story could serve as a fabulous marketing tool for Vis wines. But, there’s still loads of work for winemakers of Vis to make their products recognisable outside the island. But, we can say Lipanović Vugava is a bright example of how this local underrated variety can be made into a modern and highly drinkable wine. The same goes for his rewarded Plavac Mali from 2008, but you need to proceed with caution if this wine is question. Any Plavac Mali for that matter!

After spending a few hours in his cool cellars, the alarm sounded: “dinner time!”. Fortunately, we had a reservation at Lola konoba&bar, probably one of the most beautiful terraces of Dalmatian coast. But, there was another obstacle to cross. And it wasn’t an easy one. Even though the owner of Paradajz lost told us this is the only “finger food” he currently has is this:

…we had to stay and try his home made wine that came served with a story. After a few hours in Lipanović cellar we were in the right mood to discuss and solve all the local, and some international problems as well. It’s a miracle we made it to Konoba & bar Lola, and managed to write this review of it for the Sunday edition of Jutarnji list. The place is definitely magical, so the atmosphere will make you forget the prices and convince you to enjoy both their service and food, as if the time has stopped. Hey, you’re on Vis, where time stands still, and makes you act as if there’s no tomorrow…