Andro Tomić was born on the island of Hvar and has dedicated his whole life to wines and oenology.

After 20 years of professional training in France and elsewhere, Andro decided to return to Hvar to produce his own wines. Firmly believing that Hvar, with its authentic varieties, climate, and the exceptional location of vineyards, could reclaim its long lost reputation in the wine world. Andro follows the 150-year-long tradition of family winemaking and is working closely in the winery with his son, Sebastijan Tomić. His legendary wines like "1991" were proof of the high potential of the indigenous variety Plavac Mali and paved the way for a winemaking and viticulture renaissance in the region.

How would you describe your winemaking style?  

We make an effort to invest in knowledge and technology to produce the best version of wines specific to our area, using autochthonous grape varieties. Turning more and more to organic production. We produce a wide variety of wines, so you can find a crisp and fresh Opolo and Beleca, matured and oaked Plavac mali, or sweet Prošek. 

What does Hvar mean to you?

It’s the place where I grew up, a place of natural beauty, tradition, sun, wind, vineyards, olive trees and great people. A place of inspiration!

Do you host wine tastings at your winery? 

Yes. A reservation in advance is required for all wine tasting programs that we offer. After welcoming our guests beneath the pine tree just in front of the winery, we do a tour of the winery to introduce all the stages of the wine making process. With some of our wine tasting programs we offer some of the finest Croatian food with the wine such as Dalmatian prosciutto, cheeses and olive oil.

If you could only sell one of your wines, which one would it be and why?

Plavac Mali, it accounts for 60% of our production and is the best selling wine from our range.

What do you consider to be the best vintages in the past decade? 

2019 was an exceptional year, we already have excellent Opolo Nobile 2019 and Beleca 2019 on the market and we’ve received great feedback from our customers.

Please tell us the story about the Vira vineyard

We planted the vineyard in the bay of Vira, near Hvar town, 10 years ago. Since it is an organic vineyard, we have to invest more effort and labor to grow it. The dominating grape varieties are Plavac Mali and Cabernet Sauvignon. By using these two grape varieties we have made the top quality wine called Illyricum. The wine has been aged in barrique barrels for one year so I really hope that  wine lovers will recognise all the quality, effort, knowledge and energy that has been put in to create it. We are very proud of it.

In 1993, Andro Tomić founded the company Bastijana with the primary ambition to produce top quality wines and to promote wine culture in general. Although the Tomić family has a long tradition of winemaking that they are working to carefully preserve, they continually enrich it with new ideas and modern technologies. Andro pays particular attention to the production of Prošek – the original Dalmatian dessert wine made from selected and dried grapes of the highest quality local varieties.

The Tomić winery is situated in Jelsa, a small coastal town with a long winemaking tradition. The winery produces between 130,000 and 150,000 bottles a year and, alongside the members of the Tomić family, twelve more people from the island of Hvar are part of the team.

The winery holds a beautiful wine tasting venue, buried in stone below the winery and modelled on the ancient Roman dining room called triclinium. It is carved out of stone, with ceilings made out of tufa and pillars made out of travertine, which was the method of construction used in Diocletian’s cellars. 

Since wine production is decreasing on the island of Hvar, the Tomić family decided to plant their own vineyards. The vineyards can be found in the area around the town of Hvar, in Vira bay, on the fields of Stari Grad (the Greek “Ager”), and in the area around Jelsa. Most of their vineyards are organic and totals an area of 10 hectares.