The Babić, the Valley & the Normal Stuff
Ivo Matošin is a 70-year-old pioneer of natural Babić wine in the hills above Primošten, Northern Dalmatia. His 2-hectare vineyard of 14-year-old Babić vines clings to a steep valley flank planted among olive trees and pink wildflowers, where the morning sun arrives late and a constant breeze funnels up the slope, keeping the vines healthy without a single spray. A vigneron who stopped applying even copper and sulfur after six or seven years when he saw no problems, Ivo now applies nothing in the vineyard — not because he joined a movement, but because, as he says, "all this is normal stuff." His wines — 3,000 to 5,000 bottles a year of Babić red and rosé — are fermented with native yeasts, made without correction, and express the raw, sun-baked truth of Dalmatian karst.
The Vigneron, the Neighbour & the Normal Stuff
Ivo Matošin is pushing 70 years old, and he was not trying to join a movement. In the steep valley just over the hill from Primošten, in the coastal hinterland of Northern Dalmatia, he tends 2 hectares of Babić vines that he planted roughly 14 years ago — a relatively young vineyard by European standards, but one that has already produced some of the most authentic natural wines in Croatia. The Matošin winery is a family-run operation in the truest sense: Ivo works the vineyard and cellar with the quiet rhythm of a man who has known the land his entire life, supported by his family and the close-knit community of small growers in the Široke valley. His neighbour, Alen, walks the same path — farming without synthetic chemicals and fermenting with native yeasts, not because it is fashionable, but because it is the easiest, most economical, and most honest way to make wine.
Ivo's philosophy is disarmingly simple: "All this is normal stuff." When he began, he did what most in the area considered necessary — he applied copper and sulfur once a year, the traditional Bordeaux mixture allowed even in organic farming. But after six or seven years, he saw no problems in his vineyard. So he stopped. Now he applies nothing at all — no copper, no sulfur, no synthetic chemicals. The vines thrive on their own, protected by the valley's unique microclimate and the biodiversity of the surrounding landscape. This is not ideology; it is practical wisdom born from decades of observation. As Ivo explains, "You don't need to correct if you pick at the right time" — when acids, tannins, and sugars are in balance. The result is wine that requires no correction in the cellar either: no additives to the fermenting must, no fining, no filtration, and minimal or no sulfites.
The Matošin approach is a reminder that natural wine is not a new invention — it is the way farm wine has always been made in Dalmatia. In a region where smallholders have grown grapes on karst slopes for millennia, the "natural" method is simply the traditional method. Ivo does not chase trends; he ignores them. He makes wine the way his grandfather would have recognised: hand-picked, spontaneously fermented, and bottled with nothing added but patience. The tasting room, perched at 260 metres above the vineyard, offers a panoramic view of the valley — a simple, unpretentious space where visitors taste wine alongside Dalmatian cheese, pršut, and traditional peka. This is not a commercial winery; it is a farm that happens to make extraordinary wine.
"All this is normal stuff. You don't need to correct if you pick at the right time."
— Ivo Matošin
Široke, the Valley & the Breeze Hand
The Široke valley lies just inland from the famous coastal town of Primošten, in the Šibenik-Knin County of Northern Dalmatia. It is a steep, dramatic landscape of karst limestone, stony soils, and ancient olive groves — a terrain that has been cultivated since Greek colonists first planted vines on the Dalmatian coast in the 4th century BCE. Ivo's 2-hectare vineyard occupies one flank of a narrow valley planted mostly to olive trees, with his 14-year-old Babić vines marching down the stony slope in disciplined rows. The morning sunlight on these slopes is delayed by a couple of hours until it tips over the eastern ridge, giving the grapes a slow, gentle awakening that preserves acidity and delays sugar accumulation.
The defining feature of this terroir is the constant breeze that funnels up the valley from the Adriatic, ruffling the pink wildflowers that decorate the stony soil between the vine rows and keeping mildew at bay. This natural ventilation is the secret to Ivo's zero-spray regime: the air movement is so reliable that fungal pressure is minimal even in the humid Dalmatian climate. The soils are thin, rocky, and well-drained — classic karst that forces the vines to root deep into the limestone bedrock, producing small berries with thick skins and concentrated flavours. The proximity to the sea — just a few kilometres to the west — brings a saline, mineral edge to the wines and moderates the intense summer heat.
The estate is certified organic, though Ivo goes far beyond the certification requirements. The vineyard is a closed ecosystem where olive trees, wildflowers, herbs, and vines coexist without chemical interference. The Babić grape — an indigenous variety unique to this pocket of Northern Dalmatia — is perfectly adapted to these conditions: thick-skinned, drought-resistant, and capable of producing structured, tannic wines of deep colour and ageing potential. For Ivo, the vineyard is not a factory but a living landscape that must be observed, respected, and left to its own devices. The result is fruit of exceptional health and purity — the essential prerequisite for natural winemaking.
Široke is a small settlement in the hinterland of Primošten, one of the most photographed wine towns on the Dalmatian coast. While the coastline is famous for its vineyards, the valley at Široke offers a quieter, more rugged terroir — steeper slopes, stonier soils, and a more continental microclimate than the seaside. The valley is planted mostly to olive trees, with vines occupying the steepest, sunniest flanks. For Ivo Matošin, this valley is home: he planted his vines here roughly 14 years ago and has watched them adapt to the karst, the wind, and the wildflowers. The result is a vineyard that looks more like a garden than an industrial plot — a place where agriculture and wilderness negotiate daily.
The most important element of the Matošin terroir is invisible: the wind. A reliable breeze funnels up the Široke valley from the Adriatic, ruffling the vine leaves and keeping the canopy dry. This natural air movement is the reason Ivo was able to stop spraying copper and sulfur after only six or seven years — the wind does the work that chemicals do elsewhere. Most days, the breeze is gentle; on hot summer afternoons, it brings cooling relief from the Dalmatian sun. The pink wildflowers that grow between the rows are not just beautiful; they are indicators of a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem where beneficial insects thrive. This is terroir as microclimate — a place where the geography itself protects the vines.
The soils at Matošin are pure Dalmatian karst: thin topsoil over fractured limestone, full of stones and fossils from ancient seabeds. This is not fertile soil — it is demanding, hungry soil that stresses the vines and produces small yields of intensely concentrated grapes. The Babić variety thrives here because it is adapted to drought and poor nutrition, sending roots deep into the cracks of the bedrock to find water and minerals. The white stones reflect sunlight back onto the fruit, enhancing ripening and contributing to the wine's signature depth of colour. The result is a terroir of extremes: hot days, cool nights, constant wind, and stone — a landscape that produces wines of power, minerality, and unmistakable Dalmatian character.
Babić is one of Croatia's most distinctive indigenous red varieties, grown almost exclusively in the Primošten hinterland and the surrounding hills of Northern Dalmatia. It is thick-skinned, late-ripening, and naturally resistant to drought — a grape that seems designed for the karst slopes of Široke. Ivo's vines are 14 years old, young enough to be vigorous but old enough to have adapted to the site's unique stresses. The organic certification is a formality; the reality is that Ivo has never relied on chemicals, trusting instead in the variety's natural resilience and the valley's protective microclimate. The result is Babić as it should be: deeply coloured, richly tannic, and profoundly expressive of its stony, sun-baked home.
The Native Yeast, the No-Spray & the Normal Hand
The Matošin cellar is a model of minimal intervention and maximum patience. Grapes are hand-picked at the moment when acids, tannins, and sugars are in perfect balance — a decision that Ivo makes by taste and experience rather than by laboratory analysis. Once in the cellar, the must is fermented with native yeasts that arrive on the grape skins from the vineyard itself. No commercial inoculation, no temperature control, no additives. The fermentation proceeds at its own pace, in stainless steel or neutral vessels, with Ivo watching but rarely interfering. As he says, "All this is normal stuff" — the way wine was made in Dalmatia long before oenology schools and industrial wineries existed.
The winemaking is defined by absence: no added sulfites during fermentation, no fining agents, no filtration. If the grapes are healthy and the timing is right, the wine needs no correction. This is the essence of the natural method — but for Ivo, it is simply the traditional method. He does not identify with the "natural wine movement" because he never left the old ways. The wines are aged briefly before bottling, preserving their fresh, primary fruit and vibrant acidity. The rosé is made with a light touch, capturing the delicate pink hue and slightly bitter edge that defines Dalmatian pink wines. The red is deep, dark, and structured — a pure expression of Babić's natural tannin and colour.
There is an honesty to Ivo's approach that is rare in the modern wine world. He accepts the risks: "If anything goes very wrong, it is the end of the story for that wine that year." Without the safety net of additives and corrections, each vintage is a true reflection of the season — its weather, its challenges, its gifts. This is why Matošin wines vary from year to year, and why each bottle is a document of a specific moment in the Široke valley. The minimal sulfur used, if any, is a practical concession to travel — just enough to ensure the wine arrives intact, never enough to mask its character. The result is wine that tastes of grape, stone, sun, and salt — nothing more, nothing less.
The Normal Stuff Covenant & the Zero-Spray Promise
The guiding principle of Matošin is that the best wine is made by doing as little as possible — but doing that little with perfect timing. Ivo stopped applying copper and sulfur after six or seven years because the vineyard was healthy without them. He ferments with native yeasts because commercial yeasts are unnecessary. He does not fine or filter because clear wine is not always honest wine. The tasting room at 260 metres above the vineyard offers a vertical tasting of three vintages, or a flight of two reds and a rosé, accompanied by Dalmatian cheese and pršut. Visitors meet Ivo, his cat, and sometimes his neighbour Alen — and they leave with a bottle of wine that tastes like the valley it came from. This is not marketing; it is the normal stuff of Dalmatian farm life.
Babić Red, Babić Rosé & the Široke Hand
The Matošin portfolio is small, focused, and unwaveringly loyal to the Babić grape. Production is 3,000 to 5,000 bottles per year from 2 hectares of organically farmed vines — a tiny output that reflects the low yields of karst soils and the family's commitment to quality over quantity. The wines are made from 100% estate-grown Babić, hand-picked, spontaneously fermented, and bottled with minimal sulfur. They are defined by depth of colour, firm tannin, and a distinct mineral, saline edge — the signature of Dalmatian karst and Adriatic proximity. Whether tasted as a young rosé or a structured red, each bottle carries the DNA of the Široke valley: sun, stone, wind, and the normal stuff.
The Normal Stuff, the Babić & the Široke Hand
Ivo Matošin is not merely a winemaker; he is a living bridge to Dalmatia's agricultural past — a 70-year-old vigneron who proves that the most profound wines sometimes come from 2 hectares of stony valley, fermented with native yeasts, and bottled with the quiet confidence of a man who has never needed to call his work "natural". In an era when Croatian wine is increasingly industrialised and export-oriented, Ivo stands as a reminder that the best viticulture is often the simplest — that healthy vines, correct timing, and honest cellar work will always produce more authentic wine than laboratories and additives. He does not attend trade fairs, chase scores, or cultivate Instagram. He tends his vines, makes his wine, and welcomes visitors to his tasting room with cheese, pršut, and the occasional appearance of his cat. It is largely thanks to vignerons like Ivo that Babić — once an obscure local grape — now has a place in the international natural wine conversation.
The legacy of Matošin is the legacy of the normal hand in Dalmatian viticulture. Ivo is not a typical winery owner: he is a septuagenarian grower who stopped spraying his vineyard because he saw no need, who ferments with wild yeasts because it is the obvious choice, who makes 3,000 to 5,000 bottles a year because that is what the land gives, and who believes that "all this is normal stuff" while the rest of the wine world struggles to define what "natural" even means. He does not chase volume. He does not chase trends. He makes Babić red and Babić rosé from 2 hectares of organic vineyard on a steep valley slope above Primošten — and he makes them with the same patience and humility that defined Dalmatian farm wine for centuries. The minimal sulfur is not a compromise; it is a practical minimum that allows the wine to travel without masking its Široke soul.
The future of the project is tied to the future of zero-spray viticulture and indigenous variety preservation in Northern Dalmatia — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the biggest cellars but from the most committed guardians of stony slopes, ancient grapes, and honest methods. As the Babić vines at Široke mature into their third decade, as the international natural wine community continues to discover the depth and authenticity of Dalmatian karst wines, and as younger generations of Croatian vignerons look for models of sustainable practice, Ivo Matošin remains what he has always intended to be: a farmer who makes wine the normal way — a man who trusted the valley, the breeze, and the indigenous grape, and who built something enduring on the hills above Primošten. The dream is not finished. It is just beginning to age.
"All this is normal stuff. You don't need to correct if you pick at the right time."
— Ivo Matošin