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Croatia is a pretty much an unknown wine country to me. I have tasted just the odd bottle from there before - and they have been pretty decent wines. So I was very much looking forward to trying several in a single tasting. Croatia is best known for making big reds but we tried mostly their lesser known whites.
First up was Cuj Malvazija Istarska 2013 which is from the more interesting of the Malvazijas - the other, Maraština, is closely related to some Italian Malvasia or other and tends to be quite neutral. This was certainly not neutral: it smelled very floral and of crystallised limes. Broad, heavy and rich but then some acidity creeps into the finish and keeps the whole strangely refreshing for what should be a ponderous, unctuous wine. I liked it though my usual preference is for lighter styles.
Next up was [b]Antonović Graševina Premium 2010[/b] which is the local name for Welschriesling. Croatia might even be the origin of this grape. Usually a very neutral and rather boring grape, this wine was just the opposite. Made with slightly botrytized grapes it is a yellow colour and smells very sweet and like citrus maralade - rather like a sweet wine. Much drier on the palate than the scent promised with good acidity and an attractive bitter touch on the finish. Nice!
PZ Čara Pošip 2013 is from the island of Korčula. Sunny, ripe, citrus marmalade aromas but it has a pretty unique but attractive refreshing scent that I can only describe as hoppy. I'm pretty sure I'm drinking wine not beer, but yes, hoppy is what it smells like. A touch soft, ripe and rich, somehow very balanced and moreish despite not being terribly high in acidity. Once again an attractive and strange wine with a unique personality. Nice!
Bire Grk 2014 is, like Pošip, from the island of Korčula. Grk is a strange grape in only having female flowers so it is usually planted with Plavac Mali to ensure pollination. It is perhaps the wine that is easiest to comes to terms with. The others weren't freakish in any way but they did have aromas and textures that aren't really common in wines from better known regions. But this has a sunny fruit with vaguely grassy/Sauvignony scents. Quite rich but with fair acidity and an attractive touch of bitterness on the finish. Also an attractive wine.
Duboković Moja M 2009 is from the "boring" Malvazija, locally known as Maraština and comes from the island of Hvar. Orange in colour. It smells like white Musar so I of course fell in love with the wine from the first sniff. It tastes like fresh apricots and oxidative fruit - what a fun but weird combination to have in a single wine. Tannic, weighty, dry, funky and even if in Tuscany this grape makes dull, neutral wines, here it is absolutely fantastic.
We then moved onto a couple token reds. Kabola Teran 2010 from Istria was a ripe (13,9% abv) and inky version of this grape belonging to the Refosco family. Most Terans I've had have been from Slovenia and have been light and refreshing - almost tart and astringent wines. This was inky with some sour cherry aromas and genuine fruitiness - something I have not seen in the few Slovene versions I've had. But this also becomes tangy and has genuine bite on the finish so it is also a very attractive wine.
Skaramuga Dingač 2012 is perhaps the most familiar style of all these since it's made from the Plavac Mali grape which is perhaps at least somewhat familiar outside of Croatia. Plavac mali is a cross between Crljenak Kaštelanski and Dobričić and with CK being an ancestor of Zinfandel, the style is at least somewhat familiar to most: big, powerful and ripe with lovely tangy berry aromas that stay just below the raisiny level of ripeness. Tannic, huge grip, savoury yet with sweet fruit. Huge wine, but at least it is well structured and has much more interest than the one-dimensional fruit than the stereotypical Zinfandel has.
We finished with a sweet white Madirazza Prošek 2011, a blend of Rukatac (another synonym of Maraština aka Malvasia), Grk and Pošip. Hazy orange. Slightly earthy and apricot aroma. Sweet and juicy. Tastes a bit like fresh grapes. Grapey wines are really quite rare. Nice!
Finally we opened one more dry white but this time from Serbia: Oszkár Maurer Mézes Féher 2013. Mézes Féher is an almost extinct grape and, as is perhaps obvious from the name, is grown on the Hungarian border. This is supposedly a pretty natural style of wine but not in the stereotype of cloudy, cidery. Instead it is very clean and pure. But the aromas are pretty wild: cinnamon and ginger and seemingly a bit of lees contact. Bright, light, lively, dry and supremely moreish. Fantastic. There are often good reasons why obscure grapes are endangered (they're often crap - and I say this as one who loves to try all those weird and obscure wines!) but every now and then I get this kind of wine and wonder why this grape is almost extinct. Or maybe this is that odd freakish Mézes Féher that is actually good? Hard to say since I'd never even heard of the grape before this.
