The three well-known and reputed wineries we visited were Tomic, Milos and Grgic. Tomic has beautiful facilities near the town of Jelsa on the island of Hvar. Their wine selection is significant given the small total production and winery staff. Our tasting included 5 wines, ranging from the table white to their premium quality large format red, and small plates of carefully prepared smoked swordfish, cured meat, and Croatian cheese slices, olives and tender anchovies.
The tasting room was created in the same stone and style as the 3rd century AD Roman emperor Diocletian's Palace cellars in Split, Croatia—the perfect ambiance.
The SV Klement, named for the largest island in the Pakleni island chain west of Hvar, where the Pošip grapes were grown, was crisp and balanced with a nose of citrus and apple blossom and tastes and tart mouth feel of grapefruit.
The second white was a crisp, clean 50/50 blend of Pošip and Bogdanuša with a lightly floral and citrus nose and delicate flavors of lemon, grapefruit, and pineapple.
Moving to red, we had a 2009 Caplar, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Plavac Mali, aged 6 months in oak and 5 years in stainless steel. It had a pleasant nose of cherry, leather, and smoke, and was dry with flavors of dark cherry and plum.
The 2009 Plavac Mali, which follows in the footsteps of their award winning 2007, had a musty organic nose and rounded inviting flavors of dark cherry, plum and leather.
The 2011 Valinki is Plavac Mali, unfiltered and aged 18 mo in Croatian oak and 2-3 years in stainless steel. It is deep red with a nose of chocolate covered cherries, strawberries, wild herbs, and ocean scents and flavors of chocolate and plum skins. It retails only in a large format bottle. Unfortunately, due to the modest production, Tomic wine is not exported to the United Stated, but does appear in stores and restaurant wine lists in Croatia.
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