The wines of vina Caric, Hvar Island, Croatia

Vina Carić, Hvar, Croatia
Impressive wines from Dalmatia's Hvar Island

Website: www.vinohvar.hr

The Croatian Island of Hvar, in the middle of Dalmatia, looks like an extremely beautiful place. It has a long history of winemaking, including the ‘Chora Pharou’ vineyards subdivided by the original Greek stone walls into plots 900 by 180 metres. This is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Carić family have been grape growers here for generations, but since the establishment of the Vino-Hvar DOO (appellation), they’ve started making their own wines from their 5 hectares of vineyard plots, spread across the island, in addition to using some bought-in grapes.

The grape varieties here are interesting, including the local Pošip, from Korcula island and which makes an intense, aromatic white wine, and Croatia’s indigenous red grape star Plavac Mali, which counts Crljenak (Zinfandel) as one of its parents.

THE WINES

Vina Carić Cesarica 2012
This blend includes Pošip, which is an indigenous Dalmatian grape. Nice precise style with some lovely apple and herb notes as well as pear and citrus. Very fresh yet also quite intense with nice texture. 90/100

Vina Carić Juho'v 2011
This is Plavac Mali base, blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz. Supple,sweet and ripe but with a lovely mineral, savoury edge to the open sweet berry fruit. Real interest here: it has a nice warm personality. 90/100

Vina Carić Plovak Ploški 2008
A varietal Plavac Mali. From the southern part of the island, which has the best vineyards. Sweetly aromatic and spicy with some mineral notes on the nose, as well as earth, spice and herb characters. There's a bit of tea, too. The palate is elegant and mineral with spiciness and savoury earthy notes. Lovely warm complexity to this wine. 93/100