After several days of tasting wines made from Croatia's native grapes, their white wines seem better suited for the global market. Crisp, refreshing, low in alcohol and often quite affordable. Perfect for grilled fish or seafood.
Among the white varietals we discovered is Pošip (PO ship), which consistently earned high scores on my all-important "yum-for-the-money" meter.
The label seen here is the 'Pošip majstor'. In the Croatian alphabet, the letter 'j' is pronounced as a 'y', making this wine 'PO-ship MAY-store'. BTW, Majstor = 'master', and it may seem immodestly named, but accurately so - it was at the top of the line among the many Pošip wines we tasted. Cost at the winery was $37.
The label shown here (back label above, front label below) is from athe Stina winery located on Croatia's fairy-tale island of Brač (rhymes with crotch). 'Stina' is Croatian for stone, and since the island of Brač consists of dazzling white limestone, naming a winery after the local geology makes sense. But packaging your wine with a blank label made from rough paper (suggestive of the island's stone) is the very definition of a white label wine!
Cheers!
Dave the Wine Merchant