August 12, 2018 – One of the more interesting stories on the Croatian wine scene continues, as British Master of Wine Jo Ahearne hits the mark with her first Posip.
I was chatting to Jo Ahearne MW the other day over a beer or two (yes, she loves beer, get over it) about the World Cup, island life and, of course, wine.
She mentioned that amongst all the angst of paperwork and getting her wines out there and known in Croatia one of the things that makes it all worthwhile is people’s reactions when they taste her wine. So it was great to see such a wonderful score for her Ahearne Vino Pošip in Kult Plave Kamenice this week – 93 out of 100 – not bad for her first ever Pošip.
Sadly, there will be no 2017 Pošip as there was quite a bit of sunburn so she had to cut out a lot of the grapes and was left with not much volume of wine. She decided to put all the Pošip into her maceration wine Wild Skins.
Not such a problem since Kult Plave Kamenice liked the Wild Skins enough to name it in their top 10 wines of 2017 and say that
‘Wines of Jo Ahearne are complex and different. Both Pošip and Wild Skins show some ways in which direction the Dalmatian wines could move. Terroir expression, emphasis on local varieties and precise vinification should be the main elements of Dalmatian winemaking’
So what else is new at Ahearne Vino? Well, Jo has started a cellar door operation at her winery in the lovely hilltop village of Vrisnik. You need to book and she only accepts a maximum of 12 people as she does the tastings herself and wants the experience to be intimate. So it’s a great chance to talk directly to the winemaker. If you’re a bit of a wine geek and want to really get into the detail she also does an innovative in depth barrel tasting of various vintages and vineyard sites and even extends that to include a breathtaking 4 wheel drive tour of the vineyards and a special lunch.
Contact her on FB Ahearne Vino [email protected] 0917664515
To read the original article in Croatian on Kult Plave Kamenice, click here.
