The masterclass, run by three leading Plešivica winemakers Korak, Tomac and Šember, was held on Friday afternoon in the luxury Lošinj hotel Alhambra, presenting the significant uniqueness of the wine suburb of Zagreb, compared to other wine growing regions. In Plešivica are no mediocrities.
When talking of serious wineries, Plešivica holds no good winemakers without a vision. The boys from Plešivica know very well what they want, and their plan to turn the hills near Zagreb into a relevant European wine region will not be compromised with large series or average wines. All of their new wines are good to excellent (or sometimes completely lost) but never average.
Tomac, Šember and Korak today remind of Matošević, Coronica and Kozlović, when the latter three turned Istria and Malvazija into the most vibrant and important Croatian wine scene. Only, the Plešivica wines today are significantly better than the Istrian wines from the beginning of the 2000s. No other Croatian wine area is so focused on quality and clear terroir style: the first two cases have already reached high international level, witnessed by the fact Decanter listed Tomac’s Amfora sparkling among the six most important sparkling wines for the previous year.
The masterclass began with Šember’s blanc de blanc from magnum. Next came a truly excellent Tomac Amfora 2010 still in development, taking on interesting earth tones going well with glazed citrus and dried flowers, dominant in the bouquet of this excellent sparkling.
The third wine, Korak’s Riesling 2011 dominated the masterclass along with Tomac’s sparkling. It is a phenomenal wine, whose bouquet blends kerosene and mould notes with plenty of fresh fruit. Although the wine is completely dry, the aftertaste is fruity sweet. This excellent Riesling has another fifteen good years ahead of it. Šember’s Quevry from the same year is a superior demonstration of the possibilities of Plešivica Rieslings produced in amphorae: Quevry is eccentrically rich and elegantly oily. Tomac’s Amfora 2007 (still wine) showed the liveliness of the coupage of Chardonnay and old Plešivica varieties: the 2007 Amfora is still very lively. A very good and educational wine workshop in Alhambra, positioning Plešivica in the very top of Croatian wine production, ended in the tasting of several Pinot Neros.
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http://plavakamenica.hr/2017/04/21/masterclass-u-alhambri-potvrdio-je-da-je-plesivica-trenutno-najambicioznija-hrvatska-vinska-regija/
