 In this video we're going to show you some of the Istrian wines and styles that you're going to want to look out for. Oh, welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horkey. Hi, I'm Sheridan. Welcome back to this show. We are going to talk about Istrian wines from Croatia. Where is Istria? So Istria is a heart-shaped peninsula. It's at the top of the Adriatic. It's in between Italy and Croatia. And as a matter of fact, it used to belong to Italy, the Austrian, Hungarian Empire, Yugoslavia, and now it's modern-day Croatia. And you definitely see the Italian influence there. Istria is the region where winemakers are really banded together and are trying to push the quality bar for Croatian wine. And it's definitely evident. The organization is actually Vinistra and they hold an annual tasting. And we went to the 26th edition just a few weeks ago. And even though we've done a lot of research for Croatian wines, for a book cracking Croatian wine, this was the first Vinistra that we've ever attended, right? Yeah, it's funny. But it was fantastic to be there because no matter how much you know about the wine country, there are always new producers that are worth paying attention to because you know, their quality improves every year. When you think of Istria, you think of Malvasia Starska, also known as Malvasia Istriana. It's a grape that Shireen actually is really high on. Very much because it makes fantastic easy drinking, summery white wine. But when you just macerate it with a little bit of skin contact, the body builds up and you've got some nice like sweet tannins on the finish, amazing flavors. Let's talk about the styles that you'd look out for. I think that when you are in Istria or you're in Croatia, you cannot go wrong with fresh Malvasias from most producers, right? There's literally almost zero bad Malvasia around. What kind of, what do people expect when you taste a fresh Malvasia? So first of all, the nose has to be kind of limey, lemony and also a floral tone to it. And on a palate, usually you get some kind of white flesh through, depending on how the wine maker make the wine or pick the grape, right? But you also get a certain like very nice acidity. Sometimes it comes with this like bitter almond sort of finish. So even though it's a fresh white wine, it's very complex. There's also other styles of Malvasia being made from barrel fermented, barrel aged, aged in acacia wood and macerated. Macerated orange wines, amber wines, that's my favorite style for Malvasia. I think that the skin just really gives the wine some depth and some body. Yeah, the skin definitely gives this sort of like sweet tannins on the finish. Also bad in mind that some of the Malvasia can be quite salty on the finish as well. Istria's red grape is called taran. And before we get into that, I want to let you know that there is dispute between the names and bottlings between Slovenia and Croatia, but this is not a political video. We're just going to talk about the wines that you're going to see from Istria that are labeled with taran and made from the grape taran. It's a grape that's got really high acidity, wild berry flavors. I kind of imagine it like kind of like San Giovese Barbera-y. Definitely. So you're going to have fresh tarans that are aged in stainless steel and tarans that are aged in barrel. What kind of style do you enjoy? Like both. I definitely like both because when it's fresh, right? Taran again is just like Malvasia. It's a very complex wine, a complex grape. The kind of wine that you get from it, even though it's fresh, you'll be getting like wild berry like you said, and then there's going to be like super high acidity like the Barbera. But yeah, at the same time, you get this like savory undertone to it so you can really enjoy a fresh taran. But when it ages, you gain the body, you gain the structure. And it goes great with the local pastas, right? Absolutely. And also a lot of the meat goes well with taran. The grape actually surprisingly ages very well. So if you can find some aged bottles, it's worth checking out. While a lot of producers are high and more low, we found at the last Vinistria, a lot of other grapes making exciting varietal wines. Most specifically, one of your favorite grapes. It's Cabernet Frong, definitely. There are not many producers making a varietal Cabernet Frong, but out of the examples that we taste it, it's a very complex wine. I mean on the nose, you get a style that could be like more Samosa Champanina. Like you can get some Chinon-like kind of Cabernet Frong from there. But what is interesting is out of this Cabernet Frong, they really stand on its own as a wine. It can be easy drinking, but they're always like, it's this nice tannic structure in the background. They mix it more than just another easy drinking wine. I would have to say, aside from taran, Cabernet Frong varietal wine is probably the most exciting for me, in terms of varietal wines. Yeah, I mean Cabernet Sauvignon comes close. Malo, I love it, but I think Malo is much more of a better blending wine in Istria. Sorry, they're on its own. And for those red wine lovers, I think a real signature for the region are Istrian red blends. And what do I mean by that? All these blends usually have Cabernet Sauvignon, Malo, and Taran, or Raphosco, Taran and Raphosco are cousins in a blend. So it's kind of like a super Istrian. I love these wines. They're always below 14 Malo, 12 and a half to 13 and a half. What do you like about those wines? I mean, it's very different from other Cabernet Sauvignon Malo blends. Once you smell the Super Istria blend, you'll remember it because Taran, no matter how little you put in the blend right, you somehow you just smell it. It smells like, it really smells like iron, like oxidized iron, rusty nail, wild berry. And it really adds a lot of character while you still have the structure with the Cabernet Sauvignon, the plushness of Malo. They're actually some of my favorite Croatian wines. I think of Istrian red blends. When it comes to Istrian red blend, you will expect a lot of juiciness because of the acidity from Taran. That's so fun to drink. So that's all if you are in Croatia, you're in Istria. It's a popular, it's a popular vacation destination. You can really, really taste those wines, try those wines, buy those wines with a lot of confidence. So guys, if you like this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Exotic Wine Travel. We'll see you at the next episode.