Impossible orange wine from Vinarija Škegro

Bosnia's Vinarija Škegro have an orange surprise up their sleeves, and it's a lot more delicious than Simon ever suspected.

Flying home from a short holiday in Bosnia-Herzegovina a couple of years ago, I picked up some bottles at Split airport which were branded "Carsus". Their labels looked promising and they showcased Herzegovina's two most interesting native grape varieties - Žilavka and Blatina. Sadly it proved that buying wine at airports is a dangerous sport. On opening, all the bottles seemed pedestrian and a bit tired. I suspected poor storage, which had been a recurrent problem throughout the trip.

I thought nothing more of it until I happened across a gentleman named Bariša Škegro a few weeks ago. Škegro is the baby-faced proprietor of Vinarija Škegro, a family winery based near Međugorje (Herzegovina). Since 2015, he makes a wine named "Krš Orange" - a macerated Žilavka made as a homage to his grandfather, also named Bariša. That's grandad on the label by the way.

When I looked carefully at the bottles, I realised the producer was one and the same as "Carsus". If you're confused by all the sub-bra…