Super Istrian meets Southern Plavac

Super Istrian in a super heavy bottle . . .

The Morning Claret is delighted to be going on a brief sojourn to Istria later this week. Having travelled a couple of times in the Southern part of Croatia, I'm fascinated to see what the North of the country has to offer. By way of preparation, I cracked open two wines on Saturday night - arguably neither was typical, but at the same time the idea was to learn something about the key differences between North and South, in terms of wine making.

In the Istrian corner, we had Mladen Roxanich's "Super Istrian" 2006, a nice play on the "Super Tuscan" tag first coined in the 1970s, when Tuscan wine makers started playing fast and loose with the archaic DOC regulations. Just like the Super Tuscan concept, this is a blend of local and international grape varieties: 40% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Istrian Borgonja.

The wine greets you with an upfront, yet wholly refreshing aroma of spiced blueberries. It's enticing, and in no sense predic…