Croatian Wine Lands a Spot in Twin Cities

Last week at a popular series of Twin Cities Wine Classes that myself and pal, Anissa Gurstel of Pairings Wine Market, teach at one of Minneapolis’s newest hot wine retail spots – Pairings Food & Wine Market, named GIRLS GONE WINE – a brand new wine and a brand new winery from Croatia was unveiled.  The GIRLS GONE WINE Series is a pretty fun way to spend a couple of hours on a Tuesday nite in the dead of winter when you have two enthusiastic chicas like Leslee + Anissa, to drink wine with.  Why?  Because who needs pretentious, snotty, “I only drink very expensive wines” kind of peeps, when you have two fun gals loaded with passion, experience, and laughs?!   My take:  Drink What Tastes Good to You, Learn a Little Along the Way, and always…Try New Things!
The theme for this month’s setting:  Red, White and Drunk All Over.  Anissa’s take…wine drunk from all over the globe and Leslee’s…a red, a white and possibly a wine with a little “drunk” (more alcohol)!?#   Go figure?
The tasting started out with two very interesting white wines:  Insolia from Sicily (a fresh, fun, zippy, sort of lemon rind scented white grape) and a brand new white wine from Croatia.  The grape: POSIP (pronounced  “POSHIP”).  The Posip, when first opened was perfumey like a Viognier, rich and sort of oily.  After letting it sit for a few minutes, turned full and round like an ‘unoaked’ Chardonnay.  So fabulous!!  And, both…made me crave raw oysters…  Aha! Moment:  What Grows Together Goes Together!
The others in the line-up were: the MAN Cabernet from South Africa  $7.99!(see my blog post: More Wines for Under $10 – for this review), the Guardian Peak Cab, Merlot, Shiraz, another South African for $12.99! (see my blog post: The Best of Twin Cities Food and Wine Pairings Class Strikes Again!  – for my review) and a FAT, DRUNK, Syrupy, Port-like Zinfandel from Californian Winery, Rombauer – $30 (great with chocolate cake). 
But my favorite for the nite, The Croatian Winery, Korta Katarina, Posip.  So unexpected and layered with seashell nuances, fresh floral scents, yet upfront with some fullness that kept changing and unveiling.  And, on the shelf for $22.  A great value for everything that you get from this wine.
Here’s the amazing part… PAIRINGS WINE MARKET of Minnetonka, MN is the very first to carry it on a retail level in ALL of the U.S.!  Seriously, who says that Minneapolis is not on the cutting edge?  This is the first placement of this wine in the entire country.  The winery: Korta Katarina, a MN family owned establishment, is boutiquey, unique and produces wines well worth every penny you pay for them.  The Red Wine produced from the winery is their Plavac Mali (the name of the grape) – on the shelf for $37.99 and again, so worth the dollar! 
See my YOUTUBE Video for a complete review on the Korta Katarina Plavac Mali and some others in its region~
Minneapolis Sommelier Reviews Croatia’s Top Wines